Seahorse setup

[moopiespoo]

I posted yesterday asking for people w/ seahorses for their personal favorites in equipment. While I appreciate MichaelTex's suggestion to visit seahorse.org I was really hoping for some word of mouth suggestions. I would really like to buy my equipment only once.

 

[moopiespoo]

BTW the tank is 30gal hex.

 

[michaeltx]

what questions do you have there are some general things that horses do better in than others.
a couple things
lower flow than a reef tank they cant really handle a lot of water flow.
need to stay away from some fish the ones that nip at fins and anything that has claws are not a good choice.
little gobies and things such as that are good choices.
the need small constant feedings. couple of times a day. some dont eat frozen or prepared foods and will only eat live foods. that will cause you a lot of problems feeding them. the best is to find ones that are already eating frozen foods before you get them. it be less aggrevating trying to get them to eat.
stinging corals are a no no the horses willhith on anything and if its a stinging coral the will get stung IE anemones, bubbles, glaxia, there are a lot but most leather and mushrooms are good the only thing is that if the horses decide to hitch to them constantly it can hurt the coral.
most recomend a soecies tank with just the horses to minimize that problem.
absolutely NO airbubbles it will kill them so you have to find a skimmer that there is no chance of the bubbles going intot he tank for them to snicker(eat) if you watch seahorses if there is food on the surface the will go to the surface and snick it and get air in the lungs which can lead to death. you can push the air out with your fingers if it happens but its a small window for it to be effective.
these are just a few things I could think of off the top of my head any other qestion just post I will try to answer or tell you where to find the info.
Mike

 

[bdhough]

They can be hurt by air bubbles? I didn't know that. How would you know if they were "sick"? Inflated stomach?

 

[michaeltx]

the stop eating for one it blocks something inside and keeps food from passing and good O2 exchange through there lungs.they also start to get bloated when they get air in them.
I found out that sir bubbles hurt them when researching when I was going to setup a tank for them and decided against it. but still ended up with 3 of them that was a gift they had to go into my reef and they soon pasted for a variety of reasons.
Mike

 

[cb]

MichaelTX Do you remember where you read that air bubbles hurt the seahorses? I would be very interested in reading that as I am thinking of setting up a seahorse tank and in all my research have not read that, but I would not want to do anything to put them in danger.
thanks

 

[dreeves]

Seahorses require dedication and persistance.
Their tank should be species only. More aggressive eating fish will out compete their slow, deliberate feeding habits.
They requre low water flow, as high flow rates will stress them into not eating, they will simply grab hold something and stay there until the high rate is gone, or they die. You can force move them, but they will just find another tight hold.
Seahorses require feedings in which the food is exposed to them for about 20 minutes at a time. This allows them to consume slowly. Before you decide on seahorses...ensure you have a small like 5.5 gallon tank to keep live brine if need be. Be prepared before hand.
Air in the tank is dangerous to younger and older seahorses...often times the bubbles are mistaken for food and consumed. The consumed air, unless ejected, will creat bouyancy problems, and can (and often does) lead to infection and then death. They can also (so I have been told, never witnessed this before) absorb bubbles through their skin causing the same problems.
If at all possible, purchase captive raised. Not only to preserve natures livestock...but to ease in your feeding routines. But back to the being prepared. A seahorse can change its appetite from frozen to live in the drop of a dime...
Seahorses when one is properly aware of their unique habitat and feeding requirements, are a very interesting, as well as entertaining species to keep.
You can keep a cleanup crew with them as well. Dwarfs and snails would be the limit, maybe a peppermint shrimp or two as well.
I have kept a yellow tail damsel in with my horses without incident. He ate his food and the horses ate theirs.
Read, read and read somemore.

 

[moopiespoo]

Thanks to all, oceanrider.com is a great site where they sell captive bred seahorses trained to eat rozen mysis, so I will probly purchase from them. I am still in the research stage of this latest venture, probably won't make my purchase til late fall with cycling and all. I would still like some specifics as I still need to get everything but the tank and lights. I also read that they like large rock for substate, but I was leaning towards playsand because I will want to put in some marine plants. Is this just a suggestion or is the large rock mandatory.

