Seahorses

SLC Flyfishing

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Well I know most on here do not reccomend raising seahorses, but I want to know why. I've got a younger sister who is absolutely fascinated with them and I know that she would do anything and more that was required to make them healthy. So I'm wondering, what seahorses are reccomended for seahorse beginers, what tank sizes are we looking at, and what in terms of tank setup (live rock or no) are we looking at? My sister has already been scouring the library for books and she has confiscated all mine but I want more info. Thanks for any replies.

SLC
 
All I know is that you need a tall tank (18" ish if not higher) with low flow, lots of plants and good water parameters. They feed really slowly so you need their food to be available for around 20mins at a time and I think they need feeding multiple times daily.

That is the limit of my knowlegde I think.....If I think of anything else I'll let you know. I do know there are some SH enthusiasts on here so they'll tell you more than I can :good:
 
tall tanks low flow nothing that stings and can be an absolute b**** to get them eating. but dont take that as it cant be done because it can. matt5664 keeps them if i remember right maybe worth asking him his opinion but if you were from what i remember is a tall tank so they can stretch you can have coral but nothing that stings sea grass looks good imo and they need a very select diet also make sure you see them feeding in store
 
Well I know most on here do not reccomend raising seahorses, but I want to know why. I've got a younger sister who is absolutely fascinated with them and I know that she would do anything and more that was required to make them healthy. So I'm wondering, what seahorses are reccomended for seahorse beginers, what tank sizes are we looking at, and what in terms of tank setup (live rock or no) are we looking at? My sister has already been scouring the library for books and she has confiscated all mine but I want more info. Thanks for any replies.

SLC

i thing the general view is that seahorses are not for beginners period!
 
I set up a tank for seahorses about a month and a half ago. In about a month I'll be adding them (Kudas, from seahorsesource.com).

There are several things you should look for when buying seahorses and setting up a tank. Much of it has been mentioned here. First, a tall tank. Most seahorses require a tank 18" tall, with some requiring a tank as tall as 36". Dwarf seahorses can live in a tiny tank (and should live in a tiny tank, because they're so hard to feed), but combining the fact that they only accept live food with the tiny tank, they're probably harder than most of the other species. You'l also want to have a tank with fairly low flow, especially compared to reef tanks. Skimming has been debated, because some claim micro bubbles lead to gas bubble disease... Personally, after doing some research, I got a skimmer, and I'm not going to worry about it. I don't think it'll hurt, but, you can do your own research and come to your own conclusion.

As far as tankmates, do some research, and check out seahorse.org, they have a lot of good information. Tankmates are definitely possible, and there are plenty of docile, suitable fish out there.

If you get a tank bred and raised seahorse, that is regularly eating frozen food (seahorsesource.com feeds frozen mysis), and take good care of your tank, I think you'll be ok. I don't actually have mine yet, but I'm very confident.

Oh, and I have a 33g Oceanic cube setup for mine.
 
I'm going to go out on a ledge here and say that seahorses aren't necessarily a bad choice for a beginner. You need to do lots of reading and research. My fish saltwater fish was sort of seahorses. When I was able to add fish to my first saltwater aquarium, I put in my clown goby, became comfortable with water chemistry, water changes, maintence, then I got my first pair of SH.

They do need a lower flow than your regular marine tank. I have a 29 gallon setup with a HOT Magnum filter, and my horses did great with that amount of flow. You also want to make sure there are lots of places for the seahorses to hitch to.

The key to raising seahorses is to get captive BRED seahorses (not captive raised). These are less likely to be exposed to disease and have weakened immune systems. They also eat frozen food without fail. Their diet consists mostly of frozen mysis, which most people feed 2-3 times every day. They have a different digestive system then other fish, and cannot go without food for more than two or three days. Quite a few SH keepers like to fast their seahorses one day a week. Sometimes I skipped a feeding, other weeks I couldn't say no to four snouts looking in their feeding dish, waiting for the food to magically appear. If the seahorses do become sick, and do not eat after two or three days, owners have to make a tough decision. They need to decide whether or not to tube feed the horse. If seahorses go too long without food, their digestive system will completely shut down, and never start again.


As for good beginner horses, reidi, erectus, and kuda are all considered good starters. A favorite setup is a 29 gallon with two or four horses (preferably 1 male and 1 female, or 2 males and 2 females). Seahorses are social animals, and they do not do as well if a single animal is kept in a tank.

