sea horse expert needed.

[junbug1970]

Hello guys and gals,
i am heavily thinking of getting a couple of sea horse (possibly mated) pair. I need help with people experiencing with sea horses. If you could give me an insight on everything.
i was thinking of getting a 3 gal eclipse system 3 by marineland. It has BioWheel 3 stage filtration & built in light.
i saw in a lfs with crush coral with tree branch. should i follow the same substrate?
do i need skimmer or would this biowheel enough?
i need to know as far as water conditions for them to live as well.
what salinity, ph, temp and etc etc
if someone could help would greatly appreciated.
Junbug

 

[moopiespoo]

First let me state I am in no means an expert, I think our resident expert is Sheree? Anyways I'll share my setup. Oh and I haven't added the seahorses yet, I plan on ordering them today or tommorrow. H. Erectus is what I'm planning on as these are hardy and good beginner ponies.
30 gallon hex w/ penguin 330 filter(plan to up grade later) this is a good one though, you can turn it down for feedings, NO lights, I havent got a skimmer yet still looking for a sutible one for the ponies. I have a 5" dsb combo playsand/ls. I have fake plants and dead corals right now(don't laugh) this is also just temporary.
Amm 0
No2 0
No3 20
pH 8.1-8.2
Temp 76 (still lowering it I'm aiming for 74-75ish
Sal 1.022
I have a tank w/ baby brine shrimp ready to go, because not sure if the captive breds will accept frozen as they advertise.
I forgot I have 30lbs LR too.
Hope this helps you, and also read, read, read up on seahorses.

 

[junbug1970]

by reading on some threads, i don't think 3 gal set up is enough at all. Again i am just asking, Don't rip my heart out. I have not started anything.
I have 3 fish tanks already in my house. I just want a small one to fit under my big screen tv dedicated to sea horse only. I was just wondering if i could raise sea horse in a 3 gal.
Its a cute small tank with built in filtration and lights. i just thought it wouls be suffice, since they are not a swimmer.

 

[joker]

Junbug, I do not have a Sea Horse tank, was considering getting one, but am unsure now. From what I have learned here, A minimum of a 30 Tall is what is recomended. Also, I understand that the water conditions have to watched and maintained very closely.
Do a search for either seahorses or Sheree here, and you should be able to pull up lots of useful info. Hope this helps and Good Luck

 

[junbug1970]

i've read and read and read. But mix feelings. Space is my biggest problems. I can only fit certain tanks (space restriction).
I've read someone mentioned a good rule of thumb is 1" / 3 gallons. That pretty much killed my idea of having one in a 3 gal tank.
I might just have to wait til i move to a bigger place to get one. Which won't be that much longer.
I told the wife, we need to move to a bigger place so i can have my own fish room

 

[moopiespoo]

Joker is right about the water conditions being perfect, seahorses are suceptable to alot of diseases, but a 3g can be done with 1 maybe 2 dwarfs. But if you want a mated pair, they are going to need the room to breed and 3g isn't gonna cut it. Plus what will you do with their fry? Is there room under your t.v. for a 20g? I think this would be much more doable.

 

[lesleybird]

You could get a 7 gallon Eclipse and raise pygme seahorses. If you do that I would set it up with some live rock and sand for about two months with a large amphipod culture to multipley for food for the seahorses and also a few micro hermit crabs and snails. Most seahorses will only eat live food that is moving. If you want a pair of regular seahorses you need at least a 30 or 40 gallon set up.
If you get pygmes you will also have to hatch baby brine shrimp for them weekly as they cannot eat them as large as they sell at the LFS. Lesley

 

[junbug1970]

I didn't know they make a 7 gallon. I know they make a 6 gallon one, which is my next option since it does fit my space requirement.
I have mainly height requirement. Max 12"
If i use LR and LS, and the built in biowheel 3 stage, do i still need skimmer?
I know seahorses need prestige water quality. I could always take water from my reef fuge for water top off for constant supplies of pods.
what is pygmes seahorse? I didd a search and nothing comes up

 

[sheree]

I am in no way an expert but will give my experiences as hopefull help. If your going with the H. Erectus then I would recommend at least a 10 gal tank. You dont want the tank so large they cant find food. But the 6-8 inch horse needs room to roam.
I keep dwarves that only grow to about 1 inch tall. Attached are some pics of the babies.
The main concern is water quaility and feeding.. the dwarves can only eat newly hatched brine..which you need to hatch Daily, not weekly. Read about hatching brine and what stages they go through to reach adult size. Its VERY difficult to grow them to adult. My larger horse has eaten copepods..and ghost shrimp but only smaller ones. He never ate frozen,,,only live brime shrimp.
Your bio-wheel sounds ok if you dont run it when feeding, the shrimp get sucked right in. Be very carefull about adding crabs of any kind to the tank. They will catch and eat smaller horses. The tiniest bluelegs you can find would be ok for the larger seahorses.
And make sure the LR has no anemones attached that will grab a tail. A larger horse may be able to shake free,,but the dwarves/pygmies cant.
Horses dont reguire any special lighting so regular incandesant bulbs are fine. And I kept my temp at 78. I started with an order of 1 dozen dwarves and ended up with 35 adults and babies.
I have lost some of the babies even tho I tried everything possible to give them the best water/food/care.
Below is a pic or two..I hope I`ve helped. Good luck and post any further questions..
This is an adult (top)...a 1 month old(middle)...and a newborn(bottom).

