Setting up a dwarf tank

[andy.m]

Hello - I've been keeping planted tanks and breeding freshwater fish for a while now, but really want to try my hand at keeping dwarf seahorses. I just wanted to post what I'm getting ready, in case there's something I overlooked.

Tank - 5 gallon
Filter - air powered sponge filter, gentle flow
Water - RO/DI, using instant ocean salt and a refractometer to maintain salinity at 1.024. Temperature 72-74 F.
Food - I've made a brine shrimp hatchery following Joey on youtube (King of DIY), and purchased Dan's Feed to enrich the bbs. If I'm not wrong, the procedure is hatch, age 24 hours, enrich 24 hours, feed 2x - 3x daily. So in a 4 bottle set up, I can have 2 hatcheries going and two enrichment tanks going. Is this sufficient, or should I expand it into a 6 bottle set up?
Tankmates: 2 nassarius snails.

Once set up, the plan is to use Dr. Tim's one and only for nano tanks to cycle, followed by a 2 week fishless cycle using ammonia.

I would really like to make this a planted tank, so I was planning to get some caulerpa and gracilaria on a 1" sand substrate. I will treat the algae with panacur to prevent hydroids from getting in to the tank. I'm also planning to use 6500K LEDs that I use for freshwater planted tanks because I have a couple lying around. Will I need to fertilize the algae in the beginning?

Please let me know if I'm missing anything - I want to make sure everything is set up and in good condition before I get my pixies! I know that they aren't a "beginner" fish, but I've wanted them for years, and have bred bettas, rasboras, several gouramis and cichlids so I'm used to daily BBS hatching, water change and taking care of small fussy creatures.
:fish2:

 

[vlangel]

Hello - I've been keeping planted tanks and breeding freshwater fish for a while now, but really want to try my hand at keeping dwarf seahorses. I just wanted to post what I'm getting ready, in case there's something I overlooked.

Tank - 5 gallon
Filter - air powered sponge filter, gentle flow
Water - RO/DI, using instant ocean salt and a refractometer to maintain salinity at 1.024. Temperature 72-74 F.
Food - I've made a brine shrimp hatchery following Joey on youtube (King of DIY), and purchased Dan's Feed to enrich the bbs. If I'm not wrong, the procedure is hatch, age 24 hours, enrich 24 hours, feed 2x - 3x daily. So in a 4 bottle set up, I can have 2 hatcheries going and two enrichment tanks going. Is this sufficient, or should I expand it into a 6 bottle set up?
Tankmates: 2 nassarius snails.

Once set up, the plan is to use Dr. Tim's one and only for nano tanks to cycle, followed by a 2 week fishless cycle using ammonia.

I would really like to make this a planted tank, so I was planning to get some caulerpa and gracilaria on a 1" sand substrate. I will treat the algae with panacur to prevent hydroids from getting in to the tank. I'm also planning to use 6500K LEDs that I use for freshwater planted tanks because I have a couple lying around. Will I need to fertilize the algae in the beginning?

Please let me know if I'm missing anything - I want to make sure everything is set up and in good condition before I get my pixies! I know that they aren't a "beginner" fish, but I've wanted them for years, and have bred bettas, rasboras, several gouramis and cichlids so I'm used to daily BBS hatching, water change and taking care of small fussy creatures.
:fish2:

Hi andy, I am not a dwarf seahorse keeper, (I have H erectus) but I have read lots of info on them. It seems to me that you have an appropriate set up planned. I do not believe that you will need to fertilize the macro algaes as the types you are considering are easy to grow. They will get what they need from the salt mix in the beginning and it wont take your ponies long to add their own fertilizer.
Hopefully a DSH keeper will jump in and share from their experience.

 

[nutbar29]

Hi it sounds like you have everything to get started. You don't need to fertilize caulerpa or gracilaria. Please don't put panacur into your tank your sand and rocks will absorb it and you won't be able to have snails and caulerpa will die. You will get some hydroids when you first start your tank from the brine shrimp but they will only live for a couple of weeks and will die of. I have a planted seahorse tank with erectus seahorses. Here's a picture of my tank

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[andy.m]

Thank you so much for your replies! That is a beautiful tank!

I was hoping that the microalgae and water changes would help with nitrate/phosphate reduction. Do you think I still need to add live rock? Would a freshwater dip for macros and decapsulating brine shrimp eggs reduce hydroid risk?

I've read a whole bunch of conflicting reports on their care. Apparently the best salinity is 1.019 -1.021, so I'll do that maybe? Sorry for all the questions haha, just trying to make sense of what I'm reading!

 

[nutbar29]

When you buy macroalgae most of the times it has flatworms aptasias so you so want to make sure you don't add it directly into your tank. And macroalgae will reduce your phosphate because that's what they need to live. My phosphates are high but I don't have any nuisance algae like green hair algae or any other type. I have never use decapsulated brine shrimp so I can't help you there. Salinity I have mine at 1.026 always have and always will.


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[Bluemon]

Don't add live rocks. It's not even aiptasia, which are common enough, but hydroids are horrible for dwarfs as well.

I think adding macroalgae is fine in terms of hitchikers though. places like reefcleaners package it so that hitchhikers are really hard to come with.

 

[rygar]

Where is the best place to get dwarf seahorses? I had them and raised them when I was about 15 years old. Now I have kids and my 13 year old has been wanting them. Of course I would be helping and making sure everything is done correctly.
I remember them as being extremely cheap compared to the larger ones. That's why I was able to do them. Now I looked around and they are a whole lot more than what I expected. Where are you getting yours from?

 

[rayjay]

Biggest reason for higher pricing now is that many of them are captive bred instead of wild caught.
I can't get them here in Canada, but if you google "dwarf seahorses for sale in the US" you will get a lot of results, but, if seahorsesource.com has them, you won't find a better place to buy from.

 

[andy.m]

I can't actually seem to find any captive bred ones. I can only seem to find them on eBay, where they are very cheap, but I really don't think they're captive bred, unfortunately.

My setup has been delayed a couple of weeks, but in the meanwhile I'm going to try to start a tisbe culture. Also, I saw a very cool video on YouTube which showed someone feeding her dwarves Microworms and vinegar eels in addition to BBS. Have to try it, I culture those anyway to feed freshwater fry!

 

[Devaji108]

I am also thinking of a DSH tank.
my plan is macro algae and gorgs for hitching, going BB for this one.
so fallowing...

 

[Devaji108]

I can't actually seem to find any captive bred ones. I can only seem to find them on eBay, where they are very cheap, but I really don't think they're captive bred, unfortunately.

My setup has been delayed a couple of weeks, but in the meanwhile I'm going to try to start a tisbe culture. Also, I saw a very cool video on YouTube which showed someone feeding her dwarves Microworms and vinegar eels in addition to BBS. Have to try it, I culture those anyway to feed freshwater fry!

I hopefully found some! I was able to find some but my tank is still in the concept and design faze.

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