SH/pipe tank tied to FOWLR?

[silence88]

iam setting up a 75g FOWLR(lion, trigger, eel, wrasse)with a 20-30g sump and i have a hoodless NC 24g that ive been wanting to set up but dont have mutch money for MH lighting ect for a reef, so i was thinking of putting a T on the return line from the sump and have it run into the first back chamber of the NC then drill a hole in the side or back of the last chamber so most of the water whent thrue but some whent into NC via the stock return pump and have it set up with macro ect and keep a pair of kuda a pair of banded pipes a pair of mandarins(eating frozen)and mabie an orange spotted filefish if i can find a source of browned out acros, i dont mind hatching and or growing brine(doing it now)and i would stock the tank and sump with tigger pods for afew months first, i dont think we have any CB horses in canada that are easy to get i dont realy whant to have them shipped anyway, from what i know most LFS i think get the net bred/tank raised black kudas if i have live food are they realy that bad? do they pose mutch disease danger to the fish in the FOWLR or just themselfs and pipefish? can i keep the fish in FOWLR at seahorse temps? if i cant keep the FOWLR that low can i still keeep some pipes at 78-82 if iam hatching brine i also have selcon to enrich the brine.

sorry for the long post

 

[ReefNutPA]

Lots of questions.....and most of the answers aren't favorable. First of all the temp of 78-82 would be an issue for both the pipes and the seahorses. Seahorses, even tropical species, should be kept no warmer than 74F long-term. Baby Brine shrimp is too small for adult seahorses to recognize as food. Adult brine shrimp, even enriched, is not a long-term food. You would need to feed live mysis shrimp or similar, which can get fairly expensive quickly.

IMO, yes the net bred/tank raised seahorses are really that bad - and should be treated as wild-caught seahorses. They will need to be dewormed and treated for parasites.

Mixing of seahorses and pipes is risky. As long as you are aware of the risks and are willing to take them, the choice is yours. You could be one of the lucky ones and have no issues, however, at the high temps you will have, I believe issues are inevitable.

IMO, you would be much better off and more successful by obtaining the CB seahorses that are indeed available in Canada. I would also recommend setting up a seperate tank for the seahorses and not plumbing it in to your FOWLF tank.

If plumbing the tanks together is your only option, the entire system should be kept at 72F-74F. Plan on doing huuuuge water changes to keep the nitrates down since triggers, eels, etc really deteriorate water quality quickly. I'm sure you'll have a huge skimmer for the system, so that will help tremendously.

Tom

 

[silence88]

thanks reefnutPA, iam growing the brine to adult size anyway and i would try and get them eating frozen from a feeding station, how would i deworm them panacure? if i keep just pipes would they be ok at 75-80 my reef runs at the higher temp i listed but i dont think this tank will get that hot? iam assuming given food that pipe fish would be hardier than the horses and more disease resistent plus abel to live in warmer water i might plan on them and mabie try for seahorses latter, i need to look at some at some LFS before i plan more i think, and i will be doing weekly WCs sence i have nothing better to do and i dont think i will be keeping all those fish yet but three for sure