Anyone here have seahorses?

B

buyitjody

[I was just wondering if anyone here has a seahorse tank. If so, what type of tank and horses? How much flow do you have (I know seahorses need A LOT slower flow.)? How much lighting do you have (watts/gallon)?]
 
[Jody,
I have seahorses. I have dwarves right now but I have had barbouri, kuda, and erectus. Lighting makes no difference with seahorses, just bright enough for them to find their food is fine. I have NO flourescents but I am upgrading my lights to pc only because I'm thinking of trying some softies in there. Dwarves are a little bit harder then the others because you can't have live rock or anything that can bring in the baddies (hydroids, aiptasia, even amphipods in large #'s are bad). They are just SO tiny! Imagine your thumbnail with a tail and that will give you an idea of the overall size. The larger species can have LR and harmless corals (green star polyps, xenia, anything w/out stinging tentacles/ablilty or agressive behavior). If you buy captive bred in larger species some are trained to eat frozen foods. Dwarves eat only live baby brine (enriched if older than 24 hours). It is hard to say about flow until you know what species you want. I have only airlines in my dwarf tank. But in general, yes, much lower flow than any reef tank. Some species need cooler water so you should rule them out unless you have (or can buy) a chiller. These are potbellies (abdomalis), tuberculatus, breviceps, and capensis.

In my opinion the best starter horse is erectus. It is tropical and available captive bred. Don't buy wild caught, they are VERY hard even for the experienced.

Feel free to PM me and I can give you all the info you need on vendors of captive bred horses. I have ordered from many of them and not all are good. I have some horror stories. I can also help you to pick a type too, that is so important, because there are so many factors to consider based on your system. AND you have to decide if you want to raise fry, because if you get pairs they WILL mate. And the babies are SO cute! I have 13 right now that are 2.5 weeks old.

Okay, sorry I rambled on so long, you picked my favorite subject, can you tell :D

laura]
 
[Check out Ocean Rider's web site. They sell a lot of captive raise Sea Horses and have a number of articles on thier website about keeping Sea Horses. Just an idea....]
 
[Yes Oceanrider http://www.seahorse.com has a lot of info you can read about seahorses. Also, http://www.syngnathid.org and http://www.seahorse.org have even more information. Ocean Rider does sell lots of Captive Bred horses but they refuse to give up the species names (tho we have all figured them out) and they are really not a very friendly company to many people. I personally haven't had any trouble with them but be sure to do a search on the forums listed above before you order anything from them. A search for OR (oceanrider) will turn up a LOT of company reviews, good and bad. They have a waiting list of several months and there are quicker, more affordable ways to get horses. Unfortunately, right now captive bred horses are hard to come by due to the demand but I highly recommend the horses at http://www.marinedepotlive.com They are bred in Australia and the Breeder is a Mod at syngnathid.org Her name is Tracy and her site is http://www.saseahorse.org She is a wonderful person and works very hard to help people with solving seahorse problems. ORA also breeds horses and you can order them thru any LFS that gets stock (usually clownfish) from them. I'm not sure if they have any in stock right now or not. Hope this helps get you on your way. Just let me know if I can help with anything.

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This is my little girl, Casandra. She's a dwarf (H. zostrae). I adore her!

laura]
 
[All I can say laura is thumbs up. When I get done playing with my reeftank, I was thinking of doing something with a smaller tank. And was really thinking about seahorses. I think they are really special, ever since the first one held onto my finger diving under a pier in the Virgin Islands 15 years ago. I still have the picture, though not a very good one. :)]
 
[Hey Laura! :wwww:

I am wanting to do the dwarf seahorses since I can use a smaller tank. I am going to set up a 2.5 gallon. I just received the book "The Complete Guide to Dwarf Seahorses in the Aquarium" by Alissa Abbott yesterday and I am almost through the book. I've been browsing the seahorse.org website. I was going to put some fake breeding grass and some live calurpa in the tank for hitching posts. Wanted to put in some live rock, but after reading about how deadly hydroids can be to the little guys, I figured it wasn't worth it. (Oh, I plan to bath my live plants in freshwater since they are going to come from my 55 gallon sump/refugium to make sure the "baddies" are gone.)

When you say you have airlines in your dwarf tank, does that mean you have a sponge filter with the bubbles that come out the top? I know bubbles gan be detrimental if they get in the male pouch. I was thinking of getting one of those galaxy lights with a 13 watt PC bulb. Is that enough lighting? Please feel free to contact me via my email or PM button to let me know more do's and don'ts because I am going to set the tank up this weekend and start the cycling of it. Of course I am excited to get started, but I am not going to rush it. For dwarves, I've heard FloridaCollector and Aqualand are good places to purchase (however, FloridaCollector is a long waiting list since he is a one man shop and has had bad weather lately). Let me know of more places for possible purchases and places to avoid.

