seahorses in fuge?
- Thread starter MBasile
- Start date
mbunaman
New member
If you want to keep the benefits of your refugium I would not do it because now if you were to introduce your seahorses they will diminish your population of pods and other critters. The main advantage of a refugium is not to introduce any predators so the pods and other critters can multiply in your refugium.
Illuminati
Premium Member
Not a seahorse expert but I think they can tolerate the water temp of 75 as a high.
Actually, to me, the main benefit of a refugium is nutrient remove via macro algae. Pods are secondary since they aren't likely to make the ride back through the return pump to the tank. 
I think this idea is a good one but as I understand it, seahorses need tall tanks, I thought the rule of thumb was 3x their height...not sure though. Good dense Chaeto could support pod growth within the algae where the seahorses can't get to them.
I think this idea is a good one but as I understand it, seahorses need tall tanks, I thought the rule of thumb was 3x their height...not sure though. Good dense Chaeto could support pod growth within the algae where the seahorses can't get to them.
to mhurley, the fuge is like a 30 gallon acrylic tank basicly so im sure its tall enough for smaller species. for me as well, i dont think many pods survive the pump either. there is lots of cheato and caulerpa in the fuge and to be honest i was worried that if i dont put some sort of preditor, the pod population might crash, seeing how they may reproduce more than the available food will alow or someother affect of over population, because its like pod soup in there. any thoughts on that anyone? as for the seahorses liking lower temps, ill have to check that out as well and see if any will tolerate reef temperatures. i was pondering getting some dward seahorses, H. zosterae after seeing them at chicago aqautics since they are so small and probably wouldnt decimate such a supply of pods. If in fact they cant live in the higher temperature, maybe a manderin or some type of small goby would be need to live in there to control the pod population. just some ideas. maybe i can even bottle them and sell them like that one company is doing!
thoughts appreciated,
matt
thoughts appreciated,
matt
lovereefs1
OT Engineer
I recently tried the same thing. I started 1 1/2 years ago with seahorses in a 12 gal. nano, moved up to a 24 gal. nano and moved them to my 40 gal. refuge 2 weeks ago. I have never been able to achive "ideal" temps for them in a nano, with temps usually running in the mid to lower 80's. This was probably the biggest reason for moving them. They have been doin great in there. The conditions are more stable and I dont have to feed them anymore. They seem happier, plus I have one less tank to maintain! The only real draw back was that I can't run the light on the refuge 24/7 any longer.
Rod Buehler
New member
putting horses in a refugium (Refugium: a place to provide refuge from predators) would make it an algea scrubber (a place to grow and harvest algea.
Critters _do_ make it through the pumps. I have seen baby clowns, baby banggai and other babies make it through pumps and manifolds.
Critters _do_ make it through the pumps. I have seen baby clowns, baby banggai and other babies make it through pumps and manifolds.
actually though rod, the fuge i want to put them in was originally supposed to be a frag tank, but is more of a fuge now with some xenia and softies in it :- / this tank flows into the original refugium which is also packed with critters before flowing to the sump and pumped to the tank. this is why i figured i could put something cool in the "frag/ fuge" tank that would thrive there and not otherwise survive in the reef tank. just an idea, thought it would be cool to have some seahorses. if i did get some though, i was planning on just getting the little dwarf seahorses and putting a divider in there to keep them away from the powerhead and frags. has anyone had experience with this type of seahorse? they are rather inexpensive when shipped from florida and are said to be quite prolific.
