starting a seahorse tank?

[Fredfish]

I belong to a local salt water club. Someone always has extra they are willing to give away.

You will definately want to secure that rock. Falling rock involving a seahorse would be very sad.

When I had my reef, it took a while to get my rock secured so it wouldn't fall. In the end, I found a masonary drill bit and fiberglass rod for pegs worked the best.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

Right now i just turned my heater as high as itll go so i'll wait a bit and see what temp it balances out at.

I did some aquascaping and actually am pretty happy with how it came out. I'm going to defintly need to figure out a way to secure before i put in any livestock. Maybe some type of glue? That way i do not have to drill the rock. I'm debating if i should buy anymore branch rock or just some shelf\base rock? what do you think?

bit better shot of that mystery stuff on my big piece of rock

Any idea what this is? Its about 1".

and just a shot of the "pillar"

I found www.marineflora.com that sells rather cheap algae but shipping is 28$, now i'll use them if i cant find any others but any other online retailers you guys like.

 

[fishymann]

any guesses at what this could be? Theres 2 or 3 "groups" of it on one rock in my display, my guess (with no experience) would be an macro?

 

[fishymann]

found out it was halemeda. quick question (which may be an obvous one?) since this stuff was shipped and out of water for 4 days is anything that was living on the rock (coral, macro algae...) going to be able to come back to life or is it all just dead and going to die off?

 

[c-horseman]

halameda is macro, and will sap the calcium from your water... and hitchickers will still be in your rock, as there are pockets of water they could live in i think...

 

[fishymann]

so should i get liquid calcium and add it to the water or is it not worth it since im cycling the tank and it'll die because of the ammonia

 

[ann83]

you are fine. there will be die-off on the rock. not everything will die, but some will, and this will help start the ammonia for your cycle. don't worry about dosing calcium, just cycle your rock like normal.

 

[c-horseman]

sorry i meant halimeda in large quantities will sap calcium, which it will grow to in the right conditions... halimeda doesn't grow as fast as grape or chaeto, but it does grow.

 

[fishymann]

alright thanks i dont wanna start trying to do to much at once so for now im focusing on cycling. Should i bother feeding the tank or should i just let the die off of the rock act as the ammonia source

 

[fishymann]

worked on securing the rock today, aquamend and super glue ahh now my basement smells very strange with the mix of those two things and the rock being taken outa the tank. I'll update you guys once im all done with the aqua scaping using what i have. Also do you think i should have more rock since right now theres only 30lbs for around 50gallons of water?

 

[fishymann]

anyone? I'm trying to figure out if i should get more rock so i can get it soon so i dont have to cure it outside the tank.

 

[ann83]

It is entirely up to you. I personally like more live rock. It provides extra biological filtration which helps with how messy seahorses are, and I like the copepods and stomatella and other little critters that come with it. As long as you have more room in your sump for some LR, I'd get some more for it, or if there is a piece you think would look nicely in the display. Also, think about the tankmates you plan on getting and figure out if they are going to need anything, like a cave-like piece to hide in, or more LR for a copepod population.

 

[Fredfish]

Yup, entirely your choice. I am at the other end of the spectrum from ann83. I have maybe 20lb of rock in a 40g tank.

 

[fishymann]

okay, since im using a sump i wasnt sure if 30lbs would be enough for biological filtration. I think i may order a few more pieces and if they dont fit well in the display put them in the sump.

My lfs had mandarins but they weren't green they were like red and green. Is there anyway i could keep one of these in with the seahorses or am i asking for trouble?

I like the firefish but i think the tank would be sort of empty with a firefish and two seahorses.

 

[ann83]

Mandarins will hide mostly, so they aren't really going to add a lot of movement to the tank, if that is what they are looking for. I'd also wait until your aquarium is fully matured and make sure you have a lot of LR. Some mandarins are easy to train to frozen, and some will never eat frozen, so that is something that you are risking. Since you ideally want to quarantine everything before you put it in your SH aquarium, you will also want to have a fully matured quarantine tank with LR and a large copepod population if the mandarin isn't already eating frozen in the LFS. Without a very mature system with LOTS of copepods, your mandarin would have to eat frozen to survive.
I'd suggest getting the seahorses, get used to caring for them and what they need, and then after a while of success with the seahorses, start adding tankmates one at a time. Plus, seahorses aren't territorial the way other tankmates are, so you have a better chance of having them get along with the tankmates if the seahorses are established in the system first.

 

[fishymann]

I love the look of the mandarin thats the main reason i asked. When i was talking to the guy at the LFS he said they eat frozen and are great fish. I won't even think about getting one till the tank is majored more.

One thing i want some help with is this; i was thinking to first add the fish (one or two) that way i can make sure the tank is in prestine condition before going out for the big buy of the seahorses, that will also allow me to setup a feeding schedule and such.

So one firefish, what else would be okay? Its only a 37 so its not huge but i would think itd be sort of empty with 2 seahorses and just one other fish.

 

[whatnot45]

Why not get more seahorses?

You could get a pair of firefish... they do pair bond. And, or after your tank has established, you could get some more seahorses. In a 37 gallon tank w/ a sump, you could probably get at least 2 or 3 pairs of normal sized seahorses.

 

[fishymann]

I can pair firefish? Hmm thought i read that they will attach eachother. I'm contemplating a second pair of horses but that wont be added until much after (prices :\) Also i've read a lot about pouch problems so would i be okay to go with all females?

 

[fishymann]

im starting to get some goldish algae on my largest rock, this is good right ?

 

[whatnot45]

Yes it is 100 percent ok to go with just females, but you will miss out on all the dancing, and flashing colors during mating, and you wont get the chance to rear fry... But yea its compleatly ok. As for the algae, its completely normal for a cycling tank