Hi I have a couple of dwarf seahorses on order and will be here in about 2 weeks. My question is I have a regular filter in my tank. Should I replace it with an airpump with a filter on the end? Its a 2.5 gal. and we are just doing one pair for now. They had orignally ordered the pygmy horses for us but we told them to change it as they are just way over our heads and we don't feel there is enough information out there yet to fully be able to care for them. Is that correct?
Dwarf SeaHorse
- Thread starter flossy
- Start date
Dwarf seahorses are among the most demanding seahorses to keep. They require small live food, and this usually means having two brine shrimp hatcheries going and harvesting one of them every day to feed the seahorses.
Are you prepared to spend that amount of time and effort on them? If not, cancel you order.
To answer you specific question, a normal outside filter may provide way to much current for them. Often air drive sponges filters are used.
Are you prepared to spend that amount of time and effort on them? If not, cancel you order.
To answer you specific question, a normal outside filter may provide way to much current for them. Often air drive sponges filters are used.
bbe22
Member
You definitely don't want an airpump in any saltwater tank. I think you might find yourself having a hard time keeping seahorses in such a small tank. You are going to have to do a lot of water changes. What is a "regular" filter? A Hang on back? If so, know that those are junk, and it is not sufficient for keeping seahorses. Seahorses are extremely sensitive and very difficult to keep, and I wouldn't recommend attempting to keep them unless you have a lot of experience with saltwater.
BarbMazz
Well-Known Member
I agree that your pico tank is too small even for dwarf seahorses. I agree that you don't want an air pump blowing into seahorse tank; this can lend to the appearance of gas bubble disease in your seahorses...you don't want them to get that!
I disagree that a HOB filter is a piece of junk. I keep a pair of h. erectus seahorses in a 20g XT and the only filtration I use is a HOB filter. I do a 10% water change every week and my male is having babies every 16 days like clockwork. This tank is the easiest I have to take care of. No heater, a simple T5 HO fixture and the HOB filter.
With the filter I use filter floss and change it out on water change day. I junked the spinning wheel that came with the filter, and just use the floss.
You know how many electrical plugs are needed to run a reef tank? TONS! lol This sh tank has TWO plugs! The filter and the light.
This reef also contains a red scooter blenny, a yellowhead jawfish (and a DSB), several different types of shrimp, the usual snails and hermits. Gorgonians for hitches, some zoas, and some clove polyps. And, chaeto and a couple different types of macroalgae that I bought from Blake here on RS.
I would say get a larger tank and a different breed of seahorse if you want to keep them.
I disagree that a HOB filter is a piece of junk. I keep a pair of h. erectus seahorses in a 20g XT and the only filtration I use is a HOB filter. I do a 10% water change every week and my male is having babies every 16 days like clockwork. This tank is the easiest I have to take care of. No heater, a simple T5 HO fixture and the HOB filter.
With the filter I use filter floss and change it out on water change day. I junked the spinning wheel that came with the filter, and just use the floss.
You know how many electrical plugs are needed to run a reef tank? TONS! lol This sh tank has TWO plugs! The filter and the light.
This reef also contains a red scooter blenny, a yellowhead jawfish (and a DSB), several different types of shrimp, the usual snails and hermits. Gorgonians for hitches, some zoas, and some clove polyps. And, chaeto and a couple different types of macroalgae that I bought from Blake here on RS.
I would say get a larger tank and a different breed of seahorse if you want to keep them.
johnmaloney
Well-Known Member
+1 to low current... they are terrible swimmers, the weakest HOB they sell at wal-mart will send them flying across the tank. picos are fine, preferable for dwarf sea horses...otherwise the prey content in the tank has to be really high, they are poor hunters too in captivity.
panmanmatt
Well-Known Member
All my dwarf seahorse tanks run with HOB power filters. For tanks up to 10 gallons I prefer the Azoo Palm filters. They have an adjustable flow rate and work great on small tanks. The only precaution you will have to take is to put a sponge over the intake of the filter as the holes are large enough to pull in a dwarf seahorse's tail.
As for airlines in a seahorse tank, they aren't really an issue as long as you use an open ended airline and not an airstone. All the sponge filters I use in my nursery and Qt set ups are driven by an air pump.
As for airlines in a seahorse tank, they aren't really an issue as long as you use an open ended airline and not an airstone. All the sponge filters I use in my nursery and Qt set ups are driven by an air pump.
johnmaloney
Well-Known Member
oh wow! I found it on the docs' website, it is small! 
Never seen one that small, only 4 watts too. Learn something new everyday. I thought the tetras for 10 gallons were small.
Never seen one that small, only 4 watts too. Learn something new everyday. I thought the tetras for 10 gallons were small.Did you get your dwarf seahorses yet? I had 4 dwarf seahorses and 2 pipefish in a 3 gallon and they did just fine. I collected them locally on a field trip I took with my Marine Science students. I kept it bare-bottomed and kept the smallest sponge filter in there. The only other thing I added was some macro algae for them to hitch to. They must have liked it because they started reproducing like crazy. I fed rotifers to the newly hatched babies and enriched bbs to the adults. I got the larger of the 2 pipefish to eat frozen mysis, but it was too large for the seahorses. These seahorses are too tiny (approx. 1 inch) for a tank much larger. The smaller tank size lets them find their food easier.
Hello,
I care my dwarf seahorses in a 60 litre tank with deep sandbed, macroalgae, halocaridina, nassarius snails and mysis. I think only bbs is a poor diet for them. I feed twotime a day freeswimming and benthic copepods, moina. The adult ponies eat newborn mysis, too. With this, my animals are very happy and making much babies
(I care them since 2009).
regards, Angi
I care my dwarf seahorses in a 60 litre tank with deep sandbed, macroalgae, halocaridina, nassarius snails and mysis. I think only bbs is a poor diet for them. I feed twotime a day freeswimming and benthic copepods, moina. The adult ponies eat newborn mysis, too. With this, my animals are very happy and making much babies
(I care them since 2009). regards, Angi