Saltwater Noob with Pony Question

[RyanG]

Ill keep it short and sweet. I know absolutely nothing about seahorse and leafy sea dragons. Im in the process of planning a 180 g reef I have a 40 gal tank that I want to use for a sump/fuge. If I keep a bunch of marco in the fuge will I be able to keep leafy dragons and seahorses in it?

[Anselth]

From what I know about ponies, they prefer a cooler temperature than a normal reef tank. Hopefully Panmanmatt will catch this thread, he knows quite a bit about them.

[zy112]

Agreed with anselth. I'm not a pony expert but I believe they prefer cooler temps which is expensive with a chiller and even harder in a reef where you have a lot of additional heat from lights

[lcstorc]

I wouldn't do it.
For starters they need much cooler water than we use for our reefs 72-74 degrees. They require several feedings as day and are not really and animal for a beginner. I'm not even sure you can get sea dragons either but I am pretty sure you don't want to mix them.
Also if you go for the seahorses anyway be sure to buy captive bred seahorses. They are much easier to keep.

[panmanmatt]

As has already been mentioned not a good idea. Seahorses don't do well long term at reff temperatures, 72-74 is the temp range you want for them.

As for leafy seadrgaons, they need at least a 300 gallon tank kept at a temp of around 66 degrees and are nearly impossible to train to frozen foods so a constant supply of live mysid shrimp is needed. Not to mention that leafies cost about $1500- $3000 each.

[RyanG]

Wow I had no idea the dragon were that expensive. I guess I wont be doing that then too bad I was looking forward to new horizons.

[JustDavidP]

I think you even need to have a special license to keep the dragons.

Pony keepers keep their tanks cooler to help fend off certain bacterial and viral issues that face sygnathids. Many know that most hippocampus live in warmer water. However, they just don't fare well in warm water, captive environments.

Like others said, nothing more than 75 is really good for most species. Some actually require chillers if your temperatures, without a heater, go higher than 72F.

If you want to set up a seahorse tank, you should really set up one that is specifically designed for them and them alone. Thereafter, you really want to start with an easier type; H. Erectus for instance. And.. as mentioned already, captive bred are the way to go. You really don't want to stress the wild population. Nor do you want to deal pathogens and other issues with wild caught.

Seahorse.org is a great place to start your research.

Dave