Species recommendation for 14hex

[Gopilosaurus]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of setting up a 14 hex for horses. Water column will be ~18 inches high and the diameter is 14 inches. I've modded an AC30 to hold heater and have a fuge compartment.

I'm looking for a species recommendation. One LFS recommended a H. erectus pair. -While the height would be ok, I think the over all volume would be on the small side. A more trusted source (coral farm) suggested a pair of dwarves.

The dwarves sound like the better option. When reading that a 5 gallon tank is recommended for a herd, is this tank too large for them? (Messy water from food?)

I'm absolutely wanting CB over WC and am setting up a pod cultures. It looks like I won't have space to set up a mysid shrimp culture so CB horses that will eat frozen would be great.

So what species and how many would you recommend? I still have the cycling time and pod cultures to get going so it's not a huge rush...unless I can get them into the QT while cycling DT finishes... :bounce3:

 

[rayjay]

I hate to be the one to tell you, but that size tank is NOT suitable for anything other than if you want to put 150 to 200 dwarf seahorses in it.
The minimum recommended tank size for a pair of standard seahorses is 29g, with an additional 15g required for each additional pair.
With dwarf adults being so small, (two or three will fit on a silver dollar) and the fact they don't normally hunt down their food, the density of live enriched brine shrimp nauplii has to be such that they get sufficient food passing by their snout that they can snick up without leaving their hitch. For that tank it would be an inordinate amount to work and the uneaten ones need to be removed before the next feeding and replaced with new enriched nauplii.
With standard standard seahorses, that size of tank would end up too polluted and cause bacterial infestations in the seahorses just because of their messy eating habits of eating only the best looking pieces, and, when they snick they masticate the food and pass particulate matter through the gills and into the water column.
You can learn more about seahorse keeping by clicking on the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping"

 

[Gopilosaurus]

I was afraid of that. I'm not crushed. It just means I get to set up another tank

Actually, I've got an empty 55 (currently a planted FW with no fish) so if I convert that to SW would a couple pairs of standard be OK in there?

 

[rayjay]

The 55 would be a good size for two pair of erectus or reidi or kuda, or comes, or barbouri.
With experience and enhanced husbandry you could work in 3 pair if the sump is holding at least 10 to 15 gallons of water.

 

[Gopilosaurus]

Thanks, rayjay. How terrible it is to have to set up another tank. It's just too bad that I happen to have almost everything I need laying around...