Seahorses

[Swervo513]

Anyone have any information on how to keep these guys or atleast point me in the right direction?
-water quality, temp, salinity, flow
-feeding habits
-difficulty
-environment
-Kept in pairs?
-availability, price, and where to buy them in Brooklyn, NYC
Basically any vital information on how to keep these critters

Thanx,
Larry

PS: I have a small Eclipse 6 with a clown fish but I am hoping that I can convert the tank to keep some Seahorses.

 

[connorsbala]

I keep mine at 24 degrees celcius, which is the highest they should be at. Salinity wise, they are kept at 1.021. For the flow, i have the juwel filter going and a hydor koralia 1 both directed at the surface to increase oxygen levels and keep the pH up. You want half the flow of a reef tank basically.
For the feeding, frozen mysis should be their main diet. I chuck a couple of portions of river/ghost shrimp in every Sunday, which lasts a few days, and they can snack on it whenever they want.
Offer brine shrimp as a treat, it should not be their staple diet! It is better to enrichen the brine shrimp with liquids etc, as they have a low nutritional value.
Im 15 years old and dont fin them difficult at all! As long as you get captive bred ones, and you knwo they are already eating you should be fine My pair started eating as soon as they were put in the tank, so i was lucky there!
You need alot of hitching posts for them, as thats what they do all day! Ideally you want something every 4 inches. Use stuff like tonga branch live rock, macroalgae, caulerpa, feather dusters etc.
I wouldnt keep one on its own as my two spend their time to gether, whether they are holding tails or on the same piece of tonga branch. I think pairs are the best thing. If you dont want babies then two of the same sex are fine, but you'll find most LFS etc sell them by one male and female for eg £110
They are quiet easy to come by here in the UK, not sure about the USA..?

Any more info, im glad to help! Ill post a pic of their home when i get back from holiday (going today)...my mums staying home so shes feeeding them every other day...and i think my male is pregnant!

Have a read through my journal in my signature...even though i havent updated it in ages!
Read through this profile too, and you cna see my pair there too
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...p;#entry1955869

 

[n3ont3tra]

Anyone have any information on how to keep these guys or atleast point me in the right direction?
-water quality, temp, salinity, flow
-feeding habits
-difficulty
-environment
-Kept in pairs?
-availability, price, and where to buy them in Brooklyn, NYC
Basically any vital information on how to keep these critters

Thanx,
Larry

PS: I have a small Eclipse 6 with a clown fish but I am hoping that I can convert the tank to keep some Seahorses.

Temp depends on the type of seahorse
so does feeding.
specific gravity should be the same as average tanks
as should water quality
flow should be much less

thats pretty much all i know

 

[Swervo513]

Thanx guys thats exactly what I wanted to hear. Any other information is much appreciated. However, Im a little skeptical on taking advice from a Philadelphia Flyers Fan. LOL just kidding. Thanx again.

BTW Where can i get some in Brooklyn, NY?

 

[n3ont3tra]

Heh...

I think most people buy their captive bred seahorses online. http/seahorsesource.com/ is supposed to be good.

 

[connorsbala]

I came back from holiday today to discover a tank full of seahorse babies

 

[pleder]

Water quaility-

Same as the average tank. Seahorses are not as sensetive to nitrates as some corals. Under 80ppm is fine IME.

Temp-

74F for tropicals such as reidi, kuda, erectus, barbouri, comes, fuscus
65F or lower for Abdominalis or breciveps

Flow-
Broken up well. Rule of thum is 3 to 5x the tank volume per hour. I get up to 15 by using spraybars and multiple reutrns. Seahorses will not do well in chaotic flow IME.

Feeding Habits-
If you get aquacultured seahorses they should eat one cube of mysis per pair, twice a day

Difficulty-
Easy if you set the tank up for them and keep the temp down. Buying good seahorses from a breeder like seahorsesource.com will save you time and money as well as improving you chances.

Environment-
Depends on the species as to where they are naturally found. There is a wide variety of happy homes for them, just make sure they have a place to wrap there tail aroun every couple of inches so they will use the full tank. I like to use macro algae and tonga branh rock for this.

Best in pairs IMHO

Minimum tank size for a single pair of seahorses would be a 29g IME. An Eclispe 6 is to small.

 

[ally--19]

if you can not get your sea horses to feed get a large jug and put one of your sea horses in it with a half a cube a frozen marine mix they should eat out that

 

[angel_at_heart]

Water quaility-

Same as the average tank. Seahorses are not as sensetive to nitrates as some corals. Under 80ppm is fine IME.

I would tend to disagree. Under 5ppm is best. They are extremely sensitive to changes in water quality.

 

[pleder]

Water quaility-

Same as the average tank. Seahorses are not as sensetive to nitrates as some corals. Under 80ppm is fine IME.

I would tend to disagree. Under 5ppm is best. They are extremely sensitive to changes in water quality.

Been keeping and breeding for 8 years. Never noticed a sensitivity to nitrates IME. Niether at the fry stages or at adult stages. JME

Under 5ppm is great for keeping algae at bay, but the seahorses don't seem to mind for me.

JMO

 

[kiscard]

I use o have 2 seahorses but 2 things dont have a brittle star because he ate 1 and the other 1 got sucked into the over flow box and dies =( so put a top on it if u have one otherwise your fine just letting you know