Thinking of adding a seahorse

[hotelbravo]

I recently set up a 40 gallon in my home office and the only things in this tank are a few hermit crabs and a large assortment of macro algae. The original goal was just a macro algae tank with no fish. I have been toying with the idea to put 1 seahorse in there if the copepod population increases to a higher level

I have concerns that I would need to keep the water cleaner than desired for macro if I were to keep a seahorse but apart of me is thinking that the water quality would not be an issue if the macro is consuming all nutrients (bad and good) to grow.

What problems do y'all see with this? I know I currently keep the tank at 73°f I have heard seahorses like it even colder than that.

 

[ncaldwell]

My wife has some seahorses in a tank that I would consider "dirty". Just a bunch of macroalgea and trash corals. Only thing you need to worry about is flow and sometimes low lighting because algea grows on their skin

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[vlangel]

I recently set up a 40 gallon in my home office and the only things in this tank are a few hermit crabs and a large assortment of macro algae. The original goal was just a macro algae tank with no fish. I have been toying with the idea to put 1 seahorse in there if the copepod population increases to a higher level

I have concerns that I would need to keep the water cleaner than desired for macro if I were to keep a seahorse but apart of me is thinking that the water quality would not be an issue if the macro is consuming all nutrients (bad and good) to grow.

What problems do y'all see with this? I know I currently keep the tank at 73°f I have heard seahorses like it even colder than that.

Seahorses are very social fish and they should be in pairs. They are generally not happy being alone and some get downright depressed.

You are correct in thinking that the water needs to be cleaner than just for your macros. Actually to keep seahorses longterm it needs to be much cleaner because of their vulnerability to pathogenic bacteria. All detritus and excess food should be removed twice a week from filters. You need to be vigilant to make sure detritus and excess food are not being trapped anywhere in the display also. Dissolved organics need to be removed too so a large protein skimmer is advisable along with large weekly water changes, (around 25% is what I do). Your macros will still grow and thrive even with doing all that because seahorses put a tremendous bioload on their tanks.

Lastly crabs are not good roommates for seahorses. An inadvertant pinch can cause a skin infection. Snails are a better choice or perhaps a large peppermint shrimp. Small peppermint shrimp can end up being dinner. Other types of shrimp are not usually good choices as they can be over zealous about cleaning the seahorses and stress the ponies.

Sorry to point out so many problems but its best to know ahead of time what you are getting into. Treating sick seahorses is stressful and can end in heartbreak.

 

[rayjay]

My wife has some seahorses in a tank that I would consider "dirty". Just a bunch of macroalgea and trash corals. Only thing you need to worry about is flow and sometimes low lighting because algea grows on their skin

I'm sorry but IMO, this post is VERY misleading. While there are the occasional set ups that seahorses have survived in where conditions are not ideal for them, the greater majority of them will die in less than a year, and many in a matter of months, just because the habitat is not kept clean enough.
I started into the hobby in 2002 and the hobby knowledge has grown tremendously in that time period with the biggest fact being just how clean the water and habitat needs to be for best chances of success.

 

[hotelbravo]

Seahorses are very social fish and they should be in pairs. They are generally not happy being alone and some get downright depressed. okay so I would have 2 then

You are correct in thinking that the water needs to be cleaner than just for your macros. Actually to keep seahorses longterm it needs to be much cleaner because of their vulnerability to pathogenic bacteria. All detritus and excess food should be removed twice a week from filters. You need to be vigilant to make sure detritus and excess food are not being trapped anywhere in the display also. Dissolved organics need to be removed too so a large protein skimmer is advisable along with large weekly water changes, (around 25% is what I do)I have a protein skimmer rated for 150 gallons laying around I can use. Your macros will still grow and thrive even with doing all that because seahorses put a tremendous bioload on their tanks. well the original plan for the macro was to keep the water dirty to maximize nutrients to encourage more growth

Lastly crabs are not good roommates for seahorses. An inadvertant pinch can cause a skin infection. Snails are a better choice or perhaps a large peppermint shrimp. SmallI have no problem removing crabs they were just an experiment I'll go into detail below peppermint shrimp can end up being dinner. Other types of shrimp are not usually good choices as they can be over zealous about cleaning the seahorses and stress the ponies.I wouldn't want any shrimp in there anyways

Sorry to point out so many problems but its best to know ahead of time what you are getting into. Treating sick seahorses is stressful and can end in heartbreak.no problem I appreciate the advice

I do have another concern now. I didn't think about it before but I have been dosing flourish excel which is a freshwater plant additive but many people use them in the macro tanks to promote growth. However the issue is this additive contains trace levels of copper. The hermit crabs and a few snails were added to see how much copper would be in there and if it would affect inverts. So far everything is doing fine even copepods and amphipods despite the low levels of copper. But would a seahorse be affected by copper??

 

[rayjay]

Not a lot of help with the copper other than I KNOW that we don't EVER treat seahorses with copper because of their sensitivity to it. It may well be that the trace levels are low enough that the seahorses won't be affected negatively.
That being said, with seahorses, you probably won't have need of that additive once you have seahorses in the tank. The product is meant to provide organic compounds to replicate CO2 needs of the plant life, but seahorse tanks probably have suitable organics in the dissolved organics they tend to produce quickly as they snick, masticate, and pass minute particulate matter into the water column that quickly degrades into such organics. In fact, seahorses usually benefit from oversized skimmers on their tanks to remove dissolved organics, helping keep water quality up and bacteria disease influences down. With skimmers, coupled with extreme husbandry (compared to say a reef tank) and lower water temperatures (68° to 74°F) you have much better chances of success in the seahorse keeping hobby.