Small Seahorse Tank

[dalilgriffith]

I would like to setup a small seahorse tank. Like a 20g XH or something, for breeding purposes. What kind of equipment would you suggest. I know they dont like a lot of flow. I also know they need a lot of live food until they will except frozen.

How big of tank do they need. I've seen Kellogi in a 33g solana.


Forgive my ignorance Reef != Seahorses.

 

[SaylorsReef]

What species? I recommend captive bred that have been trained to eat frozen mysis, then you won't have to worry about the live food.

 

[dalilgriffith]

Breed is not important. What fits, I'll get. I was looking for equipment.

 

[rayjay]

The only one that might work for you, but it's still tight, and that is a pair of H. fuscus.
Anything like reidi, erectus, or other horses that size need a minimum 30g for a pair, 45g for two pair.
Tall is better to give more rise time to transfer eggs to the pouch.
Kelloggi in a 33g is A tight fit because they are a larger horse and a slightly larger tank would be much better, especially taller, that is, if they are indeed kelloggi, as many sold under this name are NOT in fact kelloggi.
Fry produce by benthic seahorses like Southern erectus would be easier to raise than pelagic fry like reidi produce.
I don't know what your knowledge base is for seahorses so just in case, I'll post my page which has a lot of quality links below my musings on the page.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

 

[ctenophors rule]

The only one that might work for you, but it's still tight, and that is a pair of H. fuscus.
Anything like reidi, erectus, or other horses that size need a minimum 30g for a pair, 45g for two pair.
Tall is better to give more rise time to transfer eggs to the pouch.
Kelloggi in a 33g is A tight fit because they are a larger horse and a slightly larger tank would be much better, especially taller, that is, if they are indeed kelloggi, as many sold under this name are NOT in fact kelloggi.
Fry produce by benthic seahorses like Southern erectus would be easier to raise than pelagic fry like reidi produce.
I don't know what your knowledge base is for seahorses so just in case, I'll post my page which has a lot of quality links below my musings on the page.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

wheres he gonna get fuscus in north america? wasn't scott (scootertdi) the last breeder?

also if your focusing on breeding than you will want to make sure that your seahorses are benthic, much easier to rear. check MOFIB for info.

oh another species you might wanna check into, and it may be easier to get cause ora has started breeding them H. Barbouri.

 

[rayjay]

As there have been a couple of postings this year about people who have purchased fuscus, someone must have them occasionally or they are being misidentified.
I know a lot of people have been looking for them but I've not seen a definite sale location at this time.
H. barbouri are nice looking seahorses and I love mine, but I wouldn't recommend them as a starter if only for the fact that many of the males, (and all that I've owned) have pouch problems that sometimes need continual evacuations and flushings.
Erectus seem to be the most recommended starter seahorse producing benthic fry, and reidi are the most common pelagic fry producers sold judging by the posts on the org.
I haven't raised erectus yet myself but hope to in the coming year.
I raise reidi fry as that is the seahore species I started with myself.
As for information on seahorse breeding, or for that matter, on anything pertaining to keeping seahorses, MOFIB does not have near the information nor have the numbers of quality people to help that the seahorse.org site has, but if you are looking for information beyond seahorses, as in culturing copepods for instance, then MOFIB is a great site with many scientific scholars participating.

 

[lucycat]

As there have been a couple of postings this year about people who have purchased fuscus, someone must have them occasionally or they are being misidentified.
I know a lot of people have been looking for them but I've not seen a definite sale location at this time.
H. barbouri are nice looking seahorses and I love mine, but I wouldn't recommend them as a starter if only for the fact that many of the males, (and all that I've owned) have pouch problems that sometimes need continual evacuations and flushings.
Erectus seem to be the most recommended starter seahorse producing benthic fry, and reidi are the most common pelagic fry producers sold judging by the posts on the org.
I haven't raised erectus yet myself but hope to in the coming year.
I raise reidi fry as that is the seahore species I started with myself.
As for information on seahorse breeding, or for that matter, on anything pertaining to keeping seahorses, MOFIB does not have near the information nor have the numbers of quality people to help that the seahorse.org site has, but if you are looking for information beyond seahorses, as in culturing copepods for instance, then MOFIB is a great site with many scientific scholars participating.

rayjay,can i ask what you use to flush your barbs with ,i have had the same problem with mine and have flushed with diamox and antibiotics,but on a program here a zoovet did a flush with a solution that he said would be a long term fix .but he didnt say what it was and when i contacted his surgery they wanted a $80 consultation fee thats over the phone without even the price of the solution.

 

[rayjay]

I have to use just new salt water as over here, I can't even get Diamox because no vet will prescribe for me.
That too is why I have to repeatedly do it about once a week give or take a day or so.
I was wondering, if I WAS able to get the Diamox, would it not be better to do a full Diamox treatment in hospital tank as well as the pouch flush as from what I've read, the cause is an internal imbalance and needs a longer solution that the speedy pouch flush to rectify for the long term?
I'll have to re-read from the "Working Notes" book I recently purchased via the seahorse.org shop to see if there is something definitive about it.
It's a great book to have on hand although at my age there are parts that I can't say I understand when I've read it.
With my poor memory though, it is a real asset to have on hand and not have to go online to read about whatever problem I might encounter.

 

[esnailme]

fuscus are available in north america

 

[Mr. Walden]

Breed is not important. What fits, I'll get.

Breeds are not the issue. Species are the issue. I think about the only species that you would be able to do much breeding in that size of tank would be h. zosterae, dwarf seahorses.

 

[rayjay]

H. fuscus when available would be OK for a 20g tank.
At this time, I'm not aware of any captive bred H. fuscus available in North America.
While a couple of sites list them, they are out of stock.
I believe there are problems getting them to continue producing fry.