Sharing my Seahorse tank with you all

[finding nemo]

Hi bunny, thanks so much, I bought them from Reefermadness.
They only had 4 when I bought them 2 months ago, I lost 2 of them right off as were very small. Then I lost another when it went up the feed tube, now I don't leave it in the tank, then they got three more in and I bought them.
I know I have a male and female so far, not sure about the smaller ones.
The largest is only 4" or so long, not sure how big they will get, but I hope they don't get much bigger as I like the smaller ones.
I like your way of thinking on keeping tanks. So many people go way overboard on there tanks, but then I do not keep any hard corals to speak of that would need all of that stuff.
I keep all softies. You can see my 125 tank under large tanks section titles "Sharing my 125 with you"
It to is all natural, no sumps, I also have a 75g and a 15 tall.
So I guess I am addicted

 

[LFS_worker]

very cool! one of the better ones Ive seen

 

[kpc01]

Looks good...any details on how you made, and how you feed using the butter container. I am wanting to make something similar for our tank. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[finding nemo]

Hi Kpc, happy to tell you how it is made, quite simple actually.
You can use any flat back container that will fit up against the glass.
I used a butter dish. plastic. Took my ice pick, metal and heated it on the stove for a few seconds to make the tip red hot, then I burned a hole in it for a suction cup I had from an old shower caddy.
Then while it was still hot I made a hole on each end big enough for an average size straw to to thru, then I ran a straw thru one end, into the cup and out the other. That is there hitching post to eat and they use it when ever they are eating, they just hook on and swing hanging upside down in the cup to eat.
When the food gets over a few hours old I take my turkey baster and blast it out for the bristleworms and bugs to eat.

For the mysis shrimp I bought a 1" round corner tube that comes in 3 feet sections.
I cut a 12" piece of it and use a heater hook with a suction cup on it to anchor it onto the glass hanging into the dish. I take a frozen piece of mysis shrimp, drop it in the tub, as it thaws it falls slowly into there dish where they are always watching it fall and waiting for it to come down into the dish.
Here are some pictures I took for someone else that wanted to know how it is made.
Hope it helps. I kind of like the butter label on it so I left it on But you can remove it of course

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/feederdirections.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

Tank with it in. Always remove the feeding tube after feeding as I lost a horse that went up in the tube and couldnt get out.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/6-10-06-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

One of the horses hitched to the straw eating.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/eating6-28-06.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

 

[finding nemo]

Forgot to mention, you can replace the straw when it gets dirty or do like I do and just put the whole thing up on the top shelve in my dishwasher and let it wash it all up then replace it back in the tank.

 

[kpc01]

Looks great! Thanks for the help, I didn't realize how well that would work but it looks awesome! I will try to get mine done soon.

 

[finding nemo]

Your welcome

 

[sarah14]

finding nemo seahorse tank

finding nemo seahorse tank

Hi Finding Nemo,
What a beautiful tank, i am very interested in having seahorses.
I would like to keep them in as natural a tank as possible.
Being in the uk i don't know if it would be the same.
I would prefer not to have a sump etc.
Im not planing on breeding as im new to saltwater keeping, so just want two single sex horses plus clean up crew no other fish.
My tank is about 27 uk gallons, i will have live rock, live sand and macro, do you think this would be ok for your natural way of keeping seahorses.
Sorry if this is a silly question
I have had a lot of very helpful advice, everyone has been so kind and patient with me as im a total newbie.
Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[finding nemo]

Hello Sarah, There are no silly questions so ask away. RC is the best place to learn anything you need to know about SW things.
As for keeping seahorses you really should have an established tank with lots of pods and bugs as that is what they eat in the wild.
But if you want to set one up you can do it.
Try to aquire live sand from someone that has a SW tank and also live rock.
Get some macro algae growing for water filtration.
The deaper the tank the better I have found, the lenght is not as important as the height of it.
I am not sure how many gallons 27UK gallons is but anything over a 30 gallon US would work great. Mine is a 45 gallon.
When you buy your horses get some that were tank raised, not wild caught as they will then be eating mysis shrimp usually and you can aquire that at most SW fish stores.
If you need any more help just post a note here or start a thread under the seahorse forum here at RC, there are many people here that have way more expierience then I have and have been raising them for many years, they will be a big help to you also to get you started.
I have had them on and off for about 5 years and have raised a few colts in my time but not near as many as some of the people here.
So best of luck to you and feel free to ask any questions you might have,
karen

 

[simoneau]

i am thinkin of starting a sea horse tank ( i wrote a thread on here called sea horse questions under simoneau) and i would like your advice because you like to do your tanks as natural as possible and thats the way i prefer to go also.so any advice you might have for me would be great!

