Sea Horses

[Skimmer Juice]

my cuttlefish just died.So I have a spare tank now.I was thinking of buying some sea horses tomorow. Just wondering about tempuature ph and selinity bascic tank specs.Maybe my spelling to.

[rickjames]

Seahorses aren't to be taken likely you need to do some serious research before keeping them. Check out reefcentral they have a forum dedicated to them.

Just make sure your system is set up FOR them and you are ready to keep them long term. I have not kept them myself so perhaps others can provide you with more info.

[Flame.Boy]

seahorses dont need lots of research???

ive got 8 of them in a 20 gallon reef tank.

just make sure they ARE eating frozen mysis shrimp.

they are alright with ammonias and nitrates

and make sure you have lots of branching rock or Calerpa algae for them to anchor onto or they will stress out and die.

also dont have to much flow as they arnt very strong swimmers..to much flow will blow them to the other side of the tank.

umm..hermit crabs and brittle stars arnt a good thing to have with them...they are to slow moving of a fish and the hermits can pinch them and injur them, making them and easy target to kill...and believe me..they will do it. i work at a saltwater fish store and ive seen it happen.

make sure theres no rock crabs in you rock, bristle worms are alright, the seahorse skin is like armor and bristle worm stings cant peirce it

no fast moving or aggressive fish that will compete for food with the horses.


fish like firefish, gobies, blenny's, MAYBE percula clowns...as long as there not to mean...not damsels though..as in 3 stripes, 4 stripes anything like that.

other than that you wont have a problem with them

good luck.

[Skimmer Juice]

thanks for the info. I will buy some tomorow as my cuttlefish died and I have a spare tank.

[JSTR]

Wow, talk about not enough information and alot of wrong information.

I would strongly suggest you have a look at some educated information.
Try - http://www.seahorse.org/
and - http://www.syngnathid.org/
Both are site specific to seahorses and their requirements.

Not going to comment on what was post here as I dont know what species of seahorses are being kept or even looked at for purchase.
Will advise that you do a bit or research and reading prior to the purchase as they are not as simple as it is being made out to be.

Having kept and breed seahorses, I will not say that they are really difficult to keep, but they are that easy either. To maximize your success rate with them, try and find out what type of seahorse they are, then research the requirements of that species.

Would offer more but would need to know alot more information than you have supplied. Tank size, species and others.

HTH
Good Luck

[digitalsteve]

id have to agree , if you really want to know about seahorses i think Bev keeps them as well with great success

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Buying seahorses on a whim is such a bad idea. Here's a shortened version of a recent article I wrote for the FishMonger Newsletter:

Seahorses – Irresistible Oddities of the Sea

Introduction:
Seahorses are another species of marine fish that have attracted countless people to try their luck at keeping a salt water aquarium. Whether it is its unique physical appearance (after all, a seahorse looks like a knight from a chess set) or its unusual reproductive method (a MALE will carry the fertilized eggs in HIS pouch during gestation – how’s that for women-lib), seahorses have fascinated people throughout the ages. With a head like a horse and a tail like a monkey, the seahorse must rank as one of the oddest creatures we may ever keep in our tanks. Unfortunately, until recently, most of the seahorses available for purchase at LFS were wild-caught, rather than captive-bred. As the majority of people who have tried to keep one of the wild-caughts alive can attest to, these seahorses were not very hardy and very finicky when it came to feeding. Having been raised in the ocean, only a small percentage was ever converted to eating frozen mysis shrimp. Today, captive-bread frozen-mysis-eating seahorses are offered for sale periodically at LFS but success is not guaranteed even with these ponies.

Sexual Dimorphism:
Sexing seahorses is fairly easy compared to most marine species because it is sexually dimorphic (each gender is distinctive). Male seahorses have a pouch, which looks like it will explode when it is pregnant, but the pouch may also look like a patch of skin where you would expect the belly to be. A female seahorse will not have a pouch and its “belly area” is covered with the same boney plates as found over the rest of her body.

Today’s Captive-Breds:
Fortunately, today, the CITES restrictions on endangered species greatly limit access to wild-caughts and in all likelihood, the seahorses you see swimming around in the LFS will be captive-bred, frozen-mysis-eating individuals. Still, it is always a good policy to have the LFS feed the seahorses in the shop before you purchase them. The species most offered in Canada are Kudas, Erectus and Reidis. Only rarely will Barbouris or Histrix be available. All of these should be able to eat frozen mysis as their staple diet. Larger specimen can take the larger Pisces brand while the smaller Hikari brand works well for smaller seahorses. Soaking the food in vitamins, such as Selcon, is a good practice.

Acclimation:
After picking out your seahorse and bringing it home, careful acclimation procedures must be followed. Float the bag in the tank to equalize temperature. Open the bag and slowly add tank water in to mix the LFS water with your water conditions. I generally do this for over half an hour before releasing the seahorse very carefully while avoiding pouring any of the LFS water into my tank. I do this by placing my hand in the bag and letting the seahorse grab onto my fingers as a post. Then, with my hand cradling the seahorse, I quickly pull it out of the bag and into the tank. An alternative method that works very well is to use some air line tubing to start a slow drip into the bag or transfer the bag’s contents into a suitable container before dripping tank water into it. This is a method often used for acclimating corals. It is best that the seahorse remains in deep enough water so that it is not sucking air from the surface, since the air can sometimes remain trapped within the seahorse, causing grave buoyancy and other health problems. Therefore, a tall, narrow water or juice pitcher is better for this technique than a shallow, wide tub.

