Seahorse care questions.

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Nepherael

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May 11, 2012
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Hi guys. I'm pretty new to the hobby and I don't currently have a saltwater tank but hope to when I know I can adequately take care of it. I was hoping I could get some insight about seahorses.

I'd like to have a tank devoted to them because I know they aren't great with a lot of tank mates. I'm looking into dwarf and also the larger species. My questions are. Do they pair off and stick to their mate? If so, is it ok to keep just a male and female together with no other tank mates? If possible I would like to breed a pair, comments on that?

And for the big one. I've read they are pretty difficult to care for. Any specifics on that?

I'm sure if I really searched I could find a lot of this but I thought we could get a nice discussion going. Keep in mind also that this is down the road for me. I definitely don't plan on getting in over my head and will thoroughly research anything I try to do
 

greech

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I know several people that keep SH's. They are not overly difficult to care for. Getting healthy specimens to start with is the key and I suggest you by captive bred (not the same as captive raised). If you end up going forward with them, I strongly encourage you to order your pair from here...

http://www.seahorsesource.com/

I would say that dwarf seahorses are likely the most difficult species that are fairly available in the hobby. Reason being is they eat live foods exclusively and because they are very slow, they require a small tank in order to ensure that have opportunities to catch their food. Small tank + live food = greater focus on water quality. The erectus are probably the easiest SH's to care for.

I would also suggest 2 females and leaving males out all together. Many species will readily breed in captivity so if that isn't what you want or are not prepared to care for them don't add a male. The other reason to avoid males is that they are prone to have issues with their pouch.

A 29 gallon or larger will house a pair to 4 SHs just fine. Even erectus should be fed twice a day (and they poop a lot). A pair of erectus will eat 2 cubes of mysis shrimp a day easily. Equipment wise, you'll want a sump with a good skimmer (slightly oversized). You'll also need flow but power heads should not be the propeller type (korallia, etc.) to avoid them getting hurt while hitching. Speaking of hitches, you'll want lots of them in the tank. Branch live rock and dead coral skeletons (acropora) will work well for this.

Avoid other livestock that will out-compete the SHs for food and if you add corals, you'll want to research compatibility issues there as well.

Other good resources to read up. Seahorse Source is also very helpful and will be happy to talk things through with you.

http://www.seahorse.org/

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35
 

SubRosa

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FYI Seahorsesource just told me that there's about a 3 month wait until the have Erectus ready to go.
 

greech

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Plenty of time to cycle ;)
 

SubRosa

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Nepherael

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Wow, very informative. Yes I would like to breed them and I'm surprised to find I can keep seahorses other than dwarf in a 29g.

My dream for one of my tanks (at first it was going to be freshwater and still might be) is to have a mom and dad alone, breeding and raising their young, with the tank specifically designed like a home.

This is what inspired me to do it

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php...2012-tank-of-the-month-competition-winner-is/

Look how beautiful. I had it reimagined in my head slightly differently but very close and was going to put a pair of angels or something (obviously in a bigger tank. Preferably 29g). Obviously a SW tank wouldn't be planted like that but I'm sure I can figure something out to make it look nice.

Can you clarify about the pouch problems you mentioned? And also thank you for the link. I am so happy that some of the people that have answered various threads of mine have been nice enough to include links to places they know. I need as many resources for research and future purchases as possible (more for the future purchases though as this place has been so helpful)
 

Nepherael

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Or to get impatient and turn it into some other type of tank!
Haha no if I decde on something I'm going to put a lot of time into the decision and it won't change easily. I made the mistake of being an impatient noob. I bought a lot of fish (didn't overstock though) and didn't have my tank properly cycled beforehand. I'm dealing with the consequences of it now and feel horrible that I've lost a few fish because I was being an idiot so I know I won't ever make a mistake like that again XD
 

SubRosa

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Haha no if I decde on something I'm going to put a lot of time into the decision and it won't change easily. I made the mistake of being an impatient noob. I bought a lot of fish (didn't overstock though) and didn't have my tank properly cycled beforehand. I'm dealing with the consequences of it now and feel horrible that I've lost a few fish because I was being an idiot so I know I won't ever make a mistake like that again XD
Good to know!
 

greech

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Nepherael

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Yeah I felt horrible about it. What is interesting though is while I did lose some fish I have baby mollies in the same tank that are doing great (two weeks old). I know mollies are hardy fish but I lost their mom and I just can't believe they're doing so well. On top of that I have glofish spawning when i put them in my spawning tank every couple weeks and all my fish seem so happy. There were a couple bad days when the nitrite cycle started right after ammonia hit zero where I could tell they weren't doing so well but now they're acting right again. I'm dosing for nitrite as allowed because of how bad the test is showing for it and praying that the tetra safe start I put in there will speed up the process
 
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