seahorse for beginer

[619 Fish GOD]

Hi,

This is my bros e-mail address and i am using it 4 a sec. Well hi i was wondering if anyone could tell me anyhtink that i need to now about keeping 2 seahorses. This guy at the LFS told me that i could keep2 with all the eqiument, tank and food for 600 bucks is that good? This will be my fist salt water fishy.

 

[Doggfather]

i'm no marine expert but i believe seahorses are one of the more difficult species of marine fish to keep since they not particuarly suited to aquarium life. They eat nothing but live food i believe and can be fussy about the current in a tank, as well as the quality of the water.

HTH, somebody will probably come past and give youa lot more detail than i can

 

[Def]

I eventually want to keep seahorses, so I've been doing some research. Bear in mind everything I know is from reading and NOT from experience. It depends what you're buying for $600. Seahorses will be happy in a relatively small tank with very gentle current. They shouldn't be kept in a marine community tank unless they are partitioned off. They need hitching posts too. This is a great place to start learning: http/www.seahorse.org/

 

[Navarre]

HI,
Im sorry to say that seahorses are NOT a beginners fish ) Very specialised requirments and extremly delicate. NOt suited to a reef tank as this is not their natural environment (they prefer manrgove roots).

I can see the attraction as they are beautiful and graceful but they are best left to their lagoons or people that really have many years of knowledge behind them.

 

[hyrookin]

yeah, I agree that seahorses are very delicate, very hard to successfully
maintain. I would say you should do some reading on marine tanks, start
with a hardy fish, get familiar with maintaining a marine tank, then try it.
good luck!

 

[GuppyDude]

i 2 am no expert on salt water but from what iv heard seahorses are extreamly hard to keep, and shouldn't rely be kept at all in a tank in my oppinion they do require a strict diet of live foods and like to have some water grass and plants to kleen to. your gunna end up spending a fortune in the long run for something that prolly wont live that long in a tank. go for the more simple salwater fish first and if u feal comfortable with it and still want a seahorse get one

 

[Navarre]

Very sound advice, I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Dragonscales]

Fish god, this topic has been brought up time and again and each time the person has been bombarded with misinformation and in all honesty, a load of hogwash. Seahorses are suited to aquarium life due to CB species being more hardier and fed on frozen foods. They do best in a species tank but there are a few suitable tankmates out there for them. PM me and I can point you to a specialist forum where you can get actual SOUND advice from people who actually keep and research them.

I am assuming you are after some southern knights? Otherwise known as H. Abdominalis. These guys can grow pretty big but are slow growers, they are also a temperate species which like their water around 19 C. There are a few tropicals out there which are CB now which may be more suited to your locale, unless you have a cool spot in the house, either way, get the tank and keep an eye on the temp as it cycles, if it rises above 21 then you'd be better off with tropicals, these can be obtained through mail order from Western Australia and I'm pretty sure they are in South Australia as well. Height is more importants with seahorses, but width is apreciated as well, personally I plan to keep a pair of H. Breviceps and a pair of H. Whitei in a 2 foot high by 18" by 18" with possibly a pair of CB pipefish, also available these days. I will be putting in a deep sand bed of around 4-5 inches with coral sand, utilizing a clean-up crew consisting of snails, very, very small hermits and hopefully whatever I get when the sand goes live from some liverock I plan to use. Filtration will be via a protein skimmer and a powerhead or two (not too much current though as seahorses don't like to be blown all around the tank. Generally people determine how much flow is enough by turning the flow up until the horses find it hard to cope then turn it down a little less). I plan on having alot of liverock to aid filtration as well as the aforementioned DSB. I will also be growing macro algae and cutting it back to remove excess harmful substances. I know there are a few other things, but I can't remember them atm, anyway, you get the idea.

Some corals are compatible with seahorses, in general none of the hard corals though, and you need to be careful they won't sting the horses as they tend to hold tighter when stung through hitching. You'll also need to be careful that the horses aren't hurting anything they hitch to as well, such as Gorgonians (Usually when there isn't enough hitches in the tank so the horse uses the same one all the time).

Some compatible tankmates are certain blennies, certain gobies, firefish, mandarin fish (personally I wouldn't keep these though as with horses and manderins in the one tank, your pod population will be decimated pretty fast), some have had success with clownfish (again, I wouldn't keep them together as clowns can get pretty touchy about horses invading their space, aparently carefreely. But some have kept both successfully, defenantly a caution needed combo though). Practically anything that isn't going to be in competition for food or agressive. Anyhow, that's a start, as I said, PM me and I'll give you the addy for the other site if you want, you will get alot more productive and informed input there.

 

[Navarre]

Whilst you obviously know you searhorse subject very well I will always stand by my statement that they are NOT for beginners. And that IS SOUND ADVICE. How anyone can casually say that anyone who simply wants to jump into searhorses should just go right ahead is totally irrisponsibleIMO. Seahorses need a totally different care system to normal marine setups. THis forum gives basic information on how to set up fish only tanks and reff setups. therefore anyoe who reads that seahorses canbe kept easily will simply apply the knowledge they have read so far and apply a basic marine setup to a seahorse tank and that is a recipy for disaster.


