Yes, ladies and gents I’m finally gonna venture out a little and do a little seahorse tank, since I still can’t redo my 220g yet. I’ve always wanted to do a seahorse tank for ever and now I have an opportunity since my other half feels sorry for me that I don’t have anything to do around the house, hehehehehe.
I have a 29g biocube on order and will be here next week. Been researching on the ponies biotopes from food to substrate and type of plants that I can put in with them in the tank. I’m planning on getting some dwarf seahorse and pipefish to start with since the size of the tank will be too small for those other full size ponies.
Of course I’m a noob on this subject, maybe someone may have ideas or know of seahorse keeping tricks. I’m here to learn and listen.
having had some sh for the past 4 years , here are a few tricks I learned along the way:
a. you’re better off buying tank-raised. they are already eating Mysis so you do not have to train them,
b. the size tank , a 28 with not alot of lr will be fine, if I were you, I would reconsider doing drawf 2 pairs
of sh .
c. keep the temp on the cool side, keeps the chance of bacterial infections down.
d. lastly, sh do like flow in the tank, mine loved getting a ride in the flow, like kids and a sliding board. I had a mj 1200 in the tank and they loved it.
sh only live about 2 to 3 years, so if you can buy them young you are better of.
Thanks for the advice dropin. More questions for ya.
Buying tank raised I’m guess buying from reputable online dealers is the only way to go? I know LFS probably wouldn’t know where they get it from or how it was feed.
Did you have dwarf or what type did you have? I hear erectus are the easiest to keep. But of course I only have 29g biocube I will only be able to keep 1 pair of the larger type seahorse.
That sounds good about some tank flow,. SH are not strong swimmers, but a little bit of current allows them to surf around the tank on the flow and catch their food. plus gives them oxygen when they hang onto a stem in a current. otherwise, like fish in a still tank, they get tired swimming rather than gliding, and fall flat on the bottom.
and maybe this one. dont know where they are located though.
Thanks Ken for the info and links. There are lots of info on them, good to know info. I can wait till the meeting Ken to get the prolifera from you. The tank is up and running cycling as we speak. Would you know anyone have any sea/turtle grass around? Thanks again.
Mine were erectus that I got from DPA when Charlie had them. he doesn’t stock them anymore,so online will be the place to get them.2 pairs will be fine for a 29 gallon tank as long you don’t load up on lr. also, I would start a copepod breeding program before you put the sh in,. that way they have something to snack on when hungry. I only fed mine once a day with a turkey baster. trained them to come up and take from the baster, that way you can see them up close so to spot anything that is not right.
Thanks again dropin. I can get erectus from my LFS here. However, you don’t know what you’re getting. Of course the price is right and less on shipping cost. I may go this route and see what I can do and learn from it. What would this hobby be if you don’t live and learn from it and of course the challenges.
Can you keep shrimps with sea horses? Something like a pair or trio of peppermints? I always kept lots of shrimps in my reef tanks so they would breed and let the babies out into the water column. The fish and corals would always have something to snack on since I had a couple of different sets of breeding types.
I think they would also help clean up any leftovers.
Just don’t know if there would be any issues between the shrimps and horses.
I saw that feeding contraption before when I was researching info on the seahorse, seems pretty cool. I may try to make one if my seahorses will be feeding on frozen mysis.
Sea Grasses, like Turtle grass have special needs, like high lighting, deep, mature fine sand beds for the roots and lots of nutrients. a bit more persnickedy than simple macro algeas. here is some info.
But if you want a more in depth explanation of growing Sea grasses, you should read this published article by a former DRC member and UD Marine Biology grad, Sarah. She once gave this presentation to our club meeting back then. Most Exceptional! I never forget it. Sea grasses are very prodigious consumers of tank nitrogenous and phosphorous waste. but have their own special needs.
If you want to use sea grasses for a fuge, you will have to make a special set up of deep, live sand bed and high intesity lighting. and perhaps a few extra nutrients that might be lacking.
But it could be an extraordinary, cutting edge system! Few people use honest to goodness Sea Grasses. A sea grass fuge on the side of the tank, could be just as interesting and beautiful as the SH tank. a planted garden, perhaps with some shrimp. Or?
Wow, after reading Sarah’s article; I’m guessing sea grass in this 29g tank will not be suffice for it needs. I’ll just stick with those other prolifera macro algaes.