Dwarf/pygmy Seahorse Care

[PRW1988]

Alright, so the title says it all. I want to give dwarf/pygmy seahorses a try, I've read that a pair of them can be kept in as little as 2gallons although a minimum of 5 is reccommended. I have a 5gallon saltwater tank currently and am planning on either 3 snails (regardless) and a fish or pair of small fish. But if I can get seahorses in their I'd love to give that a go!

Any information you guys can share would be great. I have a few start questions.

1) Do they NEED a protein skimmer
2) What is the best type of food to feed them
3) If the seahorses I purchase turn out to be WC, how do I go about training them to accept frozen foods?
4) Approximatly how often and how much should I change the water on the seahorse tank as I know they are sensitive.


These are just a few questions, more to come in the future. Please help me out if you can!

 

[PRW1988]

As nobodys replyed yet, I'm not only asking for those questions to be answered, but for any info in general.

 

[dixaisy930]

No need for a protein skimmer. Actually, I think people use a sponge filter or HOB filter and put pantyhose around the intake so the seahorses don't get sucked up.

From what I remember, it is almost impossible to get dwarf seahorses (WC or tank raised) to eat frozen food. Copepods are good, and newly hatched, enriched baby brine shrimp is a staple.

Also, making sure the tank is hydroid free is crucial. Hydriods are very dangerous to dwarf seahorses.

I think most people go for atleast a five or ten gallon...partly because these guys are so small. I think they usually chose that over anything smaller because d.s.h. breed quite readily in captivity when in the proper setup.

A good book to get is The Complete Guide to Dwarf Seahorses in the Aquarium by Wagner Abbott

 

[seffieuk]

Can't wait to see the photos if you decide to go this way

Seffie x

 

[PRW1988]

No need for a protein skimmer. Actually, I think people use a sponge filter or HOB filter and put pantyhose around the intake so the seahorses don't get sucked up.

From what I remember, it is almost impossible to get dwarf seahorses (WC or tank raised) to eat frozen food. Copepods are good, and newly hatched, enriched baby brine shrimp is a staple.

Also, making sure the tank is hydroid free is crucial. Hydriods are very dangerous to dwarf seahorses.

I think most people go for atleast a five or ten gallon...partly because these guys are so small. I think they usually chose that over anything smaller because d.s.h. breed quite readily in captivity when in the proper setup.

A good book to get is The Complete Guide to Dwarf Seahorses in the Aquarium by Wagner Abbott

From what I've read online aparently even with Dwarf Seahorses, you can train them to accept frozen foods, though it's not easy. I need to know a method to train them, any species I assume the method should work for these little guys (atleast I hope!). And thanks for the advice on the book, I'll look around for that and hopfully my LFS can order a copy for me if they don't have one. Another thing is what exactly are hyriods?

The tank I'm using is the Eclipse 5gallon hex, I plan to use the filter it has so I'll put some panthose or something over the intake, thanks for that tip too.

Any other information people have would be greatly appriciated, also, I will post some pics of the tank (without the seahorses) in the near future. The reason why it'll be without the horses is because I want to learn all I can about them prior to me even attempting to keep them.

 

[dixaisy930]

From what I've read online aparently even with Dwarf Seahorses, you can train them to accept frozen foods, though it's not easy

People have had some luck getting them to accept frozen, but they also have them go off of the frozen regularly. Just to stay on the safe side, make sure you have a source of live food if they do decide to become finicky. As for a method, I think that book should give you some ideas.

 

[PRW1988]

Well I talked to my local saltwater store and my dealer (Ken) said that he's getting in Western Spiny seahorse, aparently a species of dwarf seahorse, so I have to do some research on them specifically. Also, his are Captive Bred and he ensured me that by the time I buy the pair from him that they'll be weened over to frozen food. I'm unsure of the price still, but as they won't be there until next month I'm fine because I have lots of time to research them

I do plan to set-up a small brine shrimp hatchery, in hopes that I can successfully get a decent sized culture going. My dealer reccomended that since I've had the tank set-up for a month I should start to slowly stock it with w/e else I want until he gets them in so I got a pair of snails lol. He also told me that if I want I could probably go with a flase percula clown, the 2 snails and the 2 dwarf seahorse in that tank so long as I'm taking proper care of the tank.

I'm going to do some more research on the western spinys to see if one clown alone would be fine with them as I am diligent with matainance, aswell I plan to buy the pre-mixed saltwater from petsmart (4gallons for $15), hopfully this will keep my ammonia, nitrate and nitrites down.

So in all right now my tank will shortly be stocked with 2 snails and (the current inhabitant) a black molly. Possibly the clownfish if they'll get along. I'll get pics up ASAP, but for now there's nothing.

 

[andywg]

Well I talked to my local saltwater store and my dealer (Ken) said that he's getting in Western Spiny seahorse, aparently a species of dwarf seahorse,

I know you will research them, but I thought I would do some quickly.

Western Spiny Sea Horse appears to be an Australian seahorse with the scientific name of Hippocampus angustus (which gets to 22cm long).

Sounds a bit large to be a dwarf to me.

 

[PRW1988]

I thought that too, but aparently this isn't the one from austrailia. Which leads me to believe that the ones he's getting in are mislabled, I asked him about that this morning when I woke up and started researching (yes I know I'm a nerd ). So I'm guessing they're similar in apperance, just not the same fish as on one site I found it said that the species you researched (aswell as myself) was an endagered speices and capture and trade of this fish should be strictly monitored.

New question time.

Do you think that a pair of dwarf seahorses and a false percula will be fine together?

Also, back to the older questions that didn't get answered, I still need to know approximatly how often and how much should I change the water on the seahorse tank as I know they are sensitive.

 

[dixaisy930]

Do you think that a pair of dwarf seahorses and a false percula will be fine together?

Nope. The clown will most likely stress the dwarf seahorses, and out-compete them for food. It might even try to eat the seahorses...depends on how big the clown is (I assume you are looking for Hippocampus zosterae, and if I remember correctly, they only get about an inch long, including the tail). From what I read, it's not even recommended to have clowns in with larger seahorses.

Also, back to the older questions that didn't get answered, I still need to know approximatly how often and how much should I change the water on the seahorse tank as I know they are sensitive.

Weekly 10-25% water changes

 

[PRW1988]

thank you

 

[andywg]

I thought that too, but aparently this isn't the one from austrailia. Which leads me to believe that the ones he's getting in are mislabled, I asked him about that this morning when I woke up and started researching (yes I know I'm a nerd ). So I'm guessing they're similar in apperance, just not the same fish as on one site I found it said that the species you researched (aswell as myself) was an endagered speices and capture and trade of this fish should be strictly monitored.

How can he know so much on a fish he doesn't have? Many sea horses look very similar to the untrained eye, just like frogfish which almost never ever come in with an accurate description as the importers and exporters just don't recognise enough to do accurate id.

I would guess you have a very good chance of getting a sea donkey which will grow larger than you desire. I certainly would want to know scientific names of the stock and to see and ID them myself before purchasing when hoping for a dwarf species.

 

[PRW1988]

He's shown me the stock list and scientific name and it's coming in as what thedwarf seahorses are. (I forget the name for them. H.Z------- and no clue on the spelling lol)