type of seahorse?

[duke1231]

I have a 29gal. still in cycle phase, and my wife and I are starting to fall in love with these horses of the sea. I would really like to start full blown research on them, are there any good books? What is a good type of horse for my 29 gal?

[lcstorc]

I have kudas but that is the only kind I have ever had. Watching them is one of my favorite things to do, but keep in mind they require extra maintenance including multiple feedings and very stable water paramaters. They are not considered a good animal for beginners.

[duke1231]

that and I was just reading my tropical fish magazine that they require suffecient head room, for breeding and if they don't have the head room could develop certain types of illneses. They said "you should have at least 20in tall tank.

[Seahorsedreams]

and if they don't have the head room could develop certain types of illneses.

That's not true.

Ideally, 3 times the seahorses adult size from crown to tail tip is the height you are shooting for. I had some erectus in a long tank one time and they did have trouble breeding.... but they did manage.

Is it a 29 gallon all-in-one cube type tank that you have? Doers it have a heat issue? Seahorse like cooler temps... cool like 73. Well, not so much that the seahorses like the cooler temps but their foe, vibrio, does NOT like the cooler temps. Vibrio is the number one infection we run across in horses. At lower temps it doesn't occur as much.

The book I have found most accurate and useful has been the few pages of "spot light" they receive in Reef Fishes by Michael Scott.

A pair of "anything " will fit into a 29. Don't get any cool water seahorses unless you plan on getting a chiller. The best beginning seahorse is the erectus... more specifically the Southern Erectus if you want the "full experience". We've started separately IDing the Nothern and Southern varieties mainly due to the difference in the fry. The Nothern variety are palegic which make them more difficult to raise... you have to keep them rotating in the water column. The Southern variety are demersal.... much easier.

But actually I've kept a lot of different ones over the years and I've honestly never found one to be more touche than another. If you get a healthy specimen and treat him well he will live well. I've had Barbs, Erectus, Reidi and Kuda and a Rebarb (Reidi/Barb mix). All were the same except the erectus and the Barb babies are easier to raise.

If you have any other questions... shoot away.

[duke1231]

oh wow you really know a lot. I guess I know who to go to for seahorse help. I have a regular 29gal tank. If I do go with seahorses it's not going to be for a long time because I want to make sure I have a strong idea on how my tank parameters should be and be able to keep everything stable. While I do that I would love to do lots of research on a particular seahorse and the one you gave me seems interesting. thanks again, and I will be going to you for more of my questions lol. be prepared

[Seahorsedreams]

Ask away..... there are a bunch of us on here that keep horses and can answer your questions.... and us seahorse folks love talking about such things.

Seahorses, BTW, don't require "special" water parameters from your average fish. They are kind of in the middle.

[duke1231]

I keep reading on these other websites about having at least 20in high aquarium, mine is only 18. Have you kept seahorses in tanks shorter then 20 in high?

[Seahorsedreams]

I don't know if I wanna even be saying this but I've kept horses in shorter. But after keeping them in there I realized they definately needed more height when courting.

What sites are you referencing? I won't put down any of them.... maybe just give ya a little nudge one way or the other :-)

[duke1231]

oh um one that I googled was a place that sells them I believe it was seahorses.com. the other one was by Pete Giwojna who wrote an article for wetwebmedia.com I believe it was. He also wrote the cover article for this months feature of TFH called "A Seahorse Reef"

[duke1231]

Are they really 60.00 for just one?

[lcstorc]

I paid around 50 for my cb kudas at my lfs so 60 does not sound out of the question.
I would recommend buying them locally and only buying captive bred. When buying locally have the lfs feed them and only buy one that you see eat frozen food (usually mysis). That is unless you want to either grow or constantly buy live food for them.

[Seahorsedreams]

Dood! He's saying it's okay to to keep horses in a reef!! Is this article online! Or was he just using it as a play on words?

Horses can be expensive, yes. The captive bred ones. Tank raised ones you see at the LFS are cheaper but possibly not as healthy.

