Seahorse question...
- Thread starter jrb384
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alti
Guest
go to seahore.org. they have a lot of info.
jonthefb
Active Member
i have a 29 gallon tall that has been set up with 6 seahorses for about three years now. a tall tank is important cause horses are vertically oriented fish. and if you ever get a mated pair, they will come together every morning, grasp tails adn circle up to the top of the tank. anyway, my set up is as follows; i have a 6 inch dsb, about 30 pounds of lr(mostly branching so that the horses can grab on to it with their tails) a very dense growth of caulerpa filled with pods that the horses feed onall day, a hob cpr like filter that has a protein skimmer and a asmall wet/dry chamber, a heater and a small pump. for lights i have 2 65watt pcs, one 10k one super actinic, but mostly caulerpa, live rock, and a few mushrooms.
its been great so far. 4 of the horses are captive bred from oceanrider.com, the other two are wild caught that i have trained to take frozen mysis shrimp. i feed with mysis from piscene energetics, and enrich the shrimp with a vitamin supplement from ocean rider as well, and also have a 10 gallon brackish tank that i culture the iron horse feed from ocean rider in so they can have live snacks every once in awhile.
some good links are seahorse.org
projectseahorse.org
oceanrider.com
if you have any questions let me know. a horse tank is one of the most fascinating things in all of this hobby, and will amaze jsut about anyone who looks at it. make sure if you set one up you do a lot of research first, andalways prepare for the worst. seahorses are notorious for baterial infections. i had a male once that somehow managed to get air into his pouch, and had buoyancy problems. it was gross but i had to insert a needle into his pouch to release the air, but he survived and is doing fine.
good luck
jon
its been great so far. 4 of the horses are captive bred from oceanrider.com, the other two are wild caught that i have trained to take frozen mysis shrimp. i feed with mysis from piscene energetics, and enrich the shrimp with a vitamin supplement from ocean rider as well, and also have a 10 gallon brackish tank that i culture the iron horse feed from ocean rider in so they can have live snacks every once in awhile.
some good links are seahorse.org
projectseahorse.org
oceanrider.com
if you have any questions let me know. a horse tank is one of the most fascinating things in all of this hobby, and will amaze jsut about anyone who looks at it. make sure if you set one up you do a lot of research first, andalways prepare for the worst. seahorses are notorious for baterial infections. i had a male once that somehow managed to get air into his pouch, and had buoyancy problems. it was gross but i had to insert a needle into his pouch to release the air, but he survived and is doing fine.
good luck
jon
melbournefl
Member
Hey Jon, does the needle in the stomach work for beer bellies too????? Sorry just couldn't resist 
Later,
Paul
Later,
Paul
jrb384
Member
jon, thanks for all the info. I definately would not put them into a small 12 gallon tank now. not near enough vertical room for them. ill check out the sites and study. I noticed your from greely, co. i've never been there, i live in florida, but a guy that I work with is from Greely, co. maybe its a small town, but his name is Scott Roessig. tall skinny guy. maybe you know him or his family.. thanks again.
jonthefb
Active Member
i wish the needle in th estomach worked for beer bellies mel! id have holes all over ha!
jrb, sorry to say that i dont know him. im up here at college right now so i ahvent been here for more than three years its a pretty small town but a nice one, once you get over the smell. all the feed lots around the place give the air a nice ummm fragrance? but i dont realize it anymore
good luck
jon
jrb, sorry to say that i dont know him. im up here at college right now so i ahvent been here for more than three years its a pretty small town but a nice one, once you get over the smell. all the feed lots around the place give the air a nice ummm fragrance? but i dont realize it anymore
good luck
jon
jonthefb
Active Member
azonic, first dont tell me what i can and connot do. i have been keeping horses for three years and know what i need to do and dont. second if i feel that i can better care for a captive bred seahorse than the lfs that it is being housed at i will take it but at the same time i will try to inform the lfs about captive breeding programs that releive the strain on wild populations. anyone who asks about horses on the board will be directed to captive bred ones, however i find it rude of you to yell out blatantly that "you all better be keepign captive bred ones" i stated above that i have 4 cb and 3 wc and that my wc are doing fine after training them on brine shrimp and providign the proper conditions for them to thrive. tone it down a little and try using constructive criticism rather than threatening people.
jon
jon
azonic
Active Member
jonthefb: I think you gotta settle down a bit. Seahorses are endangered species, there numbers are being depleted accross the planet. You saying your tank is a better place then a LFS is a crock! If you buy from them, they will simply order more, which means more are taken from the oceans. There are some animals that simply should be left where they are, and seahorses are one of them. WILD CAUGHT are anyway! My opinion is JUST as valid as yours IF not more in this case. This is an open forum my friend, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!