 

[sheree]

This is a batch of newborns..hangin out.

 

[junbug1970]

Hello Sheree,
I was waiting for your reply
I saw your postings of these little ones awhile back, HOW CUTE
As you can see my postings, tank size is my problem. The biggest i could fit is the 6 gal eclipse which only stand 10.5" tall that's including the biowheels & standard lighting built in.
I've always wanted to get a seahorse tank started, but always had cold feet. Well, now i am ready, but what kind of horse i can have with in 6 gal tank?
I plan to dedicate this tank to only the horse and NOTHING else.
I would like 2 if all possible in a 6 gal. Could you help on what i can have? Most everything i read need 30 gal, but i don't know every species there is.
this is what intend to have
6 gal eclipse with biowheel 3 stage and standard built in lighting
live sand bottom and few pieces of live rocks and couple branches for them.
small heater to accomadate 5-10 gal
i dont have a problem turning off the filter during feeding. I do that now with my reef and FO tank.
I was planning on using my fuge water for top off to keep continous pods supply.
is this suffice?
Do i need skimmer?
Do i need air pump?
Is live brine a crucial requirement or frozen or dried brine would be suffice?
I'm not sure if i want to hatch brine daily & not many lfs have supplies of live brine. Although they always have can of brine eggs.
thanks
Junbug

 

[sandman12]

sheree i also want to start a sea horse tank. do u think can help me set one up? I want like a 3 gal-5 gal and were can i find one of those eclipse systems?

 

[junbug1970]

sandman,
you can find eclipse system at petsmart.com

 

[sandman12]

k thanks

 

[killafins]

Junbug, for a six gallon elipse the only seahorse u can have would be a dwarf, well actually probably five would be good. You are right, most of the other seahorses need to have 20 gallons or more. If you are interested in dwarves I will further help you but to tell you the truth they are pretty hard to handle and the reason would be patience. You need to feed them freshly hatched brine shrimp and the largest problem is soon the fact that the brine shrimp will grow too fast and you won't be able to feed them if they get too big. Sandman, for a five gallon it will be the same...

 

[dreeves]

Dwarves are a pain in any kind of larger tank...
I do not know why someone would tell you 5 dwarves in a 6 gallon...for their size you could keep more then that.
One main thing with dwarves is the amount of food versus consumption versus waste...the larger the water volume available to the food...the more food you need to supply for sufficient feeding for the dwarves...therefore common sense would dictate smaller is better with the dwarves, as food decay would and often is a common problem with the water chemistry which needs to be near perfect for the little guys.
I would think, a 5.5 gallon with an under gravel filter, tons of exremely small hitching posts...natural macro algea of some sort...maidens hair, some of the caulerpas...a seperate 5.5 or smaller with air to hatch brine nepulai...
You could even keep a couple of snails for cleaning.
Prior to this venture though..as you are doing now...read and read...Seahorses of any flavor are very intensly demanding on the keeper...it is a very worth while venture...but very time consuming

 

[killafins]

Yeah... I gave the minimum... but yes... I wouldn't go down that road if you can avoid it. If you can afford to buy a bigger tank than do so because I mean, dwarves are goin to be expensive anyways...

 

[dreeves]

Actually the dwarves are not expensive. I tried them once...in my 45...tried to wing it with them...ignorance was prevelant...and now Dan feels bad as he killed them...
In anycase..ignorance fixed...no more dwarves...and if ever again..it will be in a 5.5...

 

[moopiespoo]

I can't believe I missed the babies, their sooooo adorable. Actually dwarves can be expensive if you buy captive bred ones, which I would prefer. junbug if I were you I would try to get at least a 20 gallon and start w/ just a couple seahorses, that way you can keep better tabs on the water quality. The when you have a bit more expierince put them in your tank under your t.v. Then voila you have a 20 gal for something new.

 

[junbug1970]

hmmmm. I think i will pass on this venture for now. For one i dont have the space for 20gal. I'm trying to save space for my big tank (220 or higher).
plus i am not ready to hatch brine daily. 38 gal reef tank and 75 FO tank and 2 fresh water with piranha tanks and a feeder fish guppie tank already keep my hand full.
Maybe next time.
thanks to all that reply.
Junbug