Seahorses

[Dreamsound1]

What do people think of seahorses? Are they hard to take care of?

 

[Beengirl]

They're very difficult. Need to be in species-only tank or with only pipefish. Picky eaters and move very slowly, they tend to starve to death.

 

[Dreamsound1]

Ok thank you and I'm going to give a shot and hope for the best

 

[crister13]

Well make sure you know what your doing. They prefer live baby brine shrimp to eat since they are very picky. They are extremely slow.

 

[jetajockey]

I'm experimenting with a seahorse tank also, look forward to updates.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I had success setting up a saltwater planted tank for seahorses. It was for a friend who had a 30L. I set her up with a 20 for a refugium with a small air driven "Red Sea airlift" skimmer. The plants (about 4-5 types) let the seahorses grab on anywhere in the display tank and made a great habitat for copepods and mysis.

 

[Dreamsound1]

Yeah cause I just add all the water today and now waiting for it to cycle

 

[obscurereef]

Maybe make it a macroalgae filled tank! Will give the seahorses a place to wrap their tails around and pods to populate. Plus IMO the reds are a great accent. Also, be careful w/ the heater..read stories about them getting fried .

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Maybe make it a macroalgae filled tank! Will give the seahorses a place to wrap their tails around and pods to populate. Plus IMO the reds are a great accent. Also, be careful w/ the heater..read stories about them getting fried .

Great advice on the heater!

OP, if you don't have a sump you may need to hide it behind some rock in the back of the tank.

Seahorses need to be fed a bit more carefully than many other fish. The plants do an excellent job of letting you feed heavier and not polite the water as easily. They're a functional part of the filtration.

 

[Dreamsound1]

What temp should the tank be for seahorses? Cause I'm using a elite submersible35 150 watts and it's for a 20-35 gallon fish tank

 

[bettaowner]

The dwarf seahorse is the hardiest species I think.

 

[Dreamsound1]

Well I'll keep you guys and gals updated on my seahorse tank

 

[obscurereef]

Hope all goes well. Very interested to see how this turns out

 

[Dreamsound1]

Here's an update on my seahorse tank just added a live rock and a decoration for the seahorses to wrap their tails around

 

[jetajockey]

I've read that live rock isn't good for seahorses because of hydroids.

 

[Dreamsound1]

Well my Lfs said its good for them so I don't now

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I've read that live rock isn't good for seahorses because of hydroids.

Really?! I've never read that, but all of my books that even mention seahorses are about 10 years old or more. It's probably time to update. Was this from a magazine article perhaps?

 

[jetajockey]

People mentioned it on the forum and I dug around a bit more.
Seahorse 101 - A seahorse diary

Live Rock with dwarf seahorses :S - Reef Central Online Community

I have found 3 pygmy seahorses so far, they are teeny tiny, I have them in a hang on type small refugium, they'd be totally lost in the tank. I've had 2 of the 3 for about a week and they seem to be doing fine still, I've been alternating between microworms and newly hatched bbs. There are also some copepods in with them but are few and far between.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Thank you x10 for the links! Good stuff. You're the most helpful guy ever!

I'm considering setting up a seahorse tank instead of a new reef. I usually plan things out over many months before starting any project so this really helps. It won't be the first seahorse tank I've built so I'm not green but it was about 10 years ago and so much has changed in that time.

 

[Ericwm]

I want a sea horse tank so bad. I was thinking of making a refugium next to my tank and adding sea horses. Do they eat pods? Anyway I'm not trying to high jack the thread, I mostly just want to follow it. I am at least a year out since my tank is still in the making.