Tank mates for Seahorses

rykna

rykna

Active Member
I have been researching exceptable tank mates for seahorses and have only come up with a small list which includes a few types of gobies, false perc clowns, mushrooms, and a few select gorgonians for hitching posts. Are there any other tank mates that would be compatable??? Sea urchins? Nudibranches...(not sure about these because of the toxins released if they die). Shrimp? Crabs??
I was looking over the selection of gobies, the ones suggested are catalina, fire, red striped, and court jester Goby. I am mainly looking for a little splash of color(that is seahorse friendly). I am thinking button coral mats would work, but couldn't find any info about the compatabilty with sea horses. Along with the corky finger gorgonian,I also plan to add a Purple Ribbon, Purple tree, and a Purple willow gorgonian. I was also wondering about sponges... :notsure:
Currently the 90 gallon tank, has 45 lbs LR, 2 false percs, a fire goby, a corky finger gorgonian, a sand star, variated mushrooms, a few frags of blue buttons, one stray blue legged hermit crab, and one very fat margarita snail.
I am currently in the process of ordering the seahorses......

Who else on here has seahorses??? :happyfish
thanks,
Rykna
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
ive had seahorses, and truly i can say thats about it. well do u have a deep sandbed? if so u could do a garden eel, mine did well w/ my seahorse
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
The tank is a 90 gallon. Garden eels need at least a 6 inch sand bed, and they can get to be a foot long.Aren't garden eels picky critters, from what I've read they're are....The only eel I have had is a snowflake eel. Cute little guy....I suppose they would consider a seahorse a dinner apetizer :scared:
WOW a 6 inch sand bed..........hmmmmm...that is a lot of sand! 4/20lb bags of sand ~ 1 inch in a 90 Gallon...... 24 bags x 20lbs=480 lbs of sand....yikes.
Anything else?????
Sea urchins? Nudibranches...(not sure about these because of the toxins released if they die). Shrimp? Crabs??
Sea urchins? I am guessing a big no on the nudibranches.....procelian crabs??? Are button polyps okay?
I think I am leaning towards Pipe fish. They are beautiful fish, having the seahorse tank is the perfect setting for them. I like the milti-banded, the Dragonface, and the african blue stripe. All of these fish are high maintenace, but does anyone recomend one over the other? :happyfish
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
If you must, the bluestripe pipefish is the easiest to get on frozen mysis shrimp. Dragonfaces require alot of live copepods, as they do not take to prepared food. Make sure you are buying tank raised horses. They are raised on mysis shrimp. Wild caught are extremely difficult to keep, and come in with some very nasty pathogens. No urchins! Nudibranchs don't live long anyway, and get swept away in overflows. You will need to keep the flow low in this tank, and the biggest problem I see is with a large tank full of fish the horses are going to get outcompeted for food. Please read up on Sygnathids {seahorses} there is a very good site devoted to them. Another concern is temperature, seahorses cannot tolerate the high temps we generally keep our tanks at. And please do not buy a catalina goby, they require very low temps. A porcelain crab will be fine. No stinging corals, or biting crabs. Most shrimp are probably a bad idea too, as they are quick to steal food. Sexy shrimp would be a great choice, get several.... they are cute together.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
most palythoas (button polyps)would sting your seahorses. but there may be a type of regular zoanthid that may work I'm not sure. kenya tree corals are seahorse friendly so arent finger leathers.
 
nynex

nynex

New Member
Rykna remember to keep your flow very low. Seahorses do
not like alot of flow. I would suggest getting a dual exhaust with a
gatevalve on it, so that you can regulate the flow. There is place
here in Orlando called Sea in the City. They sell those for about
$25. You can go to please do not provide links to competitors and they have a online store.
or you can do a spraybar..
I would leave your current tank the way it is and do a smaller tank
for the seahorses.. You are very limited on what you can put in with
them. They like the water very calm with limited flow.
Im in the process right now of setting up a seahorse tank..I have a 75 gal
reef and I knew to have seahorses I would have to do another tank for
them.A friend of mine who owns a LFS here is selling me his 15 gallon cube
that is on the tall side.He has Live rock and sand in it with a few clowns. It
has a built in wet/dry filter in it. Pretty cool tank by all glass..they stopped
making them a few years back. Im either gonna go with that or im gonna get
a 36 gal hexagon tank for the Seahorses..
Hope it works out for you...Post some photos...
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
QUOTE=promisetbg/: If you must, the bluestripe pipefish is the easiest to get on frozen mysis shrimp. Dragonfaces require alot of live copepods, as they do not take to prepared food.
~Thanks, then I will hold off on the pipe fish. The 90 gallon has just barely cycled and the pod population is non existant compared to my last reef tank
Make sure you are buying tank raised horses.
~ gotcha covered. I wouldn't touch a wild caught SH with a 10 foot pole, unless I was using the pole to put it back into the ocean.
No urchins!
~ I have read that urchins are not prefered tank mates; I would greatly apreciate more input on the subject :thinking:
Nudibranchs don't live long anyway, and get swept away in overflows.
~ No worries there.... I've seen more water movement in my bathtub! I am concerned about the toxins they release when/if they die
Biggest problem I see is with a large tank full of fish the horses are going to get outcompeted for food.
~ I am going to have a feeding station for the SH, and feed the fish first on opposite side of the tank. However, I hear what you're saying...that is one of the #1 problems with SH besides water qualities. Now that you brought that up, it occurs to me that it would be in the SH's best interest if I established them 1st, got them accustom to the feeding station and such, before I add anything more.... aarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhh ok...ok... patience....wait foooooor it......
need more patience...
must be patient.......

