Dwarf Seahorse Tank Setup

rykna

rykna

Active Member
This is my #1 favorite set up for a pony tank:
A 15g Sterile Tank
Basic Set up Equipment:
15 gallon high tank
1 Compact Fluorescent Fixture 20inch/28watt
Submersible heater (precise setting)
Precise Thermometer(don't cheat like I do and use the stick on kind
I cover mine to prevent burnt little tails.
Auqaclear 110 for the main bio filter

Fluval for water movement

ANY INTAKE FLOW MUST BE COVERED!!!!
I like to use the foam covers.
example:

I have also used spray bars, which the ponies really liked.
And to lessen the flow I made covers similar to the one for the heater and had a lot of fun decorating it.

Tank landscaping:
Landscaping is mainly personal preference. Just keep in mind that ponies need lots of small hitching posts(HP).

I made many and used mostly artificial HP.

If you do want to use live HP I suggest gorgonians:

Substrate:
I bleached, boiled, and rinsed all of my LR and LS after devastating attack by aiptasia anemones. Hydroids are the #1 enemy of ponies. There are several ways to prevent hydroids from entering your tank, but I prefer to nuke them all and leave no chance for survivors. After sterilizing everything I have slow reseeded my pony tank with cultured pods.
CAUTION: Setting up a sterile tank means daily water checks and water changes every 2-3 days. It will take many months of reseeding your tank before you start to see any benefit from the "clean up crew" pods.
This was my first 15g set up:

I liked the tanks I set up later better. They were more realistic looking and much better HP for the ponies.
 
twist of lime

twist of lime

Member
Thanks for posting this! Are the seahorses in your tank h. zostrae? I've heard it was better to keep H. zostrae in a really tiny tank, like a 2-5g tank, Is that true?
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by twist of lime
http:///forum/post/2819645
Thanks for posting this! Are the seahorses in your tank h. zostrae? I've heard it was better to keep H. zostrae in a really tiny tank, like a 2-5g tank, Is that true?
Yes and No.
Yep! My ponies are the H. zosterae.
No-mini horses does not mean mini swimming quarters.I've kept ponies in many sizes of tanks(5g to 45g). The problem you run into with larger tanks is food. As the tank get larger the farther a pony has to go to hunt for dinner. After experimenting I found I like my 15g best. You need to find a balance of space and water quality. You can comfortably fit 50 ponies into a 10g. I have a 5.5g that I kept 25-30 ponies.
I am currently setting up a 15g with a 55g sump. All these extra gallons will help to keep water quality stable and allow for a much larger pod population.
~Oxygen is another boost you get with a sump or refugium. Plants stop photosynthesis once your lights switch off. During photosynthesis in green plants, light energy is captured and used to convert water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and energy-rich organic compounds. So by running lights on your sump/refugium at night your oxygen levels do not decrease.~
 
reefnutpa

reefnutpa

Member
Interesting setup and ideas. Love the detailed posts with pics. Keep posting updates as your new tank is planned/set up.
Tom
 
picoseahorses2

picoseahorses2

Member
im kinda new to saltwaterfish.com, i cant get my dwarf seahorses to breed ,i got them in a ten gallon tank inside of a smaller encloser used for holding injured fish to maximze the anout of bbs i have 2 males and 1 female with 2 dwraf pipes i put them in the ten for water stability but i also wanted to put them in a smaller encloser because it said they would breed easier. the smaller one is about 1 gallon and water can flow through the sides between it and the big tank. ive have them for about a month now and from the books i read it said they should have started to breed by now i check my parimeters and my salt is at 1.021 and the other levels are at 0. they have cheto in there tank and theree is filtration, do u think u can help me???!
 
reefnutpa

reefnutpa

Member
Lots of things contribute to breeding vs non-breeding: temperature, light cycle, stress factors, nutrition, etc.
I don't agree that a small tank would make breeding easier - not sure where you read that so I won't comment. If the seahorses aren't completely comfortable with their environment, there will be no breeding.
Incidently, pipes eat their young - and fry of seahorses, so you will have to remove the pipes if/when the seahorses DO have fry. Even the dwarf pugnose pipes I had and bred a few times would eat their fry if I didn't get them out quickly.
It may be best to start a new thread (so Rykna's doesn't get too hijacked) and list more details about your setup such as the lighting period, temperature of the tank, type of food being fed, frequency of feedings, enrichments for the food, etc. That would give us a better "big picture" of what may be going on.
Best of luck,
Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top