Seahorses?

sillynecco

sillynecco

Member
Can someone educate me on seahorses? My gf really wants me to get one, i heard taht they need to be in a tank by themselves. I have a 75g with a trigger in there, so i know they would be food in there, and i do have another 10g tank with 2 clowns in there. can a seahorse co exist with clowns, and is 10g too small.
thanks for your help
 
ams153

ams153

Active Member
i attempted seahorses and had terrible luck mainly b/c i bought two that i knew were unhealthy but just got anyways.. but it was just 90 dollars down the drain b/c the sore had no guarantees on the fish.. so.. first off 10g's is too small for a seahorse and they could not easily coexist with clowns they are very lazy eaters and would never get anyfood i would get a 20g or larger tank and set it up with seahorses only do it right or like me youll regret it and not try again lol though someday i plan to just not till i can afford to lose another 90 bucks or more its just not worth it.. there very cool fish though
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
You cannot keep seahorses in a 10 gal. tank.The tank needs to be a high tank{3 times as high as the adult length of the seahorse}
They do not do well kept singly,even if there are other fish in the tank.Buy tank bred seahorses,they will be eating mysis.
Their tank must be kept cool,no higher than 75 degrees.They must only be housed with peaceful species like pipefish{even harder to care for}.They must have a lower flow than most reef tanks.
Research as much info on them as you can find{do a search online}before deciding,they are difficult to keep.
 
joker

joker

Member
I currently have a 30 gal hex (tall). You need a tall tank, not wide, around 30 gal. If you go with Dwarf horses (ponies), I know of people keeping them in 5 gal. tanks (Eclipse brand etc.) We have been keeping sea horses for a couple of years. We have actually had bad luck with captive bred horses, and excellent luck with wild caught. The disadvantage to wild caught is they will only eat live food (ghost shrimp). I purchase 300 at a time and they are in their own freshwater tank. I have 4 horses right now, 1 large brazilian yellow and 3 baby yellow banded. The babies eat frozen Mysis. I also have a pipe fish and a clown (percula) in the tank too. My water temp is at 73 degrees.
First of all, watch out for hermit crabs and other crabs! we had seen them trying to catch the horses, so they left. we REALLY enjoy watching the babies swim all over the tank, they are hilarious.
As for caring for them, it is the same as for any other fish. It is not hard at all. Just make sure that your tank is established, and there are no predators, not even a trigger.
We have alot of LR in the tank to help with filtration and a HOB filter and "Reef Sun 50-50" aquarium fluorescents.
 
celacanthr

celacanthr

Active Member
There are cases were they co-exist with ocellaris clowns, but that is only in really large tanks.
There are a few species that can be kept in a 10 gallon, but they are very difficult
1)H. zosterea- the dwarf seahorse. You will have to hatch BBS daily, and feed it 1-3x a day
2)H. capensis-an endangered species that was thankfully bred in captivity, before they became endangered, so they are fairly common in the aquarium trade. They eat frozen mysis, but they are a coldwater species, so you will need a chiller, unless you can keep the tank between 66-70 (70 being the hottest I think you should go) at all times.
3) some other assorted species, that either need BS, or a chiller, and are failry hard to locate.
I would also like to say that I agree with joker, that crabs are a bad idea, except for porcelain crabs (which technically aren't true crabs....).
Joker what kinda bad luck have you had?
 
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