 

[finding nemo]

Hi Somoneau, I am happy to answer any questions you might have, but my biggest suggestion is to have an established tank that has loads of pods growing in it, it is food for them and mine pick around the rock all day long looking for them.
They never go hungry that way.
Read the other threads under seahorses hear, there is so much advice and if you have questions, ask away, we are all here to help each other.
But I am happy to answer any questions you might have if I know the answer

 

[simoneau]

thank you so much!i am going to wait untill i know plenty about sea horses and my tank if fully established.what kind of sea horses do you have/had?will any of them eat frozen?

 

[finding nemo]

Good morning Simoneau. I have three Hippocampus Mohnikei horses.
They are young so not sure of the sex yet.
They eat frozen mysis that I drop into the tube and settles into there feed dish when it thaws.
I used to breed them and am just getting back into them again.

 

[simoneau]

what do you think is a good breed to keep in my 7g?and do you think they would eat frozen also?

 

[finding nemo]

Morning Simoneau, I think that you would only be able to keep the dwarfs in a tank that small and they require live baby brine shrimp,
I wouldnt put anything in the way of seahorses in a tank under 15 gallon myself.

 

[looser]

finding nemo - I'm in a bit of bind and it sounds like you might be willing and able to help.

I have a relative that just got back from Hawaii and thought he would buy me a cool gift for my tank and had a pair of live seahorses shipped to me. Without being judgmental (he just didn’t know any better), any tips on trying to keep them alive?

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

I have a 75 gal refugium on my 225 gal tank. (well established) I took a small plastic trash can (like you might have under your desk), drilled a lot of holes in it so that water and pods can get into it, but the seahorses can’t get out, put it in my refugium, and acclimated the seahorses into it. That way I’m hoping they get enough to eat without wiping out my pod population. Then I put a couple of hands full of algae in the can so they have a place to hide and something to hang onto. Other than that I really don’t know what else to do.

Obviously is not the way I would have like to be introduced to raising sea horses, but that’s the situation I’m in. I’m doing what research I can to get up to speed on seahorses, but in the mean time any suggestions or other advice?

Any chance I could put them in my display tank? Any compatibility issues? Anything I should watch for or be careful of?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[finding nemo]

Hi Looser, gosh sakes, what a great gift but not good if you did'nt expect it.
Tell me what you have in your display tank? Fish and anemone wise.
There are many people that keep seahorses in there display but they have few if any fish and no anemones that would eat them.
The big problem with seahorses in a fish tank is that they are slow eaters (mysis) and the fish get to it all before the horses get to eat.
Anemones will also eat them as they are slow moving and could not break loose.
One thing you can do is keep them in your fuge, add loads of live rock and caulerpa and let them loose. (the horses) they will never clean out all of your pods if you give them plenty of places to hide and reproduce.
And if you feed mysis to them via a hitching post then they won't clean them out.
Best of luck to you.
If I can help any further please let me know or send a pm, always happy to help.

 

[looser]

Finding nemo - Thanks very much for the fast response and your willingness to help, and sorry about taking your thread off topic. You just seemed so willing to help that I thought I would ask.

Ya. . . it was a very nice thought for a gift....and I have thought in the past that it would be cool to try and keep some seahorses, but as you say.... not when I wasn't expecting it. But thankfully it sounds like I might not be in too bad a shape. I thought about just letting them go in the fuge, but wasn't sure how much they eat. I kind of depend on the fuge as a source of food for the display tank so I didn't want to chance it. I don't have any anemones in the display tank, just live coral (all differant types) For fish I have a tang, a pair of clowns, a small wrass, and a I think its called a Dotty Back? I also have a couple of bandit shrimp, and a couple of large bristle stars. I have about 150lbs of live rock in it. If you thought they would be ok maybe I'd give it a try after a few weeks if they seem to be doing well in my make shift home for them. I would just hate to see them starve to death. The thing with keeping them in my fuge is that its under my display tank and not condusive at all to viewing.

Hey...maybe if they do well it will be a good reason for me to start my own seahorse tank.

 

[Lacrosseboss18]

Very nice tank

 

[finding nemo]

Looser, give them a try in your main tank. Fix a feeder for them and see if you can train them to eat out of it. If you can, great. If not, you may have trouble with them getting enough. But if you have a lot of pods then maybe they would be ok.
But why not set up a seahorse tank. A 29 tall would be terrific for them.
Best of luck whatever you decide, they are fascinating animals.
Thanks Lacross.