who is doing seahorses?

M

michaelg

New member
Robin- aren't you in the process of setting one up?
Anyone else?

I have a tank that was going to be my clownfish anenome tank until the day of disaster. It is a tall tank- a bit less than 30 gallons. It is sitting with live sand in it. I'm considering plumbing it into the 58 with it's own pump and setting it up for seahorses. I would have a 150W HQI lamp over it (already in the hood), and would plan for some gorgonians and some monti digitata. Other suggestions on life to stock the tank with? I want to have it running for 3-4 months before getting the horses. Can the Reidi's be kept with the dwarfs?
 
I'll make sure Robin sees this post but I beleive it is better to have dwarfs in their own tank (she prob. knows better than me). What about p;ipfish though Michael?
 
Seahorses I can get captive raised that have been weaned onto frozen foods- pipehorses to my knowledge are all wild caught still. I do love those fish though. I saw a pair in a display tank in Salt Lake City, and they had them for 3 years. It was a big tank and flourishing though- so must have been enough food to sustain them.
 
the one at union ahs been eating frozen mysis for months now. it is listed as tank raised. i believe they were going for 50 bucks each. good price considering what i have seen on line. and then after paying an arm for a sea horse you have to pay for shipping. seen some sites where the final cost of ordering and shipping a single tank raise seahorse exceeded one hundred dollars!

since i have such a love for otb/horse racing/saratoga i would have to name all my seahorses after my favorite thouroghbreeds.lol...you know like funnycide , cigar, fourstar dave, the impeckable secretariet....... and my current favorites not retired or dead Afleet Alex,Rockport Harbor, and I expect big things from Giacomo this year in the run for the roses! my tank would be called a stable not an aquarium and I would be the owner/trainer LOL! im nuts! races will begin everyday at noon in the tank...LMAO! sundays will be my darkday but will telecast Robin's track once she gets it up and running! he he he ha ha ha!
 
well pipe fish are closely related to seahorses. if your look at a pipefish it looks exactly like a sea horse just straighted out. very similair care envirnments/feeding habits
 
I have two redii, I keep a variety of macro with them.

Caulerpa (THe bladed kind that looks like grass)

Chaeto

Halimedia
 
Hi Michael,
As far as livestock compatible with horses, a good list can be found here:
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates.shtml

The seahorse.org site is a good site for seahorses info, I have learned a lot there....I did a lot of research, but think I am ready...just need the tank (have stand, lights, etc)

You are right in the concern about wild caught pipefish and captive bred seahorses.....there are many who don't think you should do it, not only because of the food issue, but because of the pathogens the wild caughts might have....but some do have them mixed with no problems.

As far as dwarfs and reidi....not a good idea, just because the dwarfs need the live baby brine shrimp and for feeding concentrations a 30 gal tank would be too big, they suggest a small tank for the dwarfs...they are cute though -- I had a 7 gal for the dwarfs. Also with dwarfs you shouldn't have live sand and rock due to hitchhikers (hydroids can kill a dwarf) Most people don't think you should mix any of the species in one tank. I'm still trying to decide which I want. I like the reidi and the kuda, but the erectus babies are easier to raise (and the erectus are the ones with the cirri, which can make the quite interesting)


One think I have been finding out though, is to go by the guidelines, but there is always someone doing what you "shouldn't" do and succeeding -- you never know LOL

Hope I helped

Robin

P.S. where are you getting them from??
 
I've known of seahorse.org from it's inception and have done a lot of reading there (and read that article at lunch today). Do acropora and montipora actually sting the horses, such that they wouldn't use them for latching onto? I have a small book on them as well. I've been thinking this through for 5 years now- ever since I saw that the place in Hawaii was selling captive bred ones that eat frozen food. Live food feeding a couple times a day was just way too daunting to me.

I am probably going to order them from DRACO in Baltimore. Jorge, the owner and former curator of the seahorse exhibit at the national aq in b-more, is awesome. Dr. Mac is also selling his horses, fwiw. What size tank are you looking for?
The petsmart by crosstowns had a 30 cube tank marked down to $99 (still pricey I know, but those are real nice tanks).
 
I thought you might be thinking of getting them from DRACO...Jorge is the one who I would have loved to go see at the WAMAS meeting....I like DRACO and also seahorsesource , DanU the owner has answered many questions for me, and has a wonderful rep. as does DRACO.

The only prob with the petsmart tank is that I already have a beautiful stand and canopy with lighting wired in....it will fit a 29 or 37 gal tank.....for the seahorses I was thinking on going for the 37 because of the height. I bought the stand/canopy from someone who had seahorses in it, but due to an accident with a dog collar (went flying I guess) the tank cracked....she ended up putting her horses in a different tank and sold everything else.

The live food feeding was my downfall witht he dwarves. Just couldn't keep up with it, especially with 2 small children. I actually got my first dwarves from the same person who sold me the stand etc. I know I will do better with horses that eat frozen, thus the reason I want the bigger horses. My kids are really excited that we are planning on having a seahorse tank!

Robin
 
Michael

Here's a couple ideas:

You could use a gorgonian, if you can find one hardy enough to take the seahorses climbing on it.

I keep the chaeto in my tank as a pod farm, which helps me with feeding. I am not however concerned with appearence of my seahorse tank.

I bought the redii from Union, they are captive bred and eat frozen Mysis/brine
 
micheal i too have been warned that sps corals are not good with sea horses.whether they sting them or not the sea horse can cause "lame" growth areas and thus possible issues like RTN. they always want to hold onto something. honestly like xian said fan corals are more natural.
 
Another idea is seagrasses.

I used to find tons of pipefish in the turtlegrass beds in Biscayne Bay when I was at UM.

There is an online vender that sells Turtle and Manatee grass I'll look around
 
Thanks for this great information. Matt- thought about turtle grass and maybe I'll give it a go- but it is extremely difficult to get to take hold and grow in an aquarium. I know a bunch of people who have tried down in Houston and in DC.

What corals would be OK to have in there- mostly for asthetics. Shrooms, polyps, Favids (?) or other bouldery corals? I plan to chat w/ DR mac and see what he gets in for rooted plants and what gorgonians he gets that will tolerate the horses the best.
 
Yeah seagrass is tough, but I figured you might have more luck than me

I would guess anything that won't sting them would be ok. (Xenia?)

I've been warned to look out for hydroids on live rock as well.
 
The hydroids are a real problem with the dwarves, and baby horses.......bigger horses don't seem to have a problem with them, except of course if your tank is overrun with them....."they" say live rock is ok with the bigger horses (kuda, reidi, erectus etc..) just be careful for hitchikers such as bigger crabs, shrimp and other such creatures that could grab ahold of a slow moving seahorse.

Tank set up, ie what to put in the tank as hitches is something I have been trying to figure out too....not sure what I am going to do. Here is a link to my gallery of a pic of my tank before it was broken down and sold to me
tank pic

Robin
 
Here is a thread on RC that has some different tank set ups...that's what I like to do, browse pics of other tanks to see what other people are doing to get ideas for my future tank.

seahorse tank thread

Robin
 
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