Which seahorse is best for 29g Biocube?

[syemeni2]

Hello,

I have been reading and thinking hard for the last couple of weeks. If you can help me out of your own experience, it would be greatly appreciated.

I am planning to modify a 29g Biocube HQI lighting system to accommodate seahorses and mandarins. Ultimately, I do not want to have a separate copepod culturing tank or use frozen mysis shrimp to maintain my seahorses. Seahorses are my priority while setting this setup. You can find the mods at the end of the post.

Live Stock:

Fish:
-4 Hippocampus Erectus (2 sunbursts and 2 mustangs from seahorse.com)
-1 Red Mandarin Dragonet Goby
-1 Green Mandarin Dragonet Goby

Invertabrates:
-6 Fire Shrimp or Peppermint shrimp
-X turbosnails
-Red Fromia Starfish
-a Tube worm

- 45lbs liverock

Plants:
-6 Shaving Brush for the main tank
-Cheato for refugium

Corals:
-Sun Polyps
-Yellow toadstool Leather Coral
-Pulsing Xenia
-Orange Ricordia Mushroom
-Green Ricordia Mushroom
-Armor of God Zoanthids

I am planning to culture AlgaGen Tisbe, Tangerine and Salania Moina copepods in the refugium and main tank.

Setting:
After the tank cycles with liverock, add chaeto, add shaving brush and copepod cultures. Add corals slowly for the next two months and keep building up the copepod populations.

2 months after cycling add the mandarins.

4 months after cycling add the seahorses.


Here are my concerns about my intended setup:

-The tank is 16" high and I am worried that Hippocamus Erectus may be a big species for my tank. Or 4 seahorses may be too much????

-Would the copepod population in the tank be enough the feed the seahorses and mandarins with no intervention? Or do I need to use frozen mysis shrimp or a separate copepod culture?

-Are 2 mandarins just overstocking or can I just maintain them with the intended setup?



Modifications:
-Block the bottom water intake in the main tank.
-Convert the 1st and the 2nd compartments to overflow reservoirs by pasting plexiglass pieces and cutting the top of the separations.
-use the 2nd compartment as refugium filled with cheato.
-Use a eheim 1048(160gph) pump to suck the water from the 3rd compartment pass it through a nanochiller(Arctica Titanium 1/15hp) and UV sterilizer(coralife 18 Watts). Then plug it back to the main tank output.
-Use the 1st compartment for filter pads and active carbon

 

[rayjay]

Wow, this is so bad it sounds like a troll.
To start with, the tank is only suitable for a pair of seahorses of standard size like reidi or erectus and no other tankmates.
You have to feed something, frozen mysis or live foods as the tank will not support even one seahorse without feeding even if you leave it for a year before adding a seahorse.
A mandarin should not be placed in a tank that size without knowing that it will eat frozen foods or food that you can add to keep it alive. Two just makes it that much worse, and in with seahorses that eat the same foods it make it even more impossible.
The starfish when grown is not suitable either IMO as it's an omnivore and can be large enough to latch on to a seahorse.
If you are NOT trolling, then check out the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping".
Those links will provide you with better information that you seem to have had so far.

 

[syemeni2]

Thanks for the answer and sorry for trolling : ).

I am new to asking questions in a forum to begin with. And I am a little bit too full with questions.

 

[rayjay]

Any questions not answered from the links at the bottom of that page you can ask again here.

 

[syemeni2]

I am not exactly sure that you have read my post carefully. : )

For the food, I will have AlgaGen Tisbe copepod cultures in the main tank and refugium.

The info provided in your page points out to three things. I need to keep my water temperature low. I need to find true tank bred species. I need to have 10-15 times/hour water circulation in the tank.

My system will include an Arctica Titanium 1/15hp chiller which I hope will keep the temperature ~71F. Given that my apartments is a constant 69F, it should not be too big of a deal.

I will have about 6 times/hour water circulation and I will get the seahorses from a US breeder(www.seahorse.com or www.seahorsesource.com)

What do you think?

 

[DanU]

Tisbe copepods are great for fry but too small for larger seahorses. Having a seahorse try to sustain itself on copepods is like you trying to eat rice one grain at a time. The primary diet of larger seahorses are the various species of shrimp and amphipods. Seahorses eat a lot. A pair can consume up to a cube of mysis per feeding. Do that 3 times a day and it adds a tremendous bioload. Most people could not even begin to produce enough copepods even in a specific culture to equal the same mass. Anyway, my point is that the copepod population will not be enough if the seahorses even eat them.