Have you ever used dead rock and put it in the tank to let it become live over time?]



Edited By buyitjody on 1085579878
 
[I've wanted to put horses in my cube, but am scared away by how often I heard they have to be fed. I haven't had the time to do more research yet, but could you verify for me if it IS more than 2x/day?

Thanks!]
 
[Rick,
You are so right, they really are just so precious and special. I would have melted if that happened to me. I melt when they latch on my finger in my aquarium, I would be mush if they did it in the wild.

Marc,
GHASP! I love the pictures! Thank you! :love: I wanted to go to MACNA so bad but I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever make it. I never seem to have enough money. one day.....sigh

Amanda,
Well, the cyclop-eeze is bigger than baby brine and they will have to grow a little before they can eat it. Right now they are not acknowledging it as a food source. But....I'm not giving up :;): I WILL train them to eat it, it will just take some time. It is SO much more nutritious. Little jerks, EAT YOUR VITAMINS!!!! :laugh long:

Jody,
a 2.5 gal is great for dwarves. You have to watch the water quality closely tho, it can go bad fast! Sounds like you are on the right track. I have that book and it is my sh bible, and sh.org (check out syngnathid.org too) are wonderful places to learn. I have used dead rock and made it live. Works great! and that way you know it is completely safe. You can seed it with Coralline algae pegs from www.ipsf.com (tho I've never done this, and I'm not sure how safe it is.....hydroids :rool eyes: )

I do have airlines in the tanks. I have a sponge filter in my 2.5 and open airlines in the bowl with the babies. Airlines are okay as long as you don't put an airstone on them. Just leave the tube open and the bubbles will be too big to get in the pouches (even in the big species) It is just the micro bubbles that you have to worry about. Powerheads are WAY too powerful for dwarves. They will blow all over the place. Just an airline or two or a sponge filter will work fine. That galaxy light is great. I had intentions of buying it at one point also. But I found a NO flourescent 12" light at petsmart that fit my 2.5 gal perfectly for $8 so I went with that instead, until I want to try corals.

As for FC as a source, I can not personally recommend him. I had a bad experience. He has a wonderful reputation but my experience was terrible. You can read about it here.

http://www.syngnathid.org/ubbthre....fpart=1

Aqualand is great. I had a good experience with them a couple of years ago and will order from them if I order again. Hopefully these babies will grow up and I won't need to.

Tony,
I feed my adults once a day and my babies 2-3 times a day. I am feeding live to the adults tho so it lives thru the day. I will have to feed 2x if I can ever get them on frozen. The babies need more cause it has to literally be swarming them so they can eat enough, they aren't coordinated enough to hunt well yet :nod: Some people feed 4-5 times or more and all I can say to that is....they must not have much to do during the day. My horses are fine, happy, with fat little guts. To sum up I'd say frozen=2x per day live=1x per day should be fine for adults.

HTH guys!
laura]
 
[Anybody in my area have some of the dry tahitian moon sand (it's black)? For dwarves, many suggest it so you can find the horses easier. I was going to do a mix of tahitian and aragonite (for buffer reasons) and have a salt and pepper look. Anyway, I would just need 1-2 pounds and would be willing to pay a little. Laura has kindly offered me some, but she lives all the way in Arlington near Mansfield and I don't think I will have the time to meet her halfway.

Ron--from what I have read, dwarves have a couple of issues that the larger breeds do not.... Dwarves can be killed by hydroids and other stinging things. Thus the reason it is NOT recommended to put live rock in a dwarf tank. Also, you may not think you have hydroids, but once you start feeding the seahorses brine shrimp daily, they will pop up everywhere (from what I have read). So, usually it is better if you can set up a different species tank for them. Also, you would have to make sure all the brine didn't get taken out of the refugium before the seahorses have a chance to eat. Remember, they are slow eaters. That is what I have learned so far.]



Edited By buyitjody on 1085632978
 
[I'd have to agree with Jody on that. I really don't think it would work with dwarves but it would be fine with the larger species. Hydroids are a pain in the neck and pretty much if you have ANYTHING live from the ocean you have them dormant just waiting for a good dose of baby brine. They populate like crazy and within a day or two can wipe out your whole dwarf tank. They don't hurt the larger horses tho. Just be sure that the flow isn't too much and they will love it. They adore lots of macro algae. They like hiding in it.
laura]
 
[Chris---Would you like the lights on 24/7? :laugh long: Just like any other fish, it needs its sleepy time. Also, some folks (like me) do not leave their refugium light on 24/7.]
 
[I know, I was just joking with you. :D But that was a good point to bring up just in case Ron does leave his refugium lights on 24/7.]
 
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