sea horses

[Guest bill33]

hello, since my mom says i spend to much of her money she wants me to set up a sea horse tank for her. 10 gallons for dwarf's

 

i need help with this.

 

do you need sea fans for them

i have 4 13 watt pc 2 13 watt 50/50 and 2 13 watt 6500k will that work or do i need more lighting

what kind of filter

heating

do i even use live rock

 

any help will do        

 

thanks

 

Billy

[michaelg]

Billy-

Couple of suggestions;

go to www.seahorse.org and read all you can!

Look at www.oceanrider.com for the seahorses.  They are supposed to be trained early to eat frozen food.  Feeding seahorses is the biggest challenge with them.

I would set the tank up as a reef, though I'm sure you could get by without a skimmer or strong lights- 1-2 small powerheads and/or a hang on filter will work fine for waterflow.  With the lights you have you can definately keep soft corals in there.  Definately use liverock.

There are lots of options that you can use for "hitching posts" and I'm sure you will find some ideas at the sites above.  Many gorgonians and seafans are nonphotosynthetic and near impossible to keep.  Setting up a brine shrimp hatchery would be a good idea as well.  Let the tank stew for a couple months before adding the horses.  Get some spaghetti algae from someone who has a well established tank to boost the pod count.

[Guest bill33]

thanks alot, do sea horses go in a reef

[Guest clownfish4]

Go to seahorse.org and read to your hearts content.  10 gallons is a bit big for dwarfs and can be challenging to feed them.  Also, dwarfs are very susceptible to being pestered.  Most corals are incompatible and some even say that bristleworms can eat them.  For dwarfs, a 2 gallon tank is recommended, no live sand, no live rock, some live plants and seafans.  Or you can use all fake plants and you don't need seafans.  Also, lighting is not a big issue.  Just be sure to do all your research and do check out seahorse.org.

[Guest bill33]

thanks

[Larry Grenier]

Since this is your first try at seahorses, consider normal-sized like the majority of the horses at www.oceanrider.com.  I've read that the dwarfs are more delicate (any disputes welcome, this is just what I've heard).  It's also easier to keep a larger tank stable.  Many folks over at www.seahorse.org keep their horses with a limited selection of corals.  Thoes horse-heads are even breeding these guys.  Helpful people.

[Guest bill33]

thanks

[davidm]

From my experiences with normal sized seahorses I would also strongly consider getting them from marinedepot-

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/fish-seahorses.html

 

Although I am happy with the horses I have received from Ocean Rider (Hawaii), the customer service has been horrible, and the horses travel a long way and often take 2 days to recover before eating.  The ones from marinedepot come from Australia but recover and are fed in Calif  before being shipped to you.  just my $0.02.

 

definately get an overpowered skimmer.  you will be overfeeding this tank to keep them eating and need good methods to export of organics.

 

horses don't care about lighting - so it all depends on the other inhibitants.  I have 175W MH lighting but I also keep some SPS, LPS and leather corals in the 54 gal tank.  wish I had a better skimmer. definately go with LR and plan this as an 'overfed' reef tank with no other fish.

 

One last thing, go with all males or all females, if you don't want to deal with babies which are very hard to raise.  My male gives birth every 2-3 wks and I've had very little luck raising the fry.

 

HTH, David

 

PS This is all about normal sized horses, I know nothing about dwarfs.

[Guest bill33]

how big do normal sized sea horses get

[davidm]

they get to about 4-5 inches in length.  Also forgot to mention horses don't like a lot of current.  they are very lazy eaters and wouldn't do well with too much current. 10 gal is sorta an awkward size, too big for dwarfs but too small for regular horses, in my opinion.  If you can, consider a tank in the 20-55 gal range for regular horses.  also wanted to re-emphasize - get a powerful skimmer for the size tank, again in my opinion.  don't hesitate to contact me if there's any way I can help.  David

[Guest bill33]

thanks for the help, i need to get rock and get a little bit more money

[Guest cjm033]

i heard its not good to keep seahorses in a reef with corals becuase they may get stung. from what ive heard before(not positive how ture it is) they do good in a low flow tank with a few gorgonians, and different types of plants to hang onto, and if you want rock you can have that too. if anyhting i said is wrong please correct me because im lookin into horses too,Chris

[Guest bill33]

thats kool were do you live cjm033 cause i think i live by you            lol

[michaelg]

David aren't taller tanks preferable as well?

[davidm]

taller tanks are prefered, mostly so they can easily do their 'mating dance' which is, at least for mine, when they swirl around going from the bottom of the tank to the top with their tails intertwined.  although a taller tank would be best, i wouldn't put it at the top of my priorities, but it would be helpful.  probably not necessary if you go with all males or all females.

 

I haven't had any problems putting corals in with the horses.  they don't wind wrapping their tales around SPS, and don't seem to damage them, and same with a yellow leather.  they leave the frogspawn alone.  I haven't seen any reason horses shouldn't be with corals, except for maybe the most aggressive ones.  just my opinion of course.  I know some people are reluctant to put horses with corals, but i've also read how bristleworms can attack them (not)!   HTH, David