I have been researching seahorses for a year now and am ready to take the plunge. I already have a mature marine tank; only a basic one containing the stock in my sig, so i know the basics and cycling issues...but i still may be asking for help
The tank will be a 24"x12"x15", which holds 70 litres (16 UK gal and 19 US gal). Its a juwel tank so its got the heater and filter system in the black box. I cant be bothered to fiddle with sponges, due to nitrate traps etc so i will probably stick with the media im using in my current marine ( Seachem's ultimate filtration and Organic & Phosphate control). These keep phosphates at the correct level etc, so i know how to use them etc and they are reliable.
The tank has previously been a Brackish one. There's coral sand in there at the moment. So, the setting up plan is to:
-Scrub all sides with boiling hot water several times
-Add a couple of litres or RO in and just wash the sides with that
-Sort out Substrate: Was planning on using live sand, as organisms living in there may be beneficial to the horses. Should i just wash all the sand in the tank with boiling water and keep that or get rid of it and replace with new LS?
-If keeping current one, add salt water (using RO). If not, add water, then LS.
-Then LR (aiming ofr 8 KGs)

I will hopefully be getting the RO and more salt tomorrow, so will post again.

Just as an idea for you, there will be the basic fiji or indonesian rock as the centre piece stuff, then pieces of tonga branch coming out of that. Since its a juwel tank, adding additional lighting is a bit of a problemo. But luckily, seahorses dont like too bright light, so im okay there.
Ill be adding some xenia frags from my main marine tank into it. Lots of algaes for them to hitch onto. Chaeto, red and green grape calupera etc.
Finally stocking:
-A pair of SHs
-CUC: -Red legged/ Blue legged hermits (need advice witht these as ive only got reds in the other tank, and i dont know baout compatibility)
-Blood Red/Fire Shrimp....maybe (again, need advice)
-And obviously snails: Cerith, astrea, bumblebee shelled etc

Ive got back from holiday today and therefore am tired, so i cant think straight and cat remember what i was going to say! So ill post 2moz if i get anything. And yes, there will be picks to come

Cheers

This post has been edited by connorsbala: Jun 21 2008, 06:11 PM

Nice to see another TFF member taking the plunge into the SH domain. First of all I would bin the Sand and go for some reef sand: Aragonite, Oogalitc, Reef balls. What ever bran is good. The LS is a waste of money as the LR will populate the sand in no time. For filtration the "Sachem’s ultimate filtration and Organic & Phosphate control" is not one I’ve used but if it works for you then go with it.

Set up should be: sand, water 1/2 way, rock, turn on equipment, fill rest, and leave to cycle. If using old rock (stuff you have then the cycle should be minimal if Evan that) if you have new stuff I would leave to cycle and test every day.

For there your CUC and coral choose is good except for one: hermit crabs. Even though these little algae eaters seem passive enough if a SH should get near one when changing shells then the HC then it could attach and as I'm sure you are aware SH don't have scales like fish but are quite 'fleshy' and the HC could do damage.

They would be my only comments.

Godd luck

And may the salt be with you........................

Cheers for that!
Im such an idiot! I wrote down a step by step list of what to do. Cleaned the tank properly and got rid of the old sand. Then added RO to the tank. But then i missed out a stp, to mix the salt! So i added the bag of LS and though ****! Its probs all dead now! So i quickly added the salt and its mixing now, in a very cloudy tank!
Do you reckon this willl have killed all the bacteria and stuff?

Probably most of it but it will just help the tank cycle. As long as you're using cured live rock then it wont hurt you too bad. It shouldnt take the sand long to become "live" again.

Cool, thanks for re-assuring me
Even though the tanks cloudy, im alright adding LR today right? Well, ill be getting some today anyways.

as long as the ph, temp, and specific gravity are all up to par then youre clear for rocks.

Got some LR today. Got some fiji and Tonga Branch. Got about 5 kilos all together. Will get some more maybe next weekend.
ANyway, the tanks clearing so will post picks as soon as it does

good luck, im just about to do the same! my 15gal aq3 is sitting idly so i thought im gonna break down some of my main tank and get a bangaii tank and seahorse tank. il prob be setting mine up tomorow!


i was pondering the hermit crab thing as well, looks like it will be just snails! i think cleaner shrimp are generally a good thing, well on seahorse.org they seem to mention them as a good thing in the compatabilty charts, also maybe a neon goby rated safe even with fry on the website!


what seahorses you planning on getting?

