Dwarf Seahorses

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tetraman

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I really like dwarf seahorses and I'm going to set up a 10 gallon tank for them. I was going to buy a pair off of Seahorseworld.com or Aquabid. I was going to keep some hermit crabs and maybe a starfish with it. I would like to keep a few pipefish with them but they're kind of expensive. I've read articles on how to feed them. What temperature do they need? How hard is it to breed them? Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
I really like dwarf seahorses and I'm going to set up a 10 gallon tank for them. I was going to buy a pair off of Seahorseworld.com or Aquabid. I was going to keep some hermit crabs and maybe a starfish with it. I would like to keep a few pipefish with them but they're kind of expensive. I've read articles on how to feed them. What temperature do they need? How hard is it to breed them? Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
You have a lot more researching to do. Firstly, unless you plan on hatching a truck-load of BBS each day a ten gallon tank is too large. Because they do not actively seek out their food they wait for it to come to them, they need a high feeding density of copepods or BBS.

Sea stars with dwarf seahorses, not a chance. Hermit crabs, no. Pipefish, not with dwarves.

Please check out seahorse.org they have a forum dedicated to dwarf seahorses. You have a ton of reading ahead of you.
 
OOo wow. I never knew I would ever read 10gallon and too big in one sentence.
Yup, dwarf seahorses are probably the only fish where there is such a thing as too large of a tank. Of course if they ate frozen foods there wouldn't be such thing as too large of a tank.
 
The guy in TFH used a 10 gallon. I was going to feed them frozen mysis shrimp with the ocaissianal treat of live adult brine shrimp. How active are they? If they stay latched something all day I don't want them. It just wouldn't be exciting.
 
The guy in TFH used a 10 gallon. I was going to feed them frozen mysis shrimp with the ocaissianal treat of live adult brine shrimp. How active are they? If they stay latched something all day I don't want them. It just wouldn't be exciting.
Dwarf Seahorses never never never eat frozen foods, I can't stress this enough. Dwarf seahorses ONLY eat live foods. It is possible to use a 10 gallon tank but you will need to hatch a ton of BBS to get a high concentrating in a ten gallon tank.
 
10 gallons can be done, but only if you've previously owned them with some success in a tank around 5 gallons in size. The larger the tank, the harder it is for the dwarves to find food. They do not just sit there all the time until something comes and hits them in the snout, but baby brine shrimp are hard to see..in a large tank they'd have almost no chance. They sometimes do take frozen foods, but it's very rarely, and even so...they won't survive on it. To this date, only newborn baby brine shrimp are truly proven to sustain a healthy lifespan in a dwarf seahorse. Minced mysis, etc. has been tried, but they don't last long on it. Brine around 4 hours old provides all the nutrition they need, after about a day they loose almost 100 percent of their egg sack. and with it, most of their nutrition. If you were to feed them brine that's older, they would need to be enriched with selcon for about 2 hours, and stored in the fridge. Just remember, you WILL need around 3 brine hatcheries going set to hatch at different times. around 3 feedings per day, newborn brine, it can get overwhelming.

Can you keep pipefish with them? IMHO, only dwarf pugnose pipefish are suitable, other than that..they should never be mixed..especially with someone so new to them. Disease, outcompeting them for food, etc. It's just too much. Plus, 5 gallons is much too small for most species of pipes.


Starfish, skip it, hermit crabs..onyl certain types of the smallest species should be kept with them.
Temp, 75 degrees. Breeding, easily done, fry eat newborn brine also. In the long run, dwarves are basically like baby seahorses that never grow up. Can be kept with the adults, start eating and hitching right after birth.


Are dwarves active? Not really. Other seahorses are quite active at times despite what everyone says, but dwarves are delicate little things that fit the seahorse stereotype quite readily. Imagine a little tiny fish the size of your pinky hitched to a plant 75 percent of the day. They are cute little things..but may not be as active as you'd like them to be. Feeding time, etc. that's when they get moving.

Seahorse.org, the BEST place to start..it's one of the most frequently visited forums of mine that I go to :p.
 
I was reading articles in FAMA in which people were asking if they had to feed their seahorses live foods at all. Which species do you think they had? I would really like something bigger, more colorful, and more active.
 
I was reading articles in FAMA in which people were asking if they had to feed their seahorses live foods at all. Which species do you think they had? I would really like something bigger, more colorful, and more active.
All captive bred seahorses accept frozen foods dwarf seahorses are the only ones that refuse anything but live. Check out seahorse.org, you will learn a lot there. Good beginner 'horses are Erectus and Kuda.
 
Just to clarify (but not to argue), not every captive bred seahorse accepts frozen, or vice versa. Most though do as that's what most suppliers try bringing them up on. In the end, probably 98 percent will take frozen :).


Tetraman, keep us updated!
 
tetraman>"Lesson learned: Dwarf seahorses suck."

no they just need TLC!!!!

If you don't have the time don't keep the animal (time)
 
Review:
They're colorless
They eat only live foods
They are inactive

I was just thinking that they'd be too much fun for me. :lol:
Colorless? Mine are colorful :huh:
Can't defend them here
They may not swim actively, but they do move around from hitch to hitch.

If you're into breeding they're an excellent choice.
 

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