Possible Seahorse Tank

[rickybutler]

First things first, is there any way I could use my 14 gallon biocube (with a refugium in the back) to house any types of seahorses or pipefish?
If no then I am thinking of creating a new tank for seahorses and other rare fish!!!!
It would be probably a 30 gallon tank, 40lbs of live sand, 50 lbs of live rock
I would want to stock it with
1 mated pair of seahorses (which kind should i get?)
1 pair of dragonettes (either green or red)
either 1 pair of regular fire fish or 1 purple or 1 helfrichi firefish (LFS has one for 79.99) Can the purple and helfrichi be kept in pairs/mated pairs like the more common one?
1 pair of ocellaris clowns
and a big clean up crew of mostly snails and hermits with maybe 1/2 orange sea stars, and a blood shrimp/cleaner shrimp
would this work?

 

[teresaq]

Hi and welcome.
A 14 gal is way to small for lrg species seahorses. The 30gal is a much better choice.
The most popular captive bred horses are either Erectus or Reidi. They both get 7 to 8 inches long.
Hosrse need a tank that is about 3x thier length tall.
Please read thru the three info threads at the top of this section.
I dont think you will have enough pods for a pair of mandrine in a tank this size, and clowns are too aggresive to be housed with horses. They out compete them for food. Please read the compatibility chart
T

 

[garick]

Sea horses can be tricky, low to no water flow often. Slow swimmers so fish can starve them by grabbing up food. Tank raised sea horses are the way to go but often can be quite expensive depending on where they are coming from.

 

[novahobbies]

First, what type of 30 gallon are we talking about? If you're referring to a standard 30g tank, you'll probably be OK. Not a 30g breeder though -- way to short. I would probably say a 29g tank is better for you...the height on the tank is better for most sp. of seahorses. 29g tanks usually run 18 inches tall, vs. 12 to 16 inches on 30 gallon tanks.
The issue of "flow" in a seahorse tank is widely debated. The trouble stems from the misconception that all seahorses require the same amount of water movement. IMO any tank, seahorse included, needs a certain amount of water flow from a filter, spraybar, or other water mover. I have used Koralia-1's in my seahorse tank with good effects. A single K-1, or perhaps two Koralia nanos, will help eliminate deadspots in the tank and keep the sand bed free of detritus. Remember that Seahorses are more affected by low-oxygen areas, as their primitive gills are not as efficient as other ray finned fishes. Having something like a spray bar or filter return breaking the surface of the water helps promote further gas exchange, and a small seahorse-safe powerhead aimed down near the sandbed helps keep the tank water effectively mixed. My horses would actively seek out the higher current of the powerhead, "surfing" the flow from one side of the tank to the other.
If I had a 29 gallon tank spare for horses, I would probably go with a pair of the slightly smaller species.... H. fuscus or H. barbouri (as long as they were captive bred and raised!!!), and a pair of small docile fish....maybe 2 firefish or two PJ / bangaii cardinals. I don't think you're going to want more than that in a tank this size, just so ya know.