sea horse / reef .... sea horse / reef ??????
 

So I want a reef tank full of beautiful corals and clams ... my wife loves sea horses and would like some in there ... now I've been told by the LFS .. do one or the other NOT both ..

my question is .... WHY ?

why cant I have both ? I understand they are timid and shouldnt be around larger more aggresive fish but why not in a reef ?

You can do both but you are very limited on what kind of reef you can/should do with Sea Horses. They need very low flow, so that rules out sps mostly. You could do a planted tank kind of reef with macro and soft corals that don't need much flow like mushrooms, some leathers, ect. Some LPS do fine in low flow too.

I've got a 28 gallon bio cube that I've modified so it has a sort of spray bar coming off the main return pump. That disperses the flow enough so that the seahorses aren't going crazy but has allowed me to keep Ricordea, Mushrooms and some zoas in there with no problem

Plus you have to make sure you don't have anything that will sting or eat the horses... I don't keep them but from what I understand they aren't very "quick" heh

I once read a book that said sea horses live their lives with a "kick me" sign on their backs :lol:

:rofl:

yeah, my guys aren't the brightest. But I do hand feed them Mysis.

LOL .... well since you put it that way ... LOL

my wife is out of luck ... sorry hunny , no horses ...

Ah, is that what the sign says on my seahorses? I couldn't read the fine print ;) LOL

Yep, they are very slow moving critters. But I wouldn't trade them for a reef ;)

I keep my seahorses in a dedicated refugium type tank with only a few small fish, like a jawfish, redstripe goby, leopard wrasse, 6 line wrasse & yellow canary wrasse. They have slow flow, lots of prolifera macroalgae & other algae for swimming through & hanging on to. They also get target fed with mysis & plankton several times a day (I work at home).

For people unable to give them something similar (in terms of passive tank mates, macroalgae forests & slow flow), then keeping seahorses are probably not ideal for their tanks. Remember that with seahorses, overfeeding is almost a given, considering how glacially slow they are at feeding and that will lead to blooms of bristleworms &/or flatworms from the excess food. I have a skimmer rated for 250g on that setup and the macroalgae help suck up a lot of nutrients.

Anthony

I keep a seahorse in a reef tank with clams, soft and LPS corals such as acans, favias, plates, candy cane, and cats eye. Definitely a lower flow tank but enough to keep the corals happy and the tank clean.

I also picked out some unusual tank mates that won't out compete the seahorse for food. I only feed my seahorse once a day and the other fish every three days or so.

I've had the seahorse for over 8 months with no problems.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...r1_06_2008.jpg
Looks a little different these days but you get the idea.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...8/DSC_1312.jpg

very nice! what size tank is it and what do u use for flow?

It's a 50 gallon (32x24x16) and uses a single 1/2" line for flow which is teed off a Dart return pump. I'm guessing around 400 GPH tops.

Nice tank. So your lion and eel (think I see one) don't eat them?

Nope, I think the key is size. If it were small enough it would likely get eaten.

want to know more:surprise:
what type of eel and lion fish go wiht seahorses?

I can't say that seahorses are compatible with lionfish and eels but if you're careful it can be done. If you stick with a smaller lionfish such as a dwarf and the seahorse is bigger than food it could easily eat then you should be fine. And a less aggressive eel such as a ribbon eel seems to pose little threat.

In the tank I currently have a Fu-Man-Chu Lionfish, a Ghost Ribbon Eel, a small Frogfish, and an Engineer Goby. All have proved suitable tank mates.

Yesterday I added something new that I have to admit has me a little nervous :surprise:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...rpionFish1.jpg

wow shelps a really nice choice of fish you have there!!

I bet anyone adding the last fish would be kinda shaky as it's not exactly the cheapest fish on the block.....

Yeah it wasn't necessarily a cheap fish but the price at my LFS was actually really cheap for this kind of fish. I watched the store sit on the fish for months and I told myself if it was still there in the new year I would buy it, and sure enough it's mine now. People in Saskatoon are crazy! :lol:
I'm more nervous about the size, it's a little bigger than I thought and the seahorse is super curious.

Ahh I see although they probally know or realize that seahorses taste like pigeons compared to prawns which is more meatier like steak to us.....

Btw what is it eating?

since the store has had it for a few months I would presume that they got it on frozen but what kind, also if you want to keep it's brilliant colours probally have to enrich the frozen with lots of aminos maybe even other vitamins.

It's eating frozen krill, trained by the LFS. Thanks for the tip.