Seahorse questions

[russian65]

Well, I decided to set up a 38 gallon aquarium for my son. He want to make it a reef aquarium with a pair of true percula clown fish and dwarf seahorses. I plan on setting up a 10 gallon sump, under-gravel filter, and a 404 fluval external canister filter. Basically, my question is: How many dwarf seahorses can he keep in his aquarium? I read that they are about 1.5 inches when they are fully mature, and they like to live in herds.
Thanks in advance.

 

[melosu58]

IMO they need to be a species only tank. The clownfish will out compete the seahorses for food. This is just my experience.

 

[pat8you]

Second melosu on this one. I have had seahorses and they are very careful eaters. They like to look at each piece of food for a second or two before they will even thing about eating it. Clowns will wildly run around the tank stuffing their face with anything that is even close to food. It will freak out your seahorses.

Clowns can also get quite territorial. Especially when they pair up. They will at some point pick on the seahorses and stress them out. A recipe for a lot of sick seahorses and a very upset son when they kick it.

If your somewhat experienced in saltwater you can keep seahorses and pipe fish. Both are docile can be kept together will success most of the time. Both are also a little more difficult to keep compared to "nemo" which may have equal excitement value depending on how old your son is.

As a side note, under-gravel filters are outdated these days. they get clogged up quickly and start causing all kinds of problems that can only be fixed by tearing up your tank. Gravel in a SW tank is actually not the best option either. Don't mean to come off rude or anything. Just trying to help.

http://seahorsesource.com/zosterae.html
Link to info on dwarfs

 

[russian65]

Thanks for the answers, guys. We decided to make a pine wood unit for two aquariums, a nano-reef with dwarf seahorses(5 gal), and a reef aquarium with two true perculas(38 gal).