It is important whether you are keeping tadpoles or seasnakes to research the species in great depth and ask as many questions as possible So far it would seem that the "Voice" of opnion is that they are not a beginners fish.. 1 voice again the rest is still only 1 voice. Being in contact with the National Marine Aquarium (who keep these "Protected species" in a breeding program) mean i know personally that these fish are not as straight forward as you are making out? You have not mentioed the fac tthat they need higher filtration due to their inability to digest all the food they eat. therefore they usually need a constant suply of foods (preferably live) so they can gain the nutrition they require during a day. Also, these are not reef fish.. NO corals are in their habitat . These are suited to reeds and mangroves with very low water movement (not good for liverock). Also.. recomending a DSB in a tank so small is in itself asking for trouble. the micro organisms will live for a while until there is a total imbalance due to the close proximity of each micro species. DSB need large surface areas where suchspeices can live and survie without too much feed of predation fromother micro species. small spaces means the dsb can soon become unstable and in danger of collapse (remember i said "can" but with the live of your fish at risk i would not take the risk)

If seahorses were so easy then Europe would not be suffering from an import ban and only seahorses that are captive bred may be sold (Which i personally thinkis a good idea).

Whilst i am not saying that you do not know wht you are talking about (you have obviously done some research) at the smae time, to run down the advise of other very well experienced reef keeprs is not a good idea. they are giving advice on what they have seen and experienced (as i am sure you are too). This doesnt mean they are giving unsafe advice.. I have never thought that telling anyone to be cautious and research a prospective idea to be irresponsible or Ill informed.

Seahorses are NOT for beginners. A beginners whowants to keep seahorses should start with the basics of a marine tank and learn water husbandry first. Learn how to recognise the symptoms of any truoble tht might appear ina tank. then, after they have become more competant with running their system and water management, perhaps they should enter the world of seahorses.

 

[Aquascaper]

Not wanting to take sides but.........

for Navarre

The general feeling is that seahorses are much harder to keep than other saltwater species and should only be undertaken by those with experience.

 

[Dragonscales]

I wasn't implying to jump right in, that is why I offered to point fish god in a direction where he could get advice from people who make their living captive breeding seahorses, people who are involved in their conservation as well as those who keep them quite successfully, including people who have never kept marine tanks before, I.E: your so called BEGINNERS.

R.E my DSB, I don't plan on seeding it with any live sand so all it will contain is what gets shipped with the live rock, this should help prevent an unstable ecosystem. It is also only temperary until I get a bigger tank anyhow, then I will transfer everything into the larger tank and use a shallow bed in this tank.

The reason they are not being imported to such a degree these days is because they are on the CITIES list and therefore protected in the wild. People are aiming to completely stamp out WC species in favour of CB ones, the chinese medicine and tourism markets do enough damage as it is, plus WC are alot harder to keep - not that I would personally endorse it even if they weren't.

True, they do need higher filtration if kept alone, but the advent of tankmates can allieviate the problem a bit. There are also ways to get around having a slower than normal current as well (not that it needs to be a hell of a lot slower) such as positioning them close to the live rock and any corals you want to keep with them. And yes, some corals are compatible with seahorses, they may not be seen together in the wild, but neither are half the fish we keep together.

As I have said before elsewhere, there's not much point in having a voice if you use it in an uneducated way. How many people here who have said they aren't a good idea to keep have actually done the research needed into keeping them? And I don't mean 20 years or even 5 or 10 years ago, I mean recently, since the incursion of CB horses? Heresay & secondhand info aren't the same as firsthand research either btw. For those who think they are near impossible to keep or VASTLY different to keeping any other marine tank go out and do some research, you'd be suprised how decadent the information given here in regards to horses really is. In fact, PM me and I'll point you in directions to research and get advice first hand as to the keeping and maintainance of seahorses.

They also don't need a large supply of live food, that is only the case with WC horses due to being picky eaters. CB are trained to eat frozen foods like mysis shrimp, often enriched to provide all the needed nutrients and an occassional supliment of live food, perhaps once a week. One day a week of fasting is also recomended to give their underdeveloped digestive tract a rest.

 

[mellissa1]

Not wanting to take sides but...

for Dragonscales

mmmwwaaahahaha

 

[verytricky]

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE -

Had to add my comment.....

My first aquarium and thus first fish was a 120 liter tank with two sub-tropical seahorses. You can definately be successful as a beginner with seahorses, but you really have to avoid the reef forums.

No offence there ...... but seahorse tanks are very different from your average reef tank setup.


Firstly seahorses dont like flow, as they are poor swimmers, so a flow rate of around 2x an hour is great. Secondly they dont like most tank mates, who bully them and out compete them for food. Next they dont like corals that sting, and seahorses are a bit stupid and hitch onto them.....

BUT! with a little foresight, i think you an be successfull with seahorses as a beginner...


A standard tank with a canister filter is usually enough filtration. The flow is low, but that is what seahorses want.

Some liverock is good too, as is some macro.

Then feeding is easy - for the past 4 years you have been able to get captive bred seahorses that eat frozen foods. And you can place the foods in a feeding bowl, and the seahorses line up to feed like dogs do around the bowl....

Salinity is not too critical either for seahorses who can live years in anything from 1.018 to 1.027 - provided the PH is ok and you dont have massive swings in temperature or salinity they are fine.

They are much more forgiving than some of the more popular fish......


You just gotta spend some time at a dedicated site, and things seem clear so quickly...

 

[verytricky]

Being in contact with the National Marine Aquarium (who keep these "Protected species" in a breeding program) mean i know personally that these fish are not as straight forward as you are making out?

FWIW - possibly the worst choice of european aquarium to use as an example with syngnathids. They have a particularly poor record....

 

[Opcn]

Beginers are HIGHLY prone to mistakes and all marine fish are delicate, sea horses are especially so, If youve ever been to an lfs and seen the dieout in tanks in the hands of experts among the heartyer verieties of fish then you'd know that just because your extreemly lucky doesnt mean that they will be. For every one seahorse that lifes probably 20 die, noit a good beginer fish, a good beginer fish is something like a dotty back, something that can take a few mistakes and the overfeeding that comes with beginers.