H.Kuda really. I can get my hands on the lovely deep orange Carribean ones (cant remember their name) as i know the guy at a LFS. THey retail at £250 a pair and i could get them for £175 But ive gotta resist the temptation until i get used to horsies lol
Yeah, so im just sticking with the common yellow ones. How about you?
Yeah, i was thinking of Neon Gobies, theyre a lovely small fish. Or even a yellow watchman. I want something for the bottom.
There's alot of debate about Mandarins but the guy that i know at the LFS says he has had alot of success keeping them in a 10 gal. He makes your theyre eating live brine and frozen mysis etc before buying them. Then he has culture of live copepods etc going, so he puts some of that in every few days. He also says to have an algae magnet in the tank all the time, as the organisms are able to get away from the fish in the velcro like stuff. He seperates the magnets, and then the mandarin comes up and eats all the food.
Alot of people post journals on the net about how they keep mandarins alive and well in a 10 gal, so im constantly looking at them everyday!
Its something to think about, and to research on!

Yer, seems like only different types of snails for me... Peppermints are okay, and im looking into Blood Shrimps as ive already got Cleaners in the other tank.
The only problem with Cleaners and SHs is that they dont like to be cleaned and cleaners, as you may have seen, sometimes steal food before Clown fish and stuff, so with them in the tank how are the horses gonna eat?

Thats cool, tell me how you get one with setting it up

This post has been edited by connorsbala: Jan 6 2008, 08:38 PM

ive heard mandarins can be a bit risky with seahorse fry ..... since they are predetors a large one may be able to take a fry.

i think i can get hold of a pair of seahorses for about £49! im not 100% sure what they are though, they came in from tmc as giant seahorse! so im thinking there probably h.kuda, could be h.erectus though. need to get hold of some nice macro algae though, at work ive done a make shift airline hosing for them, they seem to like it!!


hopefully i aim to breed them, got to get rotifers, phytoplankten and babybrine all on the go first though!

I may have missed it but you are doing dwarf sea horses in this tank, correct? It will not be large enough to comfortably sustain any larger species. Just wanted to make sure you knew that. Also be prepared and efficient in hatching/seperating/raising brine shrimp as they'll be the primary food source for the DSH. Eventually it may be possible to ween them off of live foods but nothing beats some vitamin enriched brine

Nope, going for something like H.Kuda. I feel that dwarves are too much of a challenge in a tank larger than 10 gals, with tryin gto feed such small creatures!
The tanks cleared, so will post pics later

And 20 gal is the recomended minimum by experienced keepers etc, and i have a 19 Us gal...? 29 gal being preferable though.
Anyways, if they get too big, which i doubt, i will upgrade

Oh BTW, what is the preferred temperature of SHs? IS it around 23 degrees celcius?

This post has been edited by connorsbala: Jan 7 2008, 11:33 AM

You know you sometimes get that sorta dust like stuff on the water surface, how can i get rid of that? At the moment theres the juwel powerhead pointing towards the surface and a hydor koralia 1 and it wont go away! I dont want to muc flow as it'll be too strong for the horses.
How do you get around this?

A sump really helps in this department...

The preferred temp varies from species to species, as does the tank requirement. Also, when people use smaller aquariums (i.e. 29g) theyre using taller variations of that size. The height of the tank is whats important as sea horses are laterally oriented animals. Some may do alright for sometime, but it doesnt take long for a pair to turn into much more than that. I saw someone mentioning fry so I hope you're not planning on raising more in there. It may be best to just go with like a single Kuda and then some not so fry safe but sea horse safe tank mates like different inverts and such. Sea horses are pretty delicate animals, if they get stressed due to being cramped then it wont take very long at all for them to find some sort of infection. That's why a lot of people who keep them these days dont use live rock/live sand/anything that could possibly contain some random parasite or disease. You say you've been reading for the past year so I'm sure you're aware of all of this, I'd just hate to see you jump in too fast and blow your money on some horses that dont last. They can be some of the most interesting pets.

Cheers for that Chris
The film on the surface is clear now, just took a couple of hours for the powerheads to get rid of it
And no, not planning on raising fry!!!!!!!!! If thye happenedto breed, id try and give the fry away as i really dont want to get into breeding again!
Did you happen to read this months issue of PFK? Look at p34, in the Ask The Experts Section. Someone asked whether a 50 litre tank (tetra aquaart) is suitable for a pair with CUC and algaes etc; and the reliable Mr Phil Hunt said it is, as long as they're captive breed etc.... Many people have also advised me that this is suitable, and they have said how i should setup the tank etc ie hitching posts. Where i work i have alot of help from my boss.
Thanks for the input Chris, you have been much help!
Ski, as ive said the surface is clear now. By recommending a sump, would this be to put a skimmer in and stuff? i have absolutely no room for a sump

This post has been edited by connorsbala: Jan 7 2008, 04:48 PM