Help Please want to start a seahorse tank

T

triciag

Guest
I have been reading a lot of articles on the internet, but I am still very confused. I have always wanted a seahorse tank all of my life and now would like to finally get one. I have decided to get a pair of Erectus Seahorses. That is all I will have in my tank other then a clean up crew. I have decided on a 30 gallon tank, but that is as far as I have gotten. There is so much information out there. Can someone please start from scratch on ALL of the necessary stuff I need to purchase and from where I need to get it to run a successful tank? I have looked at so many websites I am just very confused.I want to make sure I know everything I need to know before I make this big commitment. At this time I just need to know about the tank, filter, light, live sand, live rock, what type of salt water and coral Can you please give me some brand names? PLEASE. Any help would be helpful.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by TriciaG http:///t/396645/help-please-want-to-start-a-seahorse-tank#post_3534218
I have been reading a lot of articles on the internet, but I am still very confused. I have always wanted a seahorse tank all of my life and now would like to finally get one. I have decided to get a pair of Erectus Seahorses. That is all I will have in my tank other then a clean up crew. I have decided on a 30 gallon tank, but that is as far as I have gotten. There is so much information out there. Can someone please start from scratch on ALL of the necessary stuff I need to purchase and from where I need to get it to run a successful tank? I have looked at so many websites I am just very confused.I want to make sure I know everything I need to know before I make this big commitment. At this time I just need to know about the tank, filter, light, live sand, live rock, what type of salt water and coral Can you please give me some brand names? PLEASE. Any help would be helpful.

Hi, welcome to the site.

The only real difference between a seahorse tank and a fish only tank...is the décor. Seahorses need stuff to hitch their tails to. You need to get captive bred seahorses, eating frozen Mysis.

  • A canister or HOB filter. I like the Fluval canister, and the HOB C3 Fluval as well.
  • Instead of live sand and rock...get dried dead sand and dry dead branch rock. Hitchhikers can be a problem for seahorses, so the dead dry stuff is safest.
  • Regular fish lighting, nothing fancy, I use T5HO...it just looks better.
  • Your most important piece and expensive equipment...is a chiller. Tropical SHs need the temps at 74 degrees, and cold water ones, need no higher then 67 degrees. (Erectus are tropical)
  • Branching macroalgae...it will help keep the water parameters pristine and give the horses something to hitch on...Botryocladia is a favorite of mine, its bright red, and looks like branches with little berries. Caulerpa PROLIFERA...looks like turtle grass, another seahorse favorite.
    A tall tank is best, since seahorses like to "dance" with a potential mate, going higher and higher until she puts eggs in his pouch. Awesome to watch.
    A food dish, we teach them to go eat at a feeding dish (we will teach you how) and not make such a mess...in truth, they do anyway, wallowing in the dish making the food float anyway.
    Seahorse.source is a great place to get healthy captive bred
  • horses, I think this site sells them as well.
    Instant ocean salt mix...and RO (reverse osmosis) water...never tap water. Super Walmart sells RO for 37 cents a gallon...your own RO unit is best, but 5g jugs are doable. All grocery stores with a water refill station is selling RO water.


That should get you going in the right direction.
 
T

triciag

Guest
Thank You for the help. I have started searching for the products that you suggested. I do have a question about the sand. I had already read something about the "hitchhikers that you have to be very careful about, but a lot of people have suggested getting Live sand and a live rock to help the tank get established. You say "No", this is where I am getting so confused, if I don't use the live products how does the tank get what it needs?
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by TriciaG http:///t/396645/help-please-want-to-start-a-seahorse-tank#post_3534228
Thank You for the help. I have started searching for the products that you suggested. I do have a question about the sand. I had already read something about the "hitchhikers that you have to be very careful about, but a lot of people have suggested getting Live sand and a live rock to help the tank get established. You say "No", this is where I am getting so confused, if I don't use the live products how does the tank get what it needs?

Hi,

The reason you are confused is that there is no set in rock perfect method. The best we can do, is offer you what has worked for us. So every time you ask for help from a different person, you will get a different method. This why, when it comes to setting up, or caring for sick critters, that you follow that advice you set your mind to, and not mix several peoples methods.

IMO...Because seahorses are so delicate, it's best to control what is in the tank with them. I purchased macroalgae, the tiny copepods and amphipods are all over that stuff. I also go to an on-line site to purchase tiny brittle stars, and have even seeded my tank with amphipods because the horses love to hunt and eat them for snacks. I purchased peppermint shrimp to help curb the wasted food nutrients, and they eat aptasia a huge helper plus, since they sting seahorses.

To kick start the cycle, I put a chunk of raw shrimp in the tank once it's set up, then let the natural cycle begin. The tank must be fully cycled before you add any horses, and it's best to add all of your seahorses at one time. In a regular tank we add one fish at a time and wait weeks in between additions. I also put some extra cycle in the tank when I add the horses because it's a sudden jump for the good bacteria to handle. Bacteria infections and disease are the greatest enemy, and we need to limit the exposure of different pathogens. This is why we select a certain breed of seahorse, and not mix with another in the same tank.

I keep Kuda horses in a tall 56g, and Potbelly seahorses in my 90g. I kept CAPTIVE bred pipefish in a quarantine for months, adding a little water from that tank into the kuda tank, in hopes of getting the horses "exposed" slowly, so they could dwell together, it was very nervous going for me, but I really wanted the both in the same tank. They have lived in happy harmony for over a year now, and I'm delighted to say the pipefish and horses are doing fine.

The live sand that is only bacteria packed sand in bags at the LFS, is okay to use, true reef sand however, is loaded with all kinds of living things in it. The live rock is LIVE because it loaded with all kinds of living tiny things, some are good and needed, but some are very bad for seahorses, corals and fish alike. I choose to select what I add to the tank, and let the selected critters seed and breed in the dead dry rock, making it live, but controlled. It's a little more expensive to do it that way, but the horses cost much more to replace. The money kind of evens out since dry rock is much, much cheaper then live rock.

For the CUC (Clean Up Crew) I keep a variety of snails, each feeds on different types of algae, or uneaten food...no hermits or other type of crab, no large serpent or brittle stars, just the tiny micro stars.

As for establishing the tank, the macroalgae will do wonders. Oh and I nearly forgot....you need an air line, no stone. The bubbles help move the surface water instead of the powerheads, that blow too hard for delicate swimmers like a seahorse. They like to play in the bubbles too, so I have two lines running in both of my tanks. I do use a powerhead in the 90g, but it's a weak one to keep the rocks clear of detritus and nothing the horses can wrap their tails on...most of the water movement are the bubble lines.

I like decorations besides the rock, so in the Kuda tank I put columns, and in the 90g potbelly tank, I put a ships wheel and an anchor with plastic chain. I also have striped green metallic mushroom corals in the Kuda tank, the mushroom corals are super hardy, and I like them. Most of my macros are red, and the green color helps break it up a bit.
 
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