seahorse's tank size etc..?

[cindyp]

I have always wanted to try seahorses and I want to turn a 55 gallon reef tank into a seahorse tank. I recently setup a 125 rr tank and I am going to move the corals and fish into the larger tank and use the old 55 gallon. this is how the old 55 is setup. I have a 1400 remora pro skimmer, hob fuge loaded with pods and cheato appox 80 lbs of live sand and 75 lbs of live rock and 3 K2's for flow and a 4 x 54 watt T5 w/ mh light this tank has been up and running a year and a half and is very stable. I would like 3 pairs of tank bred SH's.
any advise on equipment ,flow, lighting is welcome also inverts and fish that I can have with seahorses or maybe a good website with lots of info would be great. I have sucess keeping 1 mandarin in each of my other tanks and I wonder how much harder seahorses would be? I also hatch brine for my mandarin's.. sorry so long winded I just have a lot of thoughts on this subject and I want it done right the first time

 

[cindyp]

so no one knows if this would make a good setup for them???? minus the mh and adding an airstone.....

 

[panmanmatt]

First off it has only been 2 hours since you posted, gotta give folks time to respond.

Now to try and help answer your questions.

You want to aim for a 5-7x turnover ratio in the tank when considering flow. Spray bars and wide flare nozzles on your return will help break it up so that it doesn't blast the seahorses against the glass. The K2's are questionable as seahorses will hitch onto anything and with the open design on the K2's it is possible the seahorses can get their tail caught in them.

No need to add an airstone if you are using a skimmer and have surface aggitaion form water movement. Those things will keep your tank well oxygenated.

Lighting will be dictated but what you plan to keep with them, seahorses themselves will do fine under regular fluorescent lights.

You won't need to worry about having pods for the seahorses or hatching brine to feed them. True captive bred seahorses will already be trained to eat frozen mysis shrimp.

Fish and inverts that are compatible with seahorses can be found here: seahorse.org - Tankmates

There is quite a bit of good information to be found right here in this forum. Use the search feature and look around a bit.
You can also take a look at Seahorse Organisation. Keeping and Breeding Seahorses in the home aquarium., they tend to have quite a bit of current info on keeping seahorses.

 

[cindyp]

Thanks I found the seahorse org site and its very helpful.

 

[livebait]

I don't have experience keeping them but I have thought about making my next tank a seahorse/pipefish tank. I've done quite a bit of reading on their requirements and just like everyother subject opinions very so greatly it's hard to decipher good info from bad. What I've gathered is seahorses need corals and grasses to grab hold of and anchor. They don't do well with most fish because they can't compete for food. They also need perfect water and good flow in an established system with a large pod population.
To get started on my research I googled "raising seahorses". Hope this helped a little.

 

[Woodstock]

I too am starting a seahorse tank! I have a 65 gallon with a chiller & single 250 watt MH. I am currently shopping for macro algae to plant in it.
I would love to see photos of your system!

 

[cindyp]

I too am starting a seahorse tank! I have a 65 gallon with a chiller & single 250 watt MH. I am currently shopping for macro algae to plant in it.
I would love to see photos of your system!

I have only just begun I setup a 125 for the stock and coral in the 55 and plan to move them out soon so yes there will be lots of pic's. I plan to purchase 3 pairs of erctus and doing some modifications on the 55. I also plan to have firefish and maybe pipefish as tankmates and some algaes and seafans and a few safe corals here is a neat site.
Seahorse Organisation. Keeping and Breeding Seahorses in the home aquarium.

also woodstock I have been looking at your picaso clowns and snowcaso's I would love a pair one day they are beautiful.

 

[panmanmatt]

I don't have experience keeping them but I have thought about making my next tank a seahorse/pipefish tank. I've done quite a bit of reading on their requirements and just like everyother subject opinions very so greatly it's hard to decipher good info from bad. What I've gathered is seahorses need corals and grasses to grab hold of and anchor. They don't do well with most fish because they can't compete for food. They also need perfect water and good flow in an established system with a large pod population.
To get started on my research I googled "raising seahorses". Hope this helped a little.

Yes there is lots of good and bad info out there and deciphering the difference can be difficult. Most of the info you will find is old and outdated such as the fact that seahorses need perfect water quality. Seahorses live in grass flats in nature, not on coral reefs. Sea grasses and macro algaes feed off of nutrients in the water column and sandbed, if you have "perfect" water quality then the algaes and grasses won't be able to survive.

It is true that seahorses need something to grab onto as they aren't great swimmers, but it doesn't have to be corals or seagrasses, they like power cords, filter intakes and returns, thermometers or anything else that is in the tank. As long as they have something to hold onto, they don't really care what it is.

One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that you need a huge pod population in your tank to keep seahorse. For starters seahorses feed all day long so there really is no feasible way to have enough pods in your tank to sustain seahorses long term. Plus the fact that pods are too small of for adult seahorses and most won't even eat them. Seahorses naturally diet is shrimp not pods. But this is a moot point because all true captive bred seahorses are trained to eat frozen mysis shrimp, not live pods.


The best places to get up to date information on keeping seahorses are the online forums that have active seahorse discussions, whether it be here, RC, or Seahorse.org. The places that deal with a specific interest will have the most up to date info. Not all reef forums have folks keeping seahorses so you will get lots of hear say answers, ask questions where seahorse folks hang out and you'll be sure to get the newest info available.

 

[Woodstock]

I look forward to watching your build. This will be fun! I am going to add a breeding pair of Reidi (LFS is selling one of their breeding pairs! woot~) and a pair of Erectus.

Yep, I've been a member of the seahorse forum for several years. Great info there!

 

[panmanmatt]

I also plan to have firefish and maybe pipefish as tankmates and some algaes and seafans and a few safe corals here is a neat site.
Seahorse Organisation. Keeping and Breeding Seahorses in the home aquarium.

