New seahorse tank

[wingnut]

Hi all
im thinking about starting up a sea horse tank i have read up a bit on them just wondering what would be the best things to put in the tank that will make them happie (plants rocks......) i have a spare 46gal bowfront im playing to use and filtering the tank with a low flow hangon filter and runing the system throw one of my very well estblishet tanks from what i here thay need Exlent water quality and i have a twin tube light fixure for it the book tells me not to use intense lighting (True?) i have 2 36'' lifeguard bulbs witch a few of the books have recomened aslo wonder what seahorses to start with and how many
Thanks!

 

[carrie1429]

Seahorses are very delicate and reqiure a lot from you so make sure you know what you are doing first. I reccommend having LR and LS for them because then you will have more coepods, one of the horses main foods. I would get tonga branch live rock, this rock has like branches witch are perfect for the horses to hang onto since they like to wrap their tail around things a lot. They like feather dusters too, (to hang on), and lots of plants. You shouldn't have any other fish in with the horses becasue the are very slow eaters and even though other fish may seem peacful they will sometimes pick on the horses. You should have little current for them cuase they like to play in it but not too much curent or else they might get blown around.
They can be difficult to feed but foods that they will eat most of the time are brine shrimp, coepods, and zooplankton. And yes they do need pretty good water conditions to stay healthy (like most marine animals). They only fish I would reccommend keeping with them is the pipe fish, this long slender fish is a good companion for the horses, if you decide you want one choose wisely some are better than others. It is most fun to watch the horses wrap their tails around the pipe fish and get a ride, you can learn more about seahorses and pipe fish at www.seahorse.org this site has a message board, info center, ect, good luck with keeping them.

 

[alf3482]

Very Good advice. But some of us do keep other fish with them. I have 2 red scotters and 2 purple fire fish and one Pipe fish with mine. They do well together. I always suggest lots of Hithing post as well.