Tankmates are more limited than the normal reef tank. Some people are more cautious than others when it comes to tankmates. Some pretty definate rules are - snails and most non-stinging corals are ok; large predatory fish, clams/scallops, and anenomes are never ok.

As long as you do lots of reading, research, and prepare well, I think seahorses can be ok for a newbie to saltwater. And for a newbie, it is an absolute must that the seahorses are captive bred (born in captivity). I would become familiar with diseases seahorses are prone to, how to treat them, how to tube feed a seahorse (it's harder to learn how to do it when you are in a panic because your horse hasn't eaten in two days), and have your tank completely planned before you buy anything.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^what he said^^^^^^^^^^^^


Just to give you an idea. My tank stats

I have a 24x12x16 with 10kgs of LR. 55W of Marine White PC. I run one Power head @ 400lph and one Fluval 2plus (200lph i think) with a spray bar breaking the water surface (containing Live rock rubble). There is about 5 or 6 types of algeas in there a few Zoo polops and two tube worms. There are two Redi in there. I feed them a mix of Mysis shrimp Brine Shrimp and Marine Mix (one of each frozen cube) mixed with Amino Acids and Vitamins one daily into a upturned oyster shell. They also have about 20 to 40 live river shrimp put into the take very time I can see any.

10% water change every week.

Hope this helps you in some way.
 
O.K. thanks for the replies! And thanks for the votes of confidence, My sister is a newbie but she is 22 years old and will have plenty of help from me. She may change her mind anyway when she does more research, she is definately not the type to rush anything at all. I do think that she will want to do dwarfs if she finds about them though so what type of tank are reccomended for them? I was thinking a modded marineland 5 gallon hexagon tank setup with a PC light so she could do some macroalgae and maybe some zoos and mushrooms in there just to spice things up a bit; this is all contingent upon her wishes and desires of course. but apart from the feeding, are there any other major things that cause them to be consistently difficult to raise?

Thanks again for all the replies!

SLC
 
Dwarf seahorses are too cute for words! There are some "issues" with them. They need to be fed live food only. I've never heard of anyone to get them to consistently eat frozen food. Their main diet is newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Most dwarf keepers have two or three brine shrimp hatcheries going at one time.

Dwarf seahorses are also much smaller than most people realize. A big one would be the size of your thumb NAIL. For a 5 gallon tank, most people like to start out with 8-10. This leaves room for most of the fry they'll have. One bonus about dwarves is that the babies eat the same exact food the parents do, and need no special care.

Their setup is a little more complicated too. You have to be really careful what goes in there. You can absolutely have no apista in the tank. Even small ones are able to eat dwarf seahorses. Some people just put dry rock and substrate, and provide artifical or "dead" hitching posts. There is one place on the web (can't think of it atm) that sells dwarf safe macro, live rock, etc. They guarentee there is nothing that can eat or harm the dwarf seahorses.

Water quality is also a little harder to maintain. With a very small aquarium, and amount of food, you need to be religious about water changes and checking parameters on a regular basis.
 
O.K. I'm going to advise strongly against Dwarf seahorses. I had no idea they were THAT small. I thought maybe 2 inches long or so.

SLC

What other small species are there?
 
Note that Hippocampus capensis in the above link is a temperate species and needs a chiller.
 
I believe the only other smaller seahorse (breviceps) can be kept in about a 15 gallon, but they too need a chiller.

IME, 29 gallon is a nice size to have. It's relatively easy to maintain, but you can also have a pair or two of the bigger species (erectus, reidi).

If she wants some really big seahorses, she could get the h. abdominalis. They get about 36 inches high. But need a 55-75 gallon tank, and also a chiller so probably not what she's looking for. :lol: Very neat horses, btw.
 
I agree with dixaisy930, a 29 gallon tank is a good size for beginner 'horses and SH newbies.

You really can't keep any small species without special care such as live foods only (H. zosterae) or temperate conditions with a chiller (H. capensis, H. brevieps).

If your sister doesn't want 'horses that require extra tall tanks, live foods only or chillers, stick with H. erectus. And join Seahorse.org!
 
Note that Hippocampus capensis in the above link is a temperate species and needs a chiller.

It should be noted that most seahorses you'll buy won't do well at normal tropical temperatures (78-82). My tank is stable between 74 and 75, and that's where I'm keeping it (for Kudas).

EDIT: It may look like I'm trying to tell AMS that, I'm not, just general information for the thread, I'm sure AMS knows much more than I do :)
 

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