Seahorses in a 20 nano?
- Thread starter ecreef
- Start date
It is possible yes. If you do go ahead with seahorses, i would suggest one of the smaller of the greater seahorses. You could do Redi or erectus, but they are MUCH easier to keep in larger tanks. I would use no less than a 29 gallon for them. However, it is possible to keep a pair of them in a 20 gallon tank.
Some other options that would probably be better:
H. Kuda
H. Whitei
H. capensis (this is a cold water species that would require a chiller)
Best bet would be H. barbori IMO
They are tropical, and only grow to be about 5 inches, yet they still eat frozen mysis. Typically they are hard to find, but Ocean rider (seahorse.com) is now breeding them and they are available, but as allways with oceanrider, they are not cheap.
Some other options that would probably be better:
H. Kuda
H. Whitei
H. capensis (this is a cold water species that would require a chiller)
Best bet would be H. barbori IMO
They are tropical, and only grow to be about 5 inches, yet they still eat frozen mysis. Typically they are hard to find, but Ocean rider (seahorse.com) is now breeding them and they are available, but as allways with oceanrider, they are not cheap.
I was just visiting someone this weekend who had a 20g cube set up as a seahorse tank. He has 2 pair of erectus in there and they seemed to be doing great.
As long as the 20 is a "cube" type with more height than lenght you should be fine to have a pair of most of the small-medium seahorses.
I'd check out www.seahorsesource.com. They have a good rep and unlike Ocean rider they have reasonable prices.
As long as the 20 is a "cube" type with more height than lenght you should be fine to have a pair of most of the small-medium seahorses.
I'd check out www.seahorsesource.com. They have a good rep and unlike Ocean rider they have reasonable prices.
Krustylove
New member
I have had a 29 Nano set-up (moved from a 40 gallon) for about a month now and have just about worked out all the bugs...I have a pair of H. Erectus & 1 Reidi. Right off the bat you need to get a ball valve installed on the pump as it blows the horses around like they are in a storm, I used a quick disconnect ball valve for a Magnum filter that took 5 minutes total to install-but I forget if it was the 1/2 or 5/8? The hose that comes with the Nano has an ID of 1/2 & OD of 5/8, here is the linkfor what I used: http://www.aquariumpros.com/p-MLD581,FPmp.html Also Nanos get really hot (83-86 degrees?!?) so I installed a computer fan into the hood-but other than that, just add water and horses 
Ok well now is when you decide how you want your tank to look. There are a couple of ways to go. You could do a planted seagrass tank, or a regular seahorse modified reef.
Bothe of which would require live rock. Rock is great for all seahorses except zoestra (dwarfs). A seagrass tank would have lots of different types of marcros and seagrasses, and a modified reef would be a few macros, some leathers, maybee a few mushrooms and softies. You could also do artificial decore, which would be rock, and bright colored fake plants and corals. These tend to bring out brighter colors in horses than macros and corals would.
Bothe of which would require live rock. Rock is great for all seahorses except zoestra (dwarfs). A seagrass tank would have lots of different types of marcros and seagrasses, and a modified reef would be a few macros, some leathers, maybee a few mushrooms and softies. You could also do artificial decore, which would be rock, and bright colored fake plants and corals. These tend to bring out brighter colors in horses than macros and corals would.
mwp
In Memoriam
FWIW I'm keeping 2m/1f H. barbouri in a 24 gallon Nano Cube - it's working out just dandy! They currently share the space with my spawning pair of Mandarins (if you did through the mandarin breeding log in the breeding forum you'll find some pics & vids of the horses jumbled in).
2 of my Barbouri are from Ocean Rider - definitely a smart choice for the mini reef I set up. The other male is from Dan @ Seahorsesource - probably one of the best online vendors from a customer service standpoint.
FWIW,
Matt
2 of my Barbouri are from Ocean Rider - definitely a smart choice for the mini reef I set up. The other male is from Dan @ Seahorsesource - probably one of the best online vendors from a customer service standpoint.
FWIW,
Matt