Suitable Tank Mates:
The seahorse tank should be a species tank, since most other fish will either be too fast and/or too competitive for the seahorses. Fast fish tend to stress out the slow moving seahorse and they will also eat all the food before the seahorses can methodically eat its share. I have found clownfish, some small blennies and gobies, and yellow-headed jawfish to work well as companion fish. Again, ideally, a species-specific tank is ideal. Many people have tried adding slow fish like Mandarin gobies (Synchiropus splendidus) or scooter blennies (Neosynchiropus ocellatus), but these types of fish (actually they are dragonets) must be avoided since their primary food source are also live mysis and pods, so they will directly compete with your seahorses and cause a depletion of your live foods population that much quicker. Another blenny to avoid is the Lawnmower blenny (Salarias fasciatus). This species will suck onto the sides of the seahorse and can irritate it to death. I once lost a seahorse to my lawnmower blenny, and so I unintentionally proved this warning to be true.

Tank Preparation: (Live Food Rearing)
One of the major points I always stress when discussing seahorse husbandry is the need to prepare the tank ahead of time. Seahorses really do best in a species tank. Ideally, set up the special tank months in advance because they require stable conditions. The extra time will also allow any introduced live foods, such as mysis shrimp and copepods to breed in safety. Only when the tank has a very healthy population of mysis and pods should the seahorses be purchased. Better yet, have a separate refugium (or more than one) set up to help sustain the live food population. In my opinion, an above tank refugium that allows live shrimps to overflow back into the main tank unharmed by any pump impellors is best. A healthy seahorse will eat constantly in the wild and that is what will happen in your tank. 300 adult brine shrimp or several dozen live mysis a day is not at all unusual for a single seahorse. I recommend setting up a system like this even if captive raised seahorses (the only ones now available without a CITES permit) that are already trained to eat frozen foods are planned. Why you may ask? Simple. Seahorses are notoriously touchy and being transported to the LFS or even from the LFS to your tank may be enough to make it go off its feed. In such a worst-case scenario, if you are not prepared with an abundant supply of live foods, then that seahorse will most likely starve to death. With seahorses, being prepared is the difference between successful live seahorse husbandry and having a dead pony to add to your oddities collection.

Decorating the Tank:
Inside the tank, ensure that there are several holding stations for the seahorses to use. Gorgonians (such as purple sea whips (Pterogoria sp.) and photosynthetic corky fingers (Bryzoans)) work well, as do certain types of macro-algae. Unfortunately, most types of gorgonian corals are very difficult to keep alive, so choosing species that rely mostly on photosynthesis will make your life a lot easier. Sea grass and red halimenia are macro-algae that have long slender blades for pony perches. Dead sea fans that are sold as ornaments make excellent seahorse tank decorations. Plastic plants, though maybe a little tacky, also work for this purpose. The main requirements are that the object be long and slender enough for the seahorse to wrap its prehensile tail around without any rough surfaces to damage the seahorse itself.

Current and Lighting Requirements:
Currents should be kept low to medium, since seahorses are poor swimmers. In fact, most of the propulsive force responsible for transporting the seahorse around its territory comes from the tiny pectoral fins on the sides of its head. Therefore, having a Tunze Stream or other high output powerhead is unwise in a seahorse tank. Low to medium lighting works best for seahorses.

Filtration and Feeding:
Keeping the water clean and water quality stable will be a bit of a battle in most seahorse tanks. They require several small feedings per day and uneaten foods will be the norm rather than the exception. A feeding station can be used to minimize this problem. A feeding station can easily be set up by using plastic hooks or suction cups to attach a small plastic tray to the side of the tank. It should be attached mid-depth so the seahorses will remain completely underwater while feeding and yet have the tray positioned where it is easily accessible. If you squirt your mysis there every meal, the seahorses will normally learn to go to that spot at meal time. Seahorses are actually good at learning this trick. Using a feeding station makes it so much easier for you to siphon out or clean up any uneaten food. Too much uneaten foods will cause problems such as out-of-control bristle worms or polluted waters. Regular water changes will also help. A good skimmer, especially in-sump rather than HOB (hang on back), works really well for keeping up the water quality. The problem with HOB skimmers is their habit of spewing micro-bubbles into the tank.

Warning – Bubbles!
One thing that must be avoided is the presence of bubbles. Seahorses are attracted to bubble streams the way cats are to balls of string. Unfortunately, they love to stick their heads into the bubbles and may suck some in. If this happens, the bubbles ingested may become trapped and create all sorts of nasty healthy and buoyancy issues. So, save yourself the grief and save your seahorses life by not having an air stone in the tank. If the seahorse does develop gas bubble disease (symptom: bulges will be visible under the skin and the seahorse will show great signs of discomfort), the only way I know of getting rid of the bubble is to take a sterilized needle and poke through the tough skin where the bubble is trapped and to gently squeeze the air out of the hole. Make sure this is all done underwater so the seahorse does not compound the problem by sucking in more air. Again, this is a very invasive and uncomfortable procedure at best.

Anthony (aka SeaHorse_Fanatic)

[rickjames]

Originally Posted by FetusInaCan

seahorses dont need lots of research???

ive got 8 of them in a 20 gallon reef tank.

they are alright with ammonias and nitrates

Ok, if your claim is that they don't need research and are so easy to keep, can you give use more information on your setup? How long have you had 8? How long have you had them exposed to ammonia levels and what levels are present in your tank? Can you post a picture of your tank?

[i have crabs]

told you...

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by digitalsteve

id have to agree , if you really want to know about seahorses i think Bev keeps them as well with great success

I used to keep them, but sold them to a local reefer. Keeping seahorses are very time consuming. They do NOT tolerate anything but perfect water quality. Always buy captive bred rather than wild caught.

Here is a section of my website devoted to my own and others' seahorses....

http://www.lostmymarblz.com/hippocampushaven.htm

Do lots of research before even setting up a tank for them, then research some more before buying!

Anthony's article is excellent

The links JSTR provided are the best seahorse boards on the Internet. Use them!