wrasse with seahorse?

seahorse.tank

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"¢ Carpenters Flasher Wrasse
"¢ Six Line Wrasse
"¢ Whip Fin Fairy Wrasse
"¢ Tricolor Fairy Wrasse
"¢ Long Fin Fairy Wrasse
"¢ Temminckii "Threadfin Fairy Wrasse"




Out of all of these fish, will any of these be good tankmates with my 2 seahorses in a 45 gallon tank? I need to get rid of my over populated tank with bristle worms.:D
 
If the tank is overpopulated with bristle worms then there is too much food for them.
That also means that your tank water is possibly deteriorating slowly and may get to the point of causing bacterial problems or internal chemical imbalances for your seahorses.
I personally wouldn't put any of those in any of my seahorse tanks, but perhaps some others have with luck.
The wrasse page isn't a big help but can give you somewhat of an idea.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/wrasse.shtml
The best rating on that page for any is 2, with no ones or zeros at all.
 
Thanks

Thanks

If the tank is overpopulated with bristle worms then there is too much food for them.
That also means that your tank water is possibly deteriorating slowly and may get to the point of causing bacterial problems or internal chemical imbalances for your seahorses.
I personally wouldn't put any of those in any of my seahorse tanks, but perhaps some others have with luck.
The wrasse page isn't a big help but can give you somewhat of an idea.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/wrasse.shtml
The best rating on that page for any is 2, with no ones or zeros at all.

thank you for the website and information!:bigeyes:
 
If the tank is overpopulated with bristle worms then there is too much food for them.
That also means that your tank water is possibly deteriorating slowly and may get to the point of causing bacterial problems or internal chemical imbalances for your seahorses.
I personally wouldn't put any of those in any of my seahorse tanks, but perhaps some others have with luck.
The wrasse page isn't a big help but can give you somewhat of an idea.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/wrasse.shtml
The best rating on that page for any is 2, with no ones or zeros at all.

That pretty much echoes what I told him in another thread.

The issue is that Seahorses are sensitive to infections brought on by fish along with the waste generated by them. Bacteria is a big thing with Seahorses and will kill them in a hurry. Further that, a wrasse isn't going to just eat bristle worms and will outcompete the Seahorses for food. In the end, I wouldn't plan on having long term success with Seahorses if your going to mix them with fish like that. Not unless you have a really clean system that is kept at low temps and is fed copious amounts of food. A shrimp and sea urchin or even a watchman are different. That said, hate the bristle worms all you want but they are self regulating and beneficial to your system as part of your cleanup crew. If you have an issue with too many bristle worms, you need to consider keeping a cleaner tank. There will only be as many bristle worms as there is waste for them to eat and a tank with excess waste will not provide a good long term home for your Seahorses.
 
How did you determine that you are feeding "just the right amount"?
A big problem with seahorses is that many, if not most, are VERY selective in the pieces they eat, leaving what they don't percieve to be perfect so that those pieces remain in the tank to be trapped in decor and around rocks etc..
If you don't have some way of removing this remaining food, the bristleworms will use it to feed their colonies to the point their population can get out of hand.
Some people use clean up crew, but for me, all my tanks are bare bottom and I siphon out the leftover crap, being diligent to disturb the decor/hitching to shake loose any trapped particles so I can remove them.
 
ok.

ok.

How did you determine that you are feeding "just the right amount"?
A big problem with seahorses is that many, if not most, are VERY selective in the pieces they eat, leaving what they don't percieve to be perfect so that those pieces remain in the tank to be trapped in decor and around rocks etc..
If you don't have some way of removing this remaining food, the bristleworms will use it to feed their colonies to the point their population can get out of hand.
Some people use clean up crew, but for me, all my tanks are bare bottom and I siphon out the leftover crap, being diligent to disturb the decor/hitching to shake loose any trapped particles so I can remove them.

What do you think we should have as a clean up crew?
 
That pretty much echoes what I told him in another thread.

A sand star would be one option that will help clean the sand and not compete with the horses. A scooter blenny or two would also be an option as well but they will go after free floating food as well although they aren't very aggressive. If it were me, I'd probably add one of each of those and possibly a few sand sifting snails. The reality is that what ever food you put in the tank is going to come out as waste. If it's collecting in the sand then too much food is going in. As such, you really need to manage your feeding. You might be better served using a feeding device like this as it will help you better manage your food.
http://www.atb-usa.com/product-p/atbsf.htm
 
Sand star will starve in a tank that size.
Scooters are dragonets, they need larger tanks.
Sand snails are fine, and something like a pompom crab could work. A porcelain crab would be good for filtering the fine bits out of the water. A pistol shrimp will help cut down on the worms a bit.
 
NO. Arrow crabs kill small creatures and slow-moving things. Seahorses are both.
No crabs aside from porcelain and maybe pom-pom crabs. Well, squat lobsters and acro crabs would also be fine due to the tiny size, as would the smallest types of hermits. Even emeralds can be dangerous to easily-caught fish.
 
fyi - i had a small - ~1.5" hitchhiker crab kill a a 5-6" seahorse - I had known it was in there, but didn't want to rip the tank apart to get out... the crab grabbed the seahorse, pulled it into a hole, i found it too late, eyes gone, dead... devastation. not worth the risk! porcelain crabs imho are all that you can have with them. I put a few periclimenes sp. shrimp in with them - they were devoured almost immediately. that said, imho, snails are great in a seahorse tank - esp ones that will eat all the leftover food...
 
My possum wrasse is living happily with the horses. And as for left over food, I have four peppermint shrimp in the tank to clean up any uneaten chunks while being constantly pregnant, so also providing a food source for the horses with their babies.
 
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