seahorse setup

[DEAD_BY_DAWN]

I'm looking for a little input for my new seahorse tank here are the details
20g
15lbs tonga branch rock
10-15 plant rock
2"LS
two small maxi jets powerheads
prizm skimmer
96w coral life pc lighting
75w heater
will this be ok for seahorses the ones i wanted to get are Hippocampus erectus any thoughts..thanks john

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yup. Should be fine. Make sure you target feed the seahorses and what I do is set up a feeding station. Usually I use a "bush" of red halimenia. I shoot the mysis in there & the seahorses pick them off the "branches." It keeps the food a little off the bottom & easier for them to see. It also makes it easier for you to make sure they're eating everything or at least most of it.

Mine love to hang off a couple of small frags of corky finger gorgonia and a "stick" of LR that's stuck into the substrate. PE mysis is a bit big & messy compared to feeding them Hikari mysis. Mine love both but big clouds of shrimps guts squirt out their gill openings when they suck up PE mysis.

Seahorses actually prefer lower lighting levels so 96w PC might be too bright. I have a 10000k 96w over my 33g & they tend to hide in my cave when not out feeding or hunting live mysis & pods. Remember, seahorses need multiple small feedings a day, not one big one. Ideally, they should be in a mature tank that's full of pods & live mysis.

JME & O

Anthony

good luck to everyone whose ordered seahorses

[Willow]

did you order some ant?

[Beverly]

Here is a page featuring several feeding stations and feeding methods:

http://www.lostmymarblz.com/hh-feeding-stations.htm

Are you SHs captive bred or wild caught? If wild caught, they will probably require live foods until they learn to accept dead food.

Two boards dedicated to SHs:

http://www.syngnathid.org/
http://www.seahorse.org/

[DEAD_BY_DAWN]

There captive raised,i cant get wild caught ones though the wholesalers i deal with plus i like to surport captive raised fish as much as possible,so should i reduce the light on the tank ?,thanks for the links to ..

[Beverly]

VERY glad you've got captive bred SHs

You sell your SHs, too, right? If so, give out the URLs to those websites to people who are new to SH care.

I only had 1 watt per gal on my 28g SH tank when it was set up. I think it depends on what else you want in your tank for your lighting issue. 3 watts per gal seems a bit much, but it may work just fine for your particular system.