Do some research on seahorse.com.... there are other sites that have plenty to say about them, both good and bad but I think you really need to read some of it yourself to make up your own mind.

[Seahorsedreams]

Can I say where I got my horses form, and where I will get all my future horses from? Not sure if I am allowed so I'll wait to get permission on that one.

[duke1231]

yea you are right I will do my research

[lcstorc]

seahorse.org also has a lot of information for you to read.
Seahorses are tremendously rewarding but are not the easiest to keep IMO. I wish I had done more research before buying mine but I had to learn some things the hard way.
Learn from my and others mystakes please. Thre is a series coming up on seahorses specifically. At least wait for and listen to that. I am sure there will be lots of good info as there always is in the podcasts.

[duke1231]

oh dont worry, it will be awhile before I get any, I am still in the cycling stage. I love to research, sometimes thats more fun then actually getting what your researching lol.

[Seahorsedreams]

seahorse.org also has a lot of information for you to read.


There's where you do your search on all prospective places for you to buy horses!

[iglowce]

gluck on ur seahorse journey

[duke1231]

thanks Iglowce

[JustDavidP]

Renee..

For the most part, Rob and the Talking Reef staff have no issue with recommendations for suppliers. Mentioning where you buy and will always buy seahorses is okay as long as it doesn't become a full fledged "commercial" ;)

You'll notice that my DIY article about my clam tank got all "comercially" with Marco Rocks. That is only because Marc was in "sponsorship mode".

Again, our concepts for TR are based upon the passing of GOOD information to the hobbyist in a MUCHO FRIENDLY atmosphere. With that said, should you have any leads for good suppliers....post away.

Duke.... Please do research the org, and ask away to Renee, Greg, myself, Lynn and the other pony keepers. The ONLY dumb questions are the ones not asked.

Best of luck!

Dave

[Seahorsedreams]

Cool! Then I guess I can say that my horses are from SeahorseSource.com. You'll never hear a complaint about their custumer service because it's freaking awesome.

One time someone in my area had a sick seahorse and was skimming the internet for solutions..... came across Dan's site and emailed him. Dan called her, got all of the info and then called Greg and I to see if we could help. Who else does that? The horses she had weren't from him. Okay, I better be careful or I will turn into a commercial :-)

[iglowce]

very awesome!

[Rob]

thanks Renee, i have worked with them as well (Dan specifically)
they are a distributor for Algagen products, which is a TR Sponsor.
would love to have seahoursesource as a sponsor, but last time i talk to Dan, i dont think he was interested. still i do recommend them, great service

and Dave, i concur with your statements, never hesitate to pass on good info, thats what we are here for

[JustDavidP]

*pointing up* See :) He KNOWS what the hobby is about.. he KNOWS what the hobby resources are lacking and HE KNOWS how to fill that gap... with a big dose of the Talking Reef Comminity.

PS.. I fully endorse Danu as well...not that I've ever received "product" from Seahorsesource per se, but as a supporter of the "Org", I've received nothing but solid advice and guidance from Dan.

[carrieincolorado]

Yes! Seahorse Souce is where I got my Pixies, and they are awesome, I must say. But I don't understand the remark about keeping seahorses in a reef, I have my 2 pair of erectus in a Reef Tank-- with corals, zoos, a scallop, starfish (of the right sort) etc and I am not ignorant of any dangers and have set up my tank accordingly. ??

[Seahorsedreams]

What type of corals and inverts is in your reef?

What is the water turnover?

What is the temp?

How big of a tank?

[keyozoxmfc]

wow this is a great thread. makes me want seahorses!..maybe in the future? would i (being a kid) be able to do it? or i guess a better question would be what is the difference in maintainence than a reef?

[Seahorsedreams]

Well, I guess it depends on how supportive your family is of your hobby. It can tie you down a lot. Have fun!~ Live life! Get the tie-ya-to-the-house seahorses later in life when you have kids :-) I have no doubt you would take care of them very well but they take more work than my other tanks.

