Seahorse questions?

**BoB_27** · 07-05-2007, 11:56 AM

My wife and I purchased a Bio-Cube 14, about a week ago. We pulled LR and LS from our refugium that has been established about 4 months now.

Today my wife is out shopping for some books about seahorses and I’m at work surfing the net for information. I know we want a mated pair, so we can breed them. Also looking for some colorful ones beside the black and yellow ones you typically see.

With that in mind are there any reputable online stores? What is a good species of seahorse to breed in a Bio-Cube 14?

Here is the current stock list in the Bio