Starting up my first reef tank (seahorses to come)

[madspy1337]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum as well as to the hobby of keeping an aquarium, so I was hoping to get some feedback on my prospective tank set up.

First of all I want to say that I am quite drawn to the idea of keeping seahorses, but I know that starting off with them is probably a bad idea. I've been doing my research on seahorse.org and other sites, and I don't think I want to start with seahorses right away. My plan for now is to get a basic saltwater aquarium going for a while and then once I'm comfortable with this I'll see about getting some ponies.

I would like to be able to add the seahorses to the existing tank, so I would like to have fish, snails, macro algae, maybe coral that would be able to coexist with seahorses.

My questions are:
What is a good source for tanks and filters? Preferably a website with cheap/free shipping. I would like a 20-30g (tall) tank, so that it would be a natural fit for the future horses.

What fish would coexist well with seahorses? And how many should I include in the tank? I've seen lists of good tankmates for seahorses, but some people think that they do not work so well because they spread pathogens. Maybe if I limit them to 1 or 2 peaceful fish...

Finally, is it even a good idea to drop seahorses into an existing reef tank? Or should I have a separate tank just for the ponies?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rayjay]

IMO, have a separate tank for the seahorses and it will give you better odds of success.
While some have lucked in keeping other fish with seahorses, the vast majority of those who try have failed, at least in the eleven years I've been into the hobby. The pathogen possibility is there whether or not the "1 or 2 peaceful" fish are added as it only takes one to have pathogens that the seahorses haven't grown up with, and are not resistant to.
While the big nemeses of nasty bacteria and pathogen transfer are very real threats, they are not absolutes to failure, but IMO are enough of a risk to no longer attempt them.
A 20g tank would be of no use as the minimum recommended tank size for ONE PAIR of standard seahorses is 29/30g with an additional 15g needed for each additional pair added. Of course, if you DO add other fish, you need increased volume for them as well. This means of course that even your 30g choice would be too small.
There are links at the BOTTOM of My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping that provide a lot of insight into experience seahorse keepers advice.

 

[madspy1337]

Thanks for the advice! My issue is that I don't want to commit to getting seahorses until I'm more knowledgeable about how to best care for them. I would like to have a reef tank in the meantime that I can later transition to a seahorse tank.

I was thinking of setting up a tank with some coral, macro algae, hermit crabs and snail/shrimp cleanup crew. Would this be a safe way to avoid pathogens?

Also, does anyone know a good source for seahorses? Seahorsesource seems to be out of stock, and Ocean Rider is out of my price range...

 

[rayjay]

Dan at seahorsesource.com has erectus now, just not at sexable stage, but by the time you are ready they will be. Also he will soon have more hybrids available.
There is no place better to buy from, so it's worth the wait even if you were to be ready right now.
If you haven't already started, you are probably looking in the range of two months before the tank is up and ready for livestock of any kind.
As for setting up a reef tank, it can be done sooo many ways, that you just have to research and find the way you would like to set up, and then just consider the seahorses when adding any specific coral/fish/invert. This means too that you have to consider the survivability long term of whatever you add when temperatures are kept in the suggested 68° to 74°F recommended for seahorses.
As for avoiding pathogen transfer, you can't totally eliminate it without having a sterile tank set up, but the greatest risk comes when adding fish, even different seahorses from different breeding sources.
Someone else will have to chime in on contents for a seahorse tank as I only have macro in any of mine. No corals, no hermits, no shrimp, no snails, and no other fish.

 

[Rekay]

I'm just following along as I am interested to starting a seahorse tank once I have relocated