[keyozoxmfc]

can i ask what? ..if its a long list..you dont need to say because im not too serious about it now

[Rob]

can i ask what? ..if its a long list..you dont need to say because im not too serious about it now
just wait, we have a LOAD of great info comming out very soon on keeping seahorses..
more info that you can consume at once.. :)

[keyozoxmfc]

CANT WAIT!!:w000t:

[duke1231]

what kind of scavangers if any are you able to keep in a horse tank? I have 2 peppermint shrimp, 5 hermit crabs and 5 astrea snails.

[Rob]

what kind of scavangers if any are you able to keep in a horse tank? I have 2 peppermint shrimp, 5 hermit crabs and 5 astrea snails.
actually thats covered in the first one, due out next week.. :)

[Russel P]

Seahosredreams, I have my hands full, but have thought about keeping them for a long time. I'd love to see any photos of your system you might have. My biggest question was always how to keep a deep tank with such gentle circulation.

[Seahorsedreams]

I don't have any complete systems up at the moment. . I have three 10 gallon QT tanks.... they've been in there since...ummmm... May I think *blush*

We turned the 50 gallon regular pent into reefready... but we screwed up the back wall when glueing it in and there is a leak. We need to have it professionally removed and reglued. That's next on the list. We just setup/cycled three other tanks.

I've put a closed loop into the pent to help with the flow. I'll have to grab some pics. The tank looks setup... just the back wall thingy leaks.

[duke1231]

Rob, I cant wait for next weeks seahorse podcast. You are doing a great job with them, I always get wealth of info from them:)

[keyozoxmfc]

ohh david has posted pictures of his seahorse tank setup all over this site.

[JustDavidP]

ohh david has posted pictures of his seahorse tank setup all over this site.

Is that a good thing or bad thing ;)

There is some info in the first seahorse podcast (36 I think) , but in "broad discussion". The next few are going to be in a little more detail..and with new guests. Well worth the listen.

D

[keyozoxmfc]

of course its great!!! i learned a lot from your pictures about sump design and dursos!

[carrieincolorado]

I currently have 2 seahorse tanks going, one is an erectus tank, and the other houses Pixies (or dwarf seahorses) and my erectus fry. In fact, one of my male pixies had 4 fry this morning!

In the erectus tank (40 gallon) I have 4 horses, 2 blue leg hermits and various snails, one peppermint shrimp, one flame scallop, a small fromia starfish, one dartfish and a horned blenny. Corals include colts, mushrooms, leather finger, zoos and polyps, candy cane and gorgonians. Plus one small orange tree sponge.

Pixie tank (10 gallons) has 3 astrea snails and a bunch of macro.

I really want to do an abdominalis tank, but I can't afford it right now, unless I converted my freshwater tank, but I just got a cool Bichir and I want to see how big he gets... ;)

One common mistake in seahorse keeping is too Little flow. With the exception of a pixie tank, you can have plenty of flow in your seahorse tank as long as you have areas where they can escape the current. My horses love to swim into the current, and contrary to popular belief, they are fine swimmers. They can swim straight into a 290 gph powerhead and beat the current. My mustang Chloe loves to hitch on the powerhead and stick her body into the current. Seahorses love tactile contact. They really dig the colt corals and each one has become used to the horses hitching on them. At first the corals would shrivel whenever touched, but now the horses can be all over them and they don't seem to mind. So with the skimmer running 290 per hour as well, the tank turnover is good and everything is thriving.

[Seahorsedreams]

If the flow is too strong in the tank they tend to hitch in one spot.... and stay there. I've seen systems with average flow blow horses onto the rockwork. Just set up a tank with an adjustable flow to find tune the tank so that you can pick the strongest flow that the horses will tolerate.

[carrieincolorado]

Hi Renee,

Yes, I'm sure that is very true. I've been lucky in my set up that I found a good balance between too much and not enough, and I still seem to have a small dead spot at the top near the skimmer intake.

BTW, I love the pictures of your horses that you've posted, very beautiful!