Dwarf Seahorses

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Doggfather

Al Bundy
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is it possile to keep dwarf seahorses, Hippocampus zosterae, in a 10 gallon nano? or do they need very special conditions only suited to the expert marine fish keeper?
 
it is possable but seahorses need very stable conditions and are very delicate and so may not survive long in a nano. someone who has kept seahorses in the past may be able to help more.

ste :)
 
thanks for the help!!! i just finished reading a great article here which explains leeping them quite well, and suggest they are quite hardy...but if anyone has ever kept them, please help me!!!
 
:/ sea horses are very need and should be keeped with caution and look sad i tanks :(
 
I found out today that someone in my area breeds them, I might get a little 2 1/2 and try it out. Man they sound cool. The only problem that I might have is the daily feeding, I will inlist my neibor if I try it.
 
I was going to do a seahorse tank with one of my JBJ nanocubes, but went to some seahorse forum and the general concensus was that it would not make a proper habitat for the seahorse, but personally speaking I think there are a lot of emotional people in the world, and the No. 1 explanation of why I shouldnt do it, was the similarity of :

It would be like putting a person in a 10x10 room all the time with no company.

I finally gave up thinking about it and did somethign else with the tank.


I'd like to do a seahorse tank, but I just can't justify a large tank for an animal that does a whole lot of just hitching itself to a branch and sitting there all day. (Like the ones I see in my LFS do).
 
:X It is not like putting a person in a 10' by 10' room. Sea horses are not as intelligent as humans, and can be happy in a small tank. As long as they are getting food, dont have to worry about anything eatting them, and have good water quailty, they will be content. Who ever told you that, well, their hmmmmmmm, about as smart as a sea horse. :hey: Let me correct myself, sea horses are not as smart as most humans, but some humans are only as intelligent as a sea horse. :huh:
 
Pet owners can be emotional in their arguements, it's like arguing religion.

In any event I asked that they refrain from the emotional arguments and tell me why it's not a good idea, but since their forums didnt send out email to notify me of new replys, I just dropped the idea with the overall notion that it just wasnt a good idea.
 
Personally I don't see the difference between keeping seahorses to keeping any other delicate creature such as say elephant noses. As long as you are keeping them in the right enviroment and look after them I cannot see why some people would get so up tight. As soon as seahorse is mentioned some people tend to go off the deep end without any justification. Personally I think it is an animal that I think more "responsible" people who "know what they're doing" should, and in some cases must keep. I think along the lines that if people keep captivity bred seahorses, breed them and then sell the young to pet shops so others can buy them then it would reduce, if not eliminate the sales of wild ones as their business would be undermined if people breeding them kept their prices lower. All in all I tend to think that alot of people moaning about people keeping them are not thinking with their heads where it should be as the above solution would eliminate the very collection from the wild they are fighting against, which in my humble oppinion is a good thing.
 
Dwarf seahorses do well in a small aquarium but have few compatible tank mates. Ocean Rider sells farm-raised dwarves (they call them Pixies) and list these facts about them:

Size: 1 - 1 1/2 inches

Color: Ranges typically from mottled brown to white, sometimes yellow, green or black and less commonly multi colored--yellow and black, polka dotted and pinto.

Life span: Wild approximately 1 year, captive 2-3 years plus.

Feed: Artemia, all stages, preferable newly hatched nauplii. Also various shrimp larvae such as Gammarus, Mysids, red shrimps and ghosts.

Feeding Frequency: Two times a day.

Behavior: Promiscuous, prolific. Like to hitch and feed on bypassing live food. Short wait list of 2 weeks. You will be protected from any price increases during the waiting period and you will recieve a free Pixie treat with this purhase and any future pixie purchases. You choose the treat....live baby brine shrimp, baby brine cysts, Hawaiian Ogo (great hitchin post and copepod habitat!)

Offspring: Average amount of fry from 3-30, most common around 20.

Fry: Approximately inch, benthic, able to hitch right away.

Natural habitat: Florida to the Bahamas. In the wild they often have parasites.

Tank setup: 1-10 gallons. Preferable is 5 gallon. Hitching posts such as plastic plants or caulerpa.

Tank mates: Very few are compatible. Tiny hermits, red shrimps, sea bunnies and snails.

Water quality Parameters:

Temperature: 70°F-80°F (21°C-27°C); Specific gravity: 1.019-1.022

PH: 8.2-8.4; Ammonia: 0; Nitrite: 0; Nitrate: 0-10ppm


http://www.oceanrider.com/default.asp
 
For information on seahorses I would check this forum out.
http://www.seahorse.org/

It's were I went when I thought about keeping them again. I had 2 for about a year, several years before the internet. Now information is easily to obtain.
 
Seahorses are not especially hardy, and are VERY PICKY about foods. They are not compatible with alot of fish because the other fish will eat the food before they get to it. When you keep them in tanks you greatly shorten their lifespan. Also they need tall tanks, as opposed to long like most reefs with corals are. They are very beautiful, and if you do decide to get them, enjoy! (and do a ton of research)

Edit: I guess mostly mermaid covered it all, oops!
 

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