Please read up on Sygnathids {seahorses} there is a very good site devoted to them.
~Gotcha covered, the only problem I have there is getting distracted by the SH for sale! :)
Another concern is temperature, seahorses cannot tolerate the high temps we generally keep our tanks at//
68 to 82; 75 is optimum....for SH......SNIFF, I know....catalina goby, they require very low temps. They come form the north pacific ocean mostly around mexico. brrrrrrrrr.....my cousin studies marine husbandtry on the shores of California. She was telling me that compared to the atlantic, it feels like you just jumped into Lake Superior(which I have done :scared: brrrrrrrrrrrrrr) The quick stats on the Catalina sugests keeping them between 68 and 75.....although considering where they come from that sounds a tad warm. Catalina Island is off the coast of Los Angeles where tamps range from 60 to 72. So yeah...
no catalina gobies. SH prefer 74 or higher.
A porcelain crab will be fine.
No stinging corals....I finally got onto that "page"

Biting crabs :notsure: don't they all bite??? giggle. So nothing with serious claws. Which is why the porcelain crab is a good canidate.
Most shrimp are probably a bad idea too, as they are quick to steal food. Sexy shrimp would be a great choice, get several.... they are cute together. Neato, but what makes them SH safe? When compared to say peppermint shrimp?
Thank for all the ideas! Look forward to more.
Rykna
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
sh should be kept an temps below 74. anyhting higher and they can get infections very easy. do not mix pipes and sh's. they carry different pathigens that can be harful to seahorses. please go to seahorse dot org. there are experts there that can clearup these questions.
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Peppermint shrimp can be really nasty, and could actively take all the offered food from the horses. Sexy's just kind of hang out & shake thier tush..

Nynex, SITC huh? LOL.. I work there. Used to be full time, now only every other saturday.
 
rykna

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
Peppermint shrimp can be really nasty, and could actively take all the offered food from the horses. Sexy's just kind of hang out & shake thier tush..

:hilarious I am never going to be able to look at a sexy shrimp without cracking up!!!! hang out and shake their tush
:hilarious
 
shannonoss

shannonoss

Member
I have had a successful SH tank going for almost a year now. I have one pair of Seahorses (Ed and Esther), 3 Sexy Shrimp, a firefish, and a Court Jester Goby. There are several small hermits and some really big Trochus, and super Tongan snails in there also. Overall everyone gets along fine, no issues, and it is a happy, cheerful little tank to watch. I feed frozen Mysis twice a day and everyone seems to do real well. Don't put the zoo's in, they will sting the horses, I have a couple of mushrooms, a yellow gorg, and some star polyps in there. Not much, but enough to make it interesting and not endanger the horses. Also I highly recommend the "fake" corals for hitching posts. They are easy for the horses to hang on to, and won't hurt them. I'm not sure if it is true or not but I have been told that horses prefer reds, oranges, and yellows. Frankly Ed, my male loves my fake blue Elkhorn coral the most, and Esther his mate is either on the yellow gorg or wherever Ed is. Hope this helps!
 
shannonoss

shannonoss

Member
I've been told false percs do fine with them, but frankly I love my horses to much to take the chance. The firefish and Court Jester add enough color in my opinion. Honestly my only complaint with this tank is I wish the firefish was not quite so shy. I have a firefish in my 55 gal. that is out all the time, and much more outgoing. Oh well, like I said its a "happy" tank and I'm not going to mess with it.
On another note, anybody know something SH friendly that eats flatworms? They are starting to get out of control and I hate to put a nudibrach in that tank.
 
freejury

freejury

Member
A coral banded shrimp will take care of your worm problems, if you think its a problem. Mandarins, dragonets, most small blennies, blueleg and scarlet hermits, cleaner and monkey shrimp, all will do well with seahorses. most zooanthids (stay away from longer tenacled ones) star polyps, all types of macro algaes (you should be able to find some nice yellows, purples, reds and of course, greens.) All gorgonids, you should be able to find some nice red and orange sponges (they may not care for low/medium water flow). And dont forget featherduster worms.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
not that i know of. but a 6 line might. not sure about thier personality with horses.
I have a clown gobie, and a jp cardinal and one pep shrimp with mine. none seem to bother them. my horses are trained to a feeding dish and sometimes the clown gobie will sit and eat with them.
 
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