I would advise against keeping seahorses and pipefish together. The reason being is that 99.9% of all pipefish available on the market are wild caught specimens. If you are planning to get true captive bred seahorses, which I am hoping you are, there is a high risk of causing a cross contamination issue with the pipefish. Seahorses and pipefish are of the same family, thus they can very easily transfer bacteria and pathogens specific to syngnathids to each other. Wild caught specimens harbour strains of these that the captive seahorses have never been exposed to thus they have no immunities to them. The risks are high that the pipefish will introduce something that can/will kill off the seahorses. Even after a lengthy QT, 8 weeks at least, there are no guarantees you will be safe.

This also holds true with mixing captive and wild seahorses, seahorses of different species and even captive seahorses from multiple sources. Although the latter 2 pose less of a risk, there is still a risk.

 

[Woodstock]

I would advise against keeping seahorses and pipefish together. The reason being is that 99.9% of all pipefish available on the market are wild caught specimens. If you are planning to get true captive bred seahorses, which I am hoping you are, there is a high risk of causing a cross contamination issue with the pipefish. Seahorses and pipefish are of the same family, thus they can very easily transfer bacteria and pathogens specific to syngnathids to each other. Wild caught specimens harbour strains of these that the captive seahorses have never been exposed to thus they have no immunities to them. The risks are high that the pipefish will introduce something that can/will kill off the seahorses. Even after a lengthy QT, 8 weeks at least, there are no guarantees you will be safe.

This also holds true with mixing captive and wild seahorses, seahorses of different species and even captive seahorses from multiple sources. Although the latter 2 pose less of a risk, there is still a risk.

I am planning on adding two pairs (one Reidi, one erectus) from different sources. Both are captive bred.
I hope I do not have any issues!

 

[cindyp]

Thanks, I didn't know that about the pipe fish. I will only purchase CB sh's I have been looking at this site and have heard alot of good things about them
Seahorse Source, the ultimate place for captive bred seahorses.

 

[panmanmatt]

I am planning on adding two pairs (one Reidi, one erectus) from different sources. Both are captive bred.
I hope I do not have any issues!

Adding different species of true CB seahorses has the lowest risk, but there is a risk involved. I have, and know plenty of folks that have, mixed species successfully. I just like to make folks aware of the possibilities. Do a proper QT on them and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[panmanmatt]

Cindy, most people aren't aware of the pipefish issue because a lot of the literature you find will say they make great tank mates. That is due to the fact that the information was published back before captive bred seahorses were readily available so mixing wild pipes will wild seahorses wasn't much of an issue. Plus folks thought seahorses only lived for about a year so when they did die it was presumed to be from age. We now know that seahorses can live upwards of 7-8 years or more with the proper care. It may be even longer than that but captive breeding has only been around for about that long so that's as far back as we can trace the records.

 

[cindyp]

I am planning on adding two pairs (one Reidi, one erectus) from different sources. Both are captive bred.
I hope I do not have any issues!

I think all we can do is read,learn and purchase CB's from a reputable company. unfortunately I don't have a lfs that I trust so I have to order them. my tank is ready and so am I. the reason I am leaning toward erectus is because I have been told they are hardier and easyier to keep whether thats a fact or not I don't know I am still learning. Woodstock how far along is your tank? do you guys think 3 pairs is too much for a 55?
Thanks Panman for all the good advise

 

[panmanmatt]

My pleasure to help.

3 pairs would be fine in a 55. As for the hardiness of erectus, it is true. But reidi can be just as hardy if gotten from a reputable source. I have had both species along with others and they are all hardy if you get good stock to begin with.

The species to stay away from right now are kelloggi, kuda and comes. Those 3 are coming in from overseas and their survival rates are dismal at best. A couple folks are working on getting them back into the captive breeding programs but with the cheapness of the ones form overseas it's been a battle. Most places don't want to pay $25-30 wholesale for CB when they can import them for $7-10 each.

 

[cindyp]

My pleasure to help.

3 pairs would be fine in a 55. As for the hardiness of erectus, it is true. But reidi can be just as hardy if gotten from a reputable source. I have had both species along with others and they are all hardy if you get good stock to begin with.

The species to stay away from right now are kelloggi, kuda and comes. Those 3 are coming in from overseas and their survival rates are dismal at best. A couple folks are working on getting them back into the captive breeding programs but with the cheapness of the ones form overseas it's been a battle. Most places don't want to pay $25-30 wholesale for CB when they can import them for $7-10 each.

That's sad I would rather pay more and get healthy ones that are CB you get what you pay for not to mention I get very upset when I lose any stock. I figure my 3 pair will cost around 400.00 and I am also thinking what are the benifits of mixing reidi and erectus or are there any?

 

[panmanmatt]

You would, as would I, but we are in the minority as to the number of folks buying. Plus as a business it means more profit. If they sell them for say $80 each the difference between buying captive and imported is $18-20 in profit. Add that up over a shipment and you could be talking a few hundred dollars. It's all about the $$ when it comes to having a business.

There are no benefits of mixing species really. The only benefit is that it allows you to keep a couple different species without setting up more tanks. Other than that there are none. No benefits to the animals anyway.

 

[Ivabell]

hi CINDYP and WOODSTOCK i think this would really help yous as it has diffinitly helped me im new to seahorses to i havent set up my tank yet but here is a link with loads of info sign up to pete giwojnas lessons in seahorse keeping there free pete does tech support for ocean rider and hes a nature writer that specializes in marine biology and seahorses hes also writtern books on seahorses in his lesson he covers probly everything you need to no about seahorses you should honestly check it out its great and easy to understand heres the link hope this helps you............
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