Looking for seahorse information

Sarra

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Dec 8, 2007
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I keep finding the same exact webpage, copied word for word over and over, which has great detailed information about what can be kept with them, but not general information like food and tank sizes.

i've only got 10 gallons to work with, will a seahorse even be a viable option? Filtration will be handled via my 10 gallon reef tank, I'm simply going to use a gravel filtration system (a sponge filter under the sand in the tank) for a water supply, with water draining back into my reef tank. I've got a thread about this in the DIY/equipment forum if you want to read my ramblings about plans.

I'm not set on a seahorse, I'm just trying to find something that will go well in my 'fuge tank. So far, 10 lbs of live rock and maybe some marine plants are planned, possibly even a blue legged hermit (since they don't seem to eat copepods anyway).
 
Look up Pygmy (or dwarf) Seahorse if you're interested in seahorses. 10G tank is perfect for the pygmy type. In fact, bigger than a 10G makes it more difficult to keep them :)
They'll need to be fed baby brine everyday. You'll also need a sponge filter because of their small size. Babies will be TINY! A sponge filter will eliminate the possibility of them getting sucked in. You can't keep them with many other fish though, because they're really slow at eating so competing for food is hard for them. This is why the smaller the tank, the better for them.
I used to keep pygmy seahorses a few years ago in a 10G. You can easily fit up to 20 of them plus their babies. Super cute too!

I'm a FW person now though, so I probably will never come back to the SW area again. I don't even know how I stumbled upon here...
Well, hope that helps though! :)
 
When I looked into getting seahorses, I found that they are not recommended to be kept in a tank that is less than 18" tall due to their shape / orientation compared to typical fish. A standard 10g tank would be too small for regular seahorses.

Was this the site you visited: http://www.seahorse.org/ ?
They have a discussion forum there where should be able to find more specific answers to questions.
 
http://www.syngnathid.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

I'd not start with dwarf seahorses due to their often difficult feedings - requiring live small foods much like mandarins. I kept going back and forth on putting a pair of female reidi horses in my 29g, but finally decided against it because I'd prefer to get an ideal sized tank (30g XXtall right now is what I'd be looking into) and not have to move them since they aren't long-lived anyways and i'm sure the stress of a definite tank move in the coming year would cut that down a bit.

They are amazing, but not suitable, IMO, for a 10g as fsn said.
 
3 times the maximum height of an adult seahorse.
 
not all that tall when you consider that readily available horses that are captive bred, the largest gets at most 12 inches. 36" tall tank is pretty tall, but commonly the horses range from 4-8 inches. Can't really plan on the 4 inch side, so 24 inches is ideal. Most tall or extra tall tanks are that deep in the smaller sizes. 2.5 times the adult height isn't ideal but it isn't going to stress them to mass amounts.

That's one reason why you really have to plan ahead for a specific seahorse tank.
 
not all that tall when you consider that readily available horses that are captive bred, the largest gets at most 12 inches. 36" tall tank is pretty tall, but commonly the horses range from 4-8 inches. Can't really plan on the 4 inch side, so 24 inches is ideal. Most tall or extra tall tanks are that deep in the smaller sizes. 2.5 times the adult height isn't ideal but it isn't going to stress them to mass amounts.

That's one reason why you really have to plan ahead for a specific seahorse tank.

great info! planning is always needed if you want to success :thumbsup:
 
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