Seahorse specific setups

[Chad]

Recently, I have been asked a bunch of times about my experiences with seahorses and my setup, since I have answered the questions several times, I thought it may be best to write it down so that I can refer to it in the future and save some time

 

When I designed this system, I was attempting to find a way around the issue that "seahorses need a near constant supply of live food to survive" (which isn't quite accurate, but it certainly helps with their overall disease resistance). I wanted a system that would supplement the seahorses with live food in between target feedings, and at the time, SHs eating frozen food was not that common. I am on my second version of the original system, with this system, and others like it that have been modeled after my original, a group of H. reidi all lived to be around seven years old, two setups are maintained in an office with once-a-day target feedings for five-plus years now, and my reef noob sister has maintained her group of H. erectus for more than two years now. It works.

 

Without further ado, here is what I recommend using for a SH specific setup, I drew these in sketchup because I couldnt find a good picture of what my previous setup looked like, this is very similar to what my current and previous setups look like (although my current setup is a bit larger):

 

 

 

And with the DT removed for clarity:

 

 

This is a flowthrough system, the main return pump moves water to the refugium, which gravity flows to the display tank and finally overflows to the sump. I don't recommend employing any mechanical filtration (sponges, filter socks, etc), as they are just a place to trap pods from making it into the display tank.

 

Refugium: The heart of this system is a large macro algae based refugium, it is absolutely key! I recommend at least 50% of the display tank as the minimum size. It is also important that this tank gravity feeds the display to ensure that amphipods and other large refugium micro fauna make their way to the seahorse's hungry mouths. I have always employed a siphon for this purpose, however, I recommend drilling both tanks and hard plumbing them together to prevent potential floods (which I had while I was fine tuning the method...). Lighting should be strong enough to rapidly grow a macro algae of your choosing. I use a 6500K 150W HQI MH fixture, which works great for me.

 

Display tank: Seahorse.org recommends 30 gallons for the first pair of "average" sized seahorses (reidi, erectus, barbouri, etc.) and 15 gallons for each additional pair. I agree with this recommendation and use it, and I will be happy to talk about why I agree with it to anyone who asks (I haven't been asked this enough times yet to write it down!!).

 

Flow: There is popular belief that seahorses cannot handle high flow, and like most hard to dispatch rumors, there is a grain of truth and a lot of falsity to it. Seahorses are not great endurance swimmers, but they are good at handling high flow for short periods of time. The key here is to provide areas with both high flow and low flow. High flow tanks are easy to keep clean and generally healthier, low flow provides the seahorses an area to rest and get out of the high flow. One story that I like to tell about flow is how much one of my females liked to play in high flow! Every morning, she would swim into the outlet of one of my powerheads only to be pushed across the tank 5-6 times in a row; it was like her wakeup coffee!! Also, protect all intakes, seahorses tend to be indiscriminate about what they hitch to and many have had tail injuries or amputations from a spinning powerhead impeller (vortechs and koralias are the worst, by the way). I use standard Maxijet 1200s. Don't be afraid to experiment here a little, I have used MJ 1200s and tunze nano streams (more recently I used 2 x 6055s running around 60%), a tunze nano wavebox and 600gph through a 2" siphon; it is a bit over 20x turnover. If the flow is too high, the seahorses will not move around in the water column. If they are actively swimming in the water column, you are doing fine.

 

Sump: Keep it simple, skimmer optional on a macro algae based system like this, several systems I used a just a 30 gallon Brute trashcan for my sump. Really, you only need a place to put things you don't want in your display.

 

Lighting: Nothing fancy needed. For new seahorse keepers, I recommend species only tanks without corals or anything else that could compete with the seahorse's needs. As you progress and learn how to meet the needs of other things without compromising the seahorse's needs, lighting can be upgraded.

 

Heating and cooling: Temperature is the single most important environmental factor that we can provide. ALWAYS keep temperature less than 74F. The problem is that seahorses are very susceptible to bacterial infections. At higher temperatures the progression is often too fast for us to be able to identify, diagnose, and treat before the seahorse meets its demise. Yes, they often come from higher temperature areas, but in those areas, the seahorses do not have exposure rates to pathogens like they do in our small, enclosed systems. Keeping them at higher temperatures is a recipe for problems; I am speaking from my own experience and the experience of many other seahorse keepers when I say this. Keep your seahorse tank 70-74F, if you cannot maintain this temp, I recommend trying another species.

 

I have found that keeping seahorses is very rewarding. There are few other fish that are as interactive, interesting and entertaining to watch. And providing that you can meet just a few needs (temperature, food, and get them from a good source), they are actually quite hardy and will provide you with years of happiness.

 

Happy reefing

[Coral Hind]

Very good info Chad and hopefully it will keep a few seahorses from getting flushed.

 

So why only a 30g and not a bigger system?

[dbartco]

+1 on temp. I would loose one or two a summer until I was down to nothing. :(

 

Thnaks for the thread and suggestions. One day I will be back!

[Chad]

Bigger is almost always better and there isnt any reason not to go bigger (my DT is a 60), 30 is just the minimum that I recommend.

 

Thanks for the comments all!

 

Doug, there was some talk of a SH group buy... you know you want in, why not make "one day" tomorrow!!

 

haha, I am a bad influence

[Charlie]

Very interesting read Chad. While I'm not currently in the market for getting into Sea Horses, one day I will.

[Chad]

Thanks, Charlie

 

Holler at me when you do!

[Jon Lazar]

Are you able to maintain your temperature low enough through evaporative cooling, or do you find a chiller is necessary? I realize the lighting requirements can be much less in a SH tank.

[Jon Lazar]

Also, can you describe what sort of frozen food you have had good results with?

[Chad]

Hi Jon!

 

With my current setup, I am not able to maintain temperature without a chiller (I have 2 250W MHs and 1 150W MH in my system, one is on all the time and insert standard Rob LED recommendation here), but I know it can be done. My first seahorse setup (the one I drew above) didnt have a chiller or fans on it, but this was in upstate NY and my tank had a standard flourescent tube and a small fuge light. Also, when I shut the lights off on my current setup, temperature to about 70 using fans alone in my 77ish degree house, but I dont think I would trust that on a regular basis with our summers. Maybe with your basement setup you could do it, though, perhaps run some experiments to find out?

 

Food wise, I have had good luck with hikari and PE mysis being almost universaly accepted, although I have had a few that would accept anything that came out of the end of a turkey baster (I would call this the exception, not the rule, though). Most seahorses are extremely deliberate feeders and watch food for some time before eating it, so it needs to look edible. I have found hikari and PE to usually have intact mysis. Separately on food, I highly recommend enriching with a beta glucan compound.

 

 

[Chad]

I am going to throw a bump onto this since there has been a few recent questions. Man, I wish I knew what I did with those pictures! I looked in a few different places on all the computers I thought might have them... I guess I will have to redo them.

[Chad]

I found my pictures!!!

 

So I fixed the links

[lowsingle]

Thanks Chad for the write up.....I've contemplated a seahorse system for some time but I have never pulled the trigger......perhaps some day. It's nice to know someone who has had sustained success in the area, so don't be surprised if I hit you up for some more info some day......

 

cheers,

Darren