 

[michaeltx]

they probably meany LR they need big enough pieces to hitch to. but you can still use LS.
I will see where it was that I read it but seahorses.org is a place that is deticated the info is there as well as the site that I will look for.
Mike

 

[nateh]

The advice in this thread has been good, however, you cannot feed brine shrimp to adult seahorses. It provides almost nothing for them. If you get WC, you will need a good source of live food, like the shrimp from noni on seahorse.org. You could email him at shrimp@pahrump.com also. With CB, you can feed frozen enriched mysis. I would suggest going to seahorse.org and asking any questions you may have over there. It is a much better place for info, especially since there are people with actual experience and many tanks setup for seahorses. The cost of seahorses may be more than you can afford. A WC seahorse may seem cheap at the time, but expect to pay about $20 US to feed 2 horses every week. The rock they suggest is for hitching purposes. A 3" sand substrate with Tonga rock would do best, since tonga is favored for hitching.

 

[dreeves]

Nateh...how incorrect your post was.
WC seahorses will eat a variety of live foods and survive as they do in the wild. When one is feeding brineshrimp to seahorses...it simply has to be vitamin enriched prior to feeding.

 

[michaeltx]

baby brine is good for them very nutient rich but as they grow and the yolk sacks are digested they loose the nutrients and then they arent good unlees they are enrich with something like dreeves said. thay like a varied diet aswell.
Mike

 

[nateh]

BBS is NOT a food source for adults, despite what your uneducated LFS may have said. The amount that would need to be consumed would be impossible to provide in a tank without serious ammonia issues. Even if you could solve that, they still aren't a suitable food. Adult brine, if enriched, maybe. But not as a solitary food source.

 

[killafins]

All the information so far is excellent but I disagree with a few.
First of all, the only fish that should be with a seahorse are seahorses, seahorses, seahorses, pipefish and mandarins. These three are slow eaters. No matter what fish you put in the tank, it will prevent the seahorse from eating properly from a few reasons. A) There will be no food for the seahorse... the seahorse likes to stare down there food before eating it. B) When seahorses get stressed out they refuse to eat and when other fish try to eat it welll... stresses them out. C) The most docile fish will become aggressive when hungry. Personally, I wouldn't risk it with such an easy target as a seahorse. DO NOT ADD ANYTHING ELSE TO A SEAHORSE TANK EXCEPT SEAHORSES!!! This is very important for beginners. As for cleaning crew, a few good selections are cleanershrimp, small scarlet hermits, and snails. I would stick to those only.
Next, I read something about bine shrimp. When a seahorse its brine shrimp it's like you eating card board. Sure it won't make u hungry anymore but do you get anything healthy from it? NOPE. PErsonally, live brine should be a last resort to feeding. It will do fine vitamin enriched but still, it is not good for a sehaorse. The best bet would be something like glass or mysis shrimp. Mysis is what they usually eat and is the best for them.
Also, I read something about wild caught. THe life span of a wild caught seahorse is very slim. There is usually limited success stories with wild caught seahorses changing to frozen foods. If you stick with captive bred you do a few things... A) Have a healthy seahorse usually already eating frozen {ask prior to buying and make sure u see it eat}... B) Keep the environment in check. Seahorses are becomming limited in numbers. Be careful with your decision.
I wrote a entire column on seahorses if you want to do a search on them in the fish discussion: FOTW SEAHORSES...
good luck and i hope for the best in your decision.

 

[moopiespoo]

Tahanks again everyone. As for my future ponies diet I plan on feeding the frozen mysis enriched with?? something can't remember. I will order from oceanrider.com as they sell only CB seahorse that were raised on frozen enriched mysis. Killafins I did read your FOTW post and I got a lump in my throat hearing about your Bella, I am very sorry. On the upside, very informative I have collected a great deal of info. I think it is time to set up and cycle. I am so Excited!!!

 

[killafins]

Thank you... But just FYI please be prepared for your seahorse NOT to eat frozen food. I know it is said that captive will take frozen food but that is not factual. You have to be prepared for you pony to be stressed otu over shipping and decide to only eat live or that your local fish store lies to you. Just give yourself a favor, surf the net... check ur lfs just anything to make sure you have food supplies to cover all needs, it sucks to not be prepared. And with seahorses, you can't be unprepared.