Seahorses. - What do you know?

F

FaithWarren

[We are building a 1,000 gallon tank where 200 will be a refugium that is viewable. I am wanting to plant it with all the beneficial caulerpa and put seahorses in it, in like a year, when the copepod population gets established and out of control. New Tank Plans Section

My problem with seahorses has always been having to hand feed them, obviously in a 200 gallon tank that is going to be an issue, and hard to do. Do you think the seahorses could live off the copepod and amphipod population and maybe some frozen brine/mysid fed every day? Do ANY seahorses eat without you holding the food out in front of them? It seems like they always have problems. I have had seahorses in our reef before ( Seahorse Section) and they even bread (past tense of breed - misspelled prolly) in our reef. I was hoping to keep them in their natural state and hope they breed and reproduce naturally in the tank like they obviously do in the wild. What are the odds of that happening and what would you suggest I do when they expel the babies to hatch? Will the babies make it in the tank? Or will they go over the overflow? I could rig something up, maybe a net to go in front of the overflow to keep them from going down the drain when it is time?

Also would there be problems with them inter-breeding, you know mutant seahorses? I am also not sure what to put in there with them. I know I don't want fish that will eat the copepod and amphipods...

Well your thoughts and expertise are greatly appreciated, and I hope I didn't take up too much of your time with my questions. I want to know from someone who has kept and bread them successfully if what I plan is even feasible. I want to do the responsible thing, and scrap the idea if it isn't something that will work.]
 
[Faith,

I could pass on info I have researched so far, but it sounds like you want to hear from folks who have actually owned horses thus far (I'm still in the research phase). I would suggest going out to seahorse.org. I think they have an area out at RC also.]
 
[Faith,

There is a great bunch of articles in the new mag. Corals.

The first addition was dedicated to Seahorses.

If you can't find this addition i can lend you mine.]
 
[Hello Faith
I am no wiz with them as i am new to them myself. I was on a post over a RC and saw this seahorse feeder. Try ck'ing out this link.
http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca...ul_b/paul_b.htm
Or you can go to RC & go to the Seahorses & Pipefish then go to Post Your Seahorse Tanks!!! scroll down to the 20th post and its there. You can learn alot here under the Seahorses & Pipefish. If you will ask them they will post a few good links full of info for you to go to. I hope this helps you out.
BUMP]
 
[Faith, you should really post this question on seahose.org. There are many people there that have been raising seahorse fry successfully for sometime. That is where I got most of my information.

I tried raising some kuda fry three months ago and I still have one left.

I have 4 seahorses not including the fry and they all eat frozen aggressively. None of this staring at it for a long time. They are also all tank raised.

The fry will go in the overflow. Even if you put a net there the current would be too strong for them and they will all be stuck there. My fry were so small that they would not eat freshly hatched brine shrimp. They would only eat rotifers until they got bigger. The copepods might be too big for them depending on the type of seahorse. Some seahorses can have hundreds of babies so you would need a lot of copepods.

I would pull out the pregnant male and put it in another tank right before it is about to have babies. So the fry will be easier to catch.

The only thing that would be safe with your fry is probably snails. Anything else might eat your fry.

They will inter-breed. I don't know the effects this could have on the fry. I know some people on seahorse.org that can give you more details about this.

I hope this helps.

Nicki]
 
We are building a 1 said:
see horses like temps that are lower then we normally keep are reefs you will have problems with bacteria in that type of set up. max temp I would say is 78, and even that is to high.


My problem with seahorses has always been having to hand feed them said:
see horses send out a signal when there is food for others to come the problem in 200gal is finding the food. in theory they should be able to live though, but smaller areas are easer to work with.


Do ANY seahorses eat without you holding the food out in front of them? said:
you can train them to eat out of a dish, put a decorative see shell in their and always use that for your food....



I have had seahorses in our reef before ( Seahorse Section) and they even bread (past tense of breed - misspelled prolly) in our reef. I was hoping to keep them in their natural state and hope they breed and reproduce naturally in the tank like they obviously do in the wild. What are the odds of that happening and what would you suggest I do when they expel the babies to hatch? Will the babies make it in the tank? Or will they go over the overflow? I could rig something up said:
as some one else said the flow would be a lot for them, usually when fry are born people put them in a another tank set up for the fry.


As others have mentioned seahose.org is a really good site for info
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Looks like a post by "Guest".... someone needs to log all the way into the board.
 
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