New Home for the Adult Horses

L

Lee1

My wife wanted to move the adult seahorses out of the kids' playroom to the living room so she could watch them more (especially since they are pretty much a fry factory now - male is pregnant again and we have a batch of 4-week olds and 2-week olds). We bought this 37-gallon Oceanic "cube" (24x18x24) and black MDF stand that I skinned in oak. Under the stand is a Trigger Systems sump that has about 1/2" of clearance on each end. I had to cut and replace the back supports to get it in, but I wanted the max sized sump I could fit. For now, I have a BakPak knock-off skimmer, but I will probably upgrade soon.

I'll be working on the canopy soon. The last photo shows the door pull I bought online. The horses seem very interested in checking out their new digs and it is great being able to watch them all the time.

Lee
 
Please explain what you mean you "skinned the stand in oak". It looks beautiful and I would like to do the same.
 
When we had our new cabinets handmade and installed, I believe the cabinet guys referred to the very sheer, delicate layer of stain as being skinned. I could be wrong, maybe they were talking about something else.

Lee 1 I've seen same or similar drawer pulls from Lowe's, no Home Depot. There were $8/single and had to be special ordered. Waiting for Santa to ask me what I want this year. :wink:
 
Jacob,

Thanks for the compliment. Basically I just cut some 1/4" oak plywood big enough to fit around the outside of the existing stand and glued/nailed it. To cover up the edges of the plywood, I used 1" x 2" solid oak (front of the stand). I did this when there were no horses in it so it was fairly easy. I ordered the door unfinished for around $16-$18 shipped as to me it was worth it. You are not exactly in my neck of the woods, but if you ever make it out this way, you are more that welcome to come take a look.

Lee
 
Shirley and Joe,

That might be the term your cabinet makers used, but people on reefcentral.com also refer to what I did to my stand as skinning as well. http://reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=5748791&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

Sorry for any confusion, Jacob.

Lee
 
Thanks for your clarification. I enjoy learning new things. The cabinet makers may have been talking about another job bid. Who knows what I heard.
 
Lee, are you going to be adding some kind of grass for the horses to hold to? (Or anything else?) I'm just wondering, because of a private "argument" I've had with Fort Worth zoo :D
 
Kitty,

No real plans to add grass or caulerpa as I was unsuccessful with turtle grass the first time I tried it and caulerpa can get so out of control. The horses hitch primarily on the fake orange coral and the branch rock in there and also find lots of other nooks to hitch to. We may try ordering some shoal grass from http://www.floridapets.com/, but the horses seem happy right now. I am interested to hear about your discussions with the FW zoo though.

Lee
 
Oh! Well, er - the discussion is, that they have a seahorse "tank" - one of those bubble-looking things, in the Texas Coast exhibit.

However, it seems to always have red cyano, and nothing for the horses to hold onto. And they can't keep the horses for more than a few weeks before they die.

They rocks are rather bare, there is sand - but no grass.

That, to me - at least, my theory, I'm certainly no expert, as I do not keep seahorses - anyway, that tells me there is something wrong. The horses are used to seeing grass and thin - well, thin things to wrap their tails around, and to feel secure in the enviroment. Nothing to hang onto means they have to hover to look for food - more work. No security = stress.

That's why I was interested to see if you would have grass, or thin branches, and to see if you were to successfully keep the little guys. If you even got yours to breed, my theory would be blown to bits. Which, of course, is great! I was just wondering.
 
Most horses do need to hitch to something. Can you imagine swimming all day, every day of your life? There are some fry that don't hitch the frist 14(?) days of their life.
 
Mine spend most of their time hitched. Favourite hitches are gorgonians, thermometer and live rock that they can get their tails wrapped around.

Carolyn
 
Of course ours hitch on everything. Our female prefers hitching to the rock, but our male loves the large, fake coral. Of course, they both hitch all over, including at a feeding station of shells. There are hundreds of places to hitch in their tank...just no grass. Honestly, they are so big, I doubt it would hold them up for long!

Our fry all hitch pretty soon after birth as well, but do need the smaller stuff. Plastic plants work perfectly.

Shaunda
 
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