Also, keep in mind, seahorses are not reef fish. Think estuary. Some live rock is beneficial, but I find seahorses do best when there is plenty of open area in the tank. Most folks worry about height, but they need horizontal space just as much. My favorite way to setup a seahorse tank is to have it big enough to add some rock but fill in the rest of the area with macros. When this is done, you find they will hang out in the macros.

Dan

 

[Damsels01]

Im pretty sure your tank is only big enough for a pair of those erectus seahorses thats the limit....also with all the stuff you are adding (45lb liverock, etc.) you will have less then 29 gallons when your done because the water level rises as you put stuff in it. if i were you i would lower the amout of live rock and maybe rethink all the stuff you want to add because it takes up space and you will be spending a ton on all of this....

 

[spieszak]

I think the tank is too small for even one mandarin, let alone two...and a couple of months is not long enough to establish enough pods for one...6plus months might be but not with other things competing for food.
I've found info on seahorses pretty hard to come by, but mostly because I don't know the search keywords well enough I think...the info on mandarins i've had no problem with...
I hope you find some better info.....

 

[syemeni2]

Thanks a lot for the comments. It was really I opening. I have never had copepod cultures and mandarins before. Especially, thinking about three mysis shrimp cubes/ bioload brought me back to earth.

How would you stock a 29g biocube with HQI lighting system?

Thanks again for all the comments.

 

[rayjay]

I've found info on seahorses pretty hard to come by, but mostly because I don't know the search keywords well enough

In the links at the bottom of the page I posted above will give you all the basics you need pretty well and if you want further information, it can ALL be had through those sites the links are too.

 

[rayjay]

www.seahorsesource.com)

What do you think?

I KNOW you can't go wrong with that breeder.

 

[pledosophy]

For a 29g Biocube I would look at stocking something like:

1 pair of fuscus or barbouri seahorse ( they are a bit smaller then other species)
2 peppermint shrimp (helps clean and remove pests like aiptasia)
1 twinspot also called two spot goby (helps eat uneaten food on sand)
1 clown goby (small fish little bioload but adds some diversity)
Maybe later if you still have food on the sand go with a yellow watchmen goby and a pistol shrimp combo.

2 astrea snails
2 cerith snails
2 nassaurius snails
2 nerite snails

Corals something like:
photosynthetic gorgonias (non white polyps)
branching style leather like a sinularia or kenya tree
xenia if you like it
ricordias are good
zoa do nothing but are nice to look at if you like.

Plants
Pick a few slow growing ones like:
sargassum
red grape
ochotodes
ulva
codium

and one fast growing one like
prolifera (my choice)
fern
green grape

That will give you a mix of colors, textures, and a diversity of life that will all work together to get your system in a balance.

JMO

 

[small alien]

That sounds like good advice except the twinspot goby. They're virtually impossible to keep. Have you had one?

 

[amazo]

Mandrain's are tough I have one in my 2 year old 55gal. who is doing quiet well but every once and awhile i have hatch brine shrimp for him if he starts getting skinny,they also don't do well with other of the same kind unless they have plenty of room and of course pods (I'm not sure i'd do 2 in 120 w/ a refuge) plenty of these little guys starve to death.I've been thinking of reworking the tank but don't want to disturb him.

 

[namxas]

If you're running a plug-n-play tank with HQI's, you're definitely going to need a chiller. Most PNP's run right around 80*F or more without the MH lighting. You'll be looking for 74*F max.

As for where to get your SH...definitely go with SH Source.

 

[pledosophy]

That sounds like good advice except the twinspot goby. They're virtually impossible to keep. Have you had one?

Ya, I kept one for 5 years before selling it when I moved out of state. I think they are great for seahorse tanks because they clean the poop and left over foods off the sand. I plan on getting a pair for the 120g I am setting up now. I am a little leary about the pair, but I am fairly certain I can get them in as mated through a friend. Easy fish to keep IME.

I would also agree with no Manderin in a 29g IME. I do have a manderin now in my reef, but it is a 125g with two different refugiums (65g and 34g) and I still supplement the foods.

100% agree on the chiller, but that is for any tank where the room temp can fluctuate IMO. Maybe if you went LED light as opposed to the HQI then you could get a smaller chiller depending on where ya live.