jonthefb
Active Member
hey bud ive researched sehorses for two years before even trying a tank. and yes i do feel that my tank is a better home for them than a little gallon cube at the lfs, and if i can train that animal on frozen foods then he/she is more likely to hang around in captivity a little longer. if i can also convince the lfs to purchase captive bred horses then i feel that i have made a difference as well. it is true that many horses are endangered in fact most of them show up on the IUCN red list, however the ones that are tiypically imported for the aquarium trade are typically h. barbouri, h. kuda, and H. erectus, all of which are threatened, but not endangered. and with activists such as amanda c.j. vincent in the fiedl training indonesian, and brazillian farmers how to successfully rear, and manage wild horse populations they are slowly on the up. the truth is that with seahorses in particular, you cannot identify them by coloration or shape because the area they come from dictates both of these and the fact that they can change colors also doesnt help, and this also means that there could be species of horses out there that have not been identified yet.
i am not making a case for wild caught horses, just that they can be kept and maintained in captivity with a lot of work from the hobbyist. every chance i get i inform those who are looking to do a horse tank to buy captive bred, because they are already accustomed to captive lifestyle, and they are not breaking any pair bonds that are set for life in the wild. i simply felt that it was rude of you to yell as you did without knowing the whole story. jrb384 inquired about keeping seahorses and i simple informed him of my set-up and the successes that i have had with it. one of my wild cought horses even bred recently with one of my captive caught horses, however i am in no situation right now to rear the babies. a member asked a question and i replied with an answer and then you jumped in and started yelling about us all better having captive bred horses. are you also going to yell at java joe who has a horse in his reef system, somethign that was previously unheard of? i am going to be doing my graduate work on these creatures because i have become so fascinated with them and the last thing i want to do is encourage hobbiests to go out and get horses cause they are easy to keep. as i said i studied up on them two years before even setting up a tank, much of which was dialogue with amanda vincent herself. it takes patience and dedication to provide these animals with the habitat that they require. i dont reccommend it to anyone but at the same time i felt offended by your statement because i guess you didnt know my whole story. im not trying to start a fight or flame or whatever else, i simple responded to a question with information whcih has helped me and has made my horse tank successful. and whcih will hopefully encourage others to look at these creatures with a littel more respect!
good luck
jon
i am not making a case for wild caught horses, just that they can be kept and maintained in captivity with a lot of work from the hobbyist. every chance i get i inform those who are looking to do a horse tank to buy captive bred, because they are already accustomed to captive lifestyle, and they are not breaking any pair bonds that are set for life in the wild. i simply felt that it was rude of you to yell as you did without knowing the whole story. jrb384 inquired about keeping seahorses and i simple informed him of my set-up and the successes that i have had with it. one of my wild cought horses even bred recently with one of my captive caught horses, however i am in no situation right now to rear the babies. a member asked a question and i replied with an answer and then you jumped in and started yelling about us all better having captive bred horses. are you also going to yell at java joe who has a horse in his reef system, somethign that was previously unheard of? i am going to be doing my graduate work on these creatures because i have become so fascinated with them and the last thing i want to do is encourage hobbiests to go out and get horses cause they are easy to keep. as i said i studied up on them two years before even setting up a tank, much of which was dialogue with amanda vincent herself. it takes patience and dedication to provide these animals with the habitat that they require. i dont reccommend it to anyone but at the same time i felt offended by your statement because i guess you didnt know my whole story. im not trying to start a fight or flame or whatever else, i simple responded to a question with information whcih has helped me and has made my horse tank successful. and whcih will hopefully encourage others to look at these creatures with a littel more respect!
good luck
jon
pufferfreak
Member
I suggest that if you want to get seahorses in that 12 then just get the minatures, my uncle has them and they are pretty cheap if you buy them mailorder, but besides that they are neat like 1" tall, I looked at them for like at leat 45 minutes because they fasinated me so much. Just make sure you have enough hitching stations and enough pods. Good Luck
jrb384
Member
you know, i was sitting on my LEATHER couch, wearing my MINK FUR coat, eating a fat T-bone, and Chicken leg, thinking about my next game of chess with my Ivory pieces, and watching my girlfriend put on makeup that probally was stuck in lab animals eyes for testing, and I was wondering... whats the difference if jon does have a seahorse caught in the wild, or if it was captive bred... I mean, technically, all fish and this whole hobby is taking creatures from their environment right? so if you have one fish, your just as guilty. The least we can all do is reasearch, and provide the best conditions for survival and replicate their natural environments. as long as we make our best efforts to try to do the most we can, thats all anyone can ask for.
kelly
Member
jrb384,
What are you doing wearing a mink fur??? Did you mean the girlfriend was wearing it? You forgot to mention the alligator purse, the dried corals and dried seahorses on the redwood coffee table.
By the way, I wish you the best of luck on the seahorses, they are really interesting little creatures. I would love to keep them myself, but I feel that I would end up killing them, so better left alone or kept by someone that will meet their needs.
There is are a few other sites... plus you can use the search engines to find more
www.seahorseaquaculture.com.au
zosterae.addr.com
What are you doing wearing a mink fur??? Did you mean the girlfriend was wearing it? You forgot to mention the alligator purse, the dried corals and dried seahorses on the redwood coffee table.
By the way, I wish you the best of luck on the seahorses, they are really interesting little creatures. I would love to keep them myself, but I feel that I would end up killing them, so better left alone or kept by someone that will meet their needs.
There is are a few other sites... plus you can use the search engines to find more
www.seahorseaquaculture.com.au
zosterae.addr.com
dreeves
Active Member
I have my seahorses in a 45 gallon tall tank. About 30 pounds of
live rock, live sand, 4 fake plants for them to grasp to, about 20 blue hermits, a scarlet reef hermit, one yellow tail damsel, a serpent starfish, 4 peppermint shrimp, and a pin cushion sea urchin. Only regret I have is the urchin....he knocked a piece of rock off the pyle and it murdered my largest seahorse, crushed him against the glass...he was so cool too.
Anyways, feed 'em mostly vitamin enriched live brine shrimp (keep them in the tank stand in a 5.5 gallon tank with an air driven corner filter, and include every couple of days frozen mysid shrimp (crabs and shrimp love that stuff too).
Everyone leaves everyone alone, the damsel cares nothing about anything but eating and hiding...really reclusive, but hey, he has been around awhile and is kickking good. The shrimp do the shrimp thing and same for the star. That stinking urchin though is going to be relocated into the 90 here before to long. He is brutal on the delicate pyle of rocks I have setup.
Seahorses are cool animals. But before one decides to endure them, one really needs to make a committment to them. They require excellent water conditions and feedings about 2-3 times a day, they dont tend to move to quickly so I turn my main filter off for about 15-20 minutes during feeding, skimmer stays on. They are very entertaining to watch though, some people even get theirs to feed from their hand.
live rock, live sand, 4 fake plants for them to grasp to, about 20 blue hermits, a scarlet reef hermit, one yellow tail damsel, a serpent starfish, 4 peppermint shrimp, and a pin cushion sea urchin. Only regret I have is the urchin....he knocked a piece of rock off the pyle and it murdered my largest seahorse, crushed him against the glass...he was so cool too.
Anyways, feed 'em mostly vitamin enriched live brine shrimp (keep them in the tank stand in a 5.5 gallon tank with an air driven corner filter, and include every couple of days frozen mysid shrimp (crabs and shrimp love that stuff too).
Everyone leaves everyone alone, the damsel cares nothing about anything but eating and hiding...really reclusive, but hey, he has been around awhile and is kickking good. The shrimp do the shrimp thing and same for the star. That stinking urchin though is going to be relocated into the 90 here before to long. He is brutal on the delicate pyle of rocks I have setup.
Seahorses are cool animals. But before one decides to endure them, one really needs to make a committment to them. They require excellent water conditions and feedings about 2-3 times a day, they dont tend to move to quickly so I turn my main filter off for about 15-20 minutes during feeding, skimmer stays on. They are very entertaining to watch though, some people even get theirs to feed from their hand.
itchy
Member
I myself just recently purchased seahorses. I did lots of research and had planned on only buying CB as they are easier to care for. However,.....I went in the LFS and they had 4 seahorses that were starving and not in the best of health so yeah I adopted them as I am a sucker for these lovely creatures. Now do I feel that they are better off with me or the LFS? Me no doubt! First of all they are eating now although I did lose one of the horses the other 3 are doing much better.( Gaining weight and more active.) As for the LFS I gave them hell for having these animals and not knowing how to care for them as they only care to make a buck, so I told them about checking into CB. Now I went in the other day and guess what they have 2 new ones...Both WC and both sick. So the chances are they will die and the LFS will just replace them with more...so The ones I adopted are by all means better off with me, for whatever time I have them, than with the LFS. It was work getting them to eat and just better all the way around but it is also rewarding when you can help save an ill animal. From now on I will only purchase CB horses but will pat myself on the back evertime I see these little healthy, happy, fat CREATURES. I think we all need to be a little less judgemental of what the other person is doing and little more objective as to their thoughts and reasoning behind their actions before we decide to jump down someones throat. I have seen a lot of pissing matches on these boards lately and we are only gonna run people away instead of educate and steer them in the right direction.....okay I will get off my soap box now and thats my 2 cents for what it is worth.....
thanks,
Robyn
p.s. Jon I was yelling at you for like 2 days and you just hid....was wanting to pick your brain on some info about my horses...but I FIGURED it out on my own I believe
and thats my 2 cents for what it is worth..... thanks,
Robyn
p.s. Jon I was yelling at you for like 2 days and you just hid....was wanting to pick your brain on some info about my horses...but I FIGURED it out on my own I believe
killyah
Member
Originally posted by danrw84
can i put a little black tank raised sea horse in my reef?
i do have anemones and some frogspawn...29 gal.. would love to have one..and it is EATING frozen brine.
i want one of those little guys!!
can i keep him or will it die? if it will die then no no
JMO i would'nt ! seahorses move very slow and would be an easy pray to the anemones and frogspawn ,plus you also have 2 clowns that would eat all of the food before the horse gets it. from what i know the only fish safe to keep with them r mandarins,pipefish.