I currently have an 8 gallon aquarium with a pair of very young Hippocampus Kuda seahorses (they are approximately an inch and a half) along with some macroalgae, soft coral, sponges, and a few tiny hermits and snails. This tank is approximately 2 years old, although I just got the seahorses about a week ago. There are no other fish in the tank, and the seahorses are doing very well. They are captive bred and eating frozen Mysis. I know this is a VERY small tank for seahorses (as I have raised seahorses before), and I plan on buying a 29 gallon biocube tomorrow. My question is, would it be better to cycle my new tank from scratch, or attempt to move everything over at once? I do plan to move the live rock, sponges, soft corals, and plants from the 8 gallon to the 29 along with the seahorses, but I'm not sure if it would be better to do this slowly or all at once. I don't plan on moving the sand, as I'm going to use the 8 gallon tank still for a couple of very small fish. In the past, I moved seahorses, live rocks, corals, plants, and sponges from a mature 12 gallon tank to a brand new 20 gallon tank. I did not move the sand as I thought it would recycle the tank. I bought some new live sand in a bag. Should I attempt this again, or just let the new tank stabilize and cycle over the next few months before moving everything? What would be the best route? These seahorses are still very young and small, and I don't want to stress them out.
Upgrading to larger seahorse tank. Advice?
- Thread starter lorsinger
- Start date
There are varying opinions on how to cycle but for me, after having problems starting out, I now start every seahorse tank from scratch with boiled rock and ammonium chloride to cycle. I use artificial decor as well.
You can read about my thoughts and from the links at the bottom of the page, opinions of some others on topics for best chances of success in keeping the seahorses.
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/seahorsekeeping.html
You can read about my thoughts and from the links at the bottom of the page, opinions of some others on topics for best chances of success in keeping the seahorses.
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/seahorsekeeping.html
pledosophy
Active member
If you are not adding any rock, then I think it would be just fine IMO.
Personally I might wait a little while if I had the time. Add a few pieces of rock, let the new sand settle. But that is up to you.
Look into those cubes to see if you can control the temp properly is my biggest advice. A couple tweaks makes a huge difference with those.
I moved from an 18g to a 48g straight across without issue. Also did a 48 and a 65, 34 to a 65, and a 65 to a 125.
Personally I might wait a little while if I had the time. Add a few pieces of rock, let the new sand settle. But that is up to you.
Look into those cubes to see if you can control the temp properly is my biggest advice. A couple tweaks makes a huge difference with those.
I moved from an 18g to a 48g straight across without issue. Also did a 48 and a 65, 34 to a 65, and a 65 to a 125.
namxas
Things With Stings R Us!
I STILL laugh at the fact you let a couple of strangers come over and start drilling holes in your brand new 65 gal tank...
lorsinger,
Kevin (pledosophy) knows his stuff in terms of setting up systems, so he's a good person to heed...he's not called the "Flow King" for nothing!
pledosophy
Active member
I STILL laugh at the fact you let a couple of strangers come over and start drilling holes in your brand new 65 gal tank...
When you got there is when I started having second thoughts :lol2:
My new tank will be here on Wednesday, you should come up
When you got there is when I started having second thoughts :lol2:
My new tank will be here on Wednesday, you should come up
Can I come too? :lol2:
If your horses are that small, keep an eye on them in the new tank to make sure they don't get stuck to the grade on the overflow. That would be my concern.
As far as moving them, just make sure all the sand has settled and you have the rocks in place before you add the horses. I would put the horses in a temporary tank while you move the rocks from the one tank to another and then let everything settle before putting the horses in. The less stress on the little guys, the better.... make sure to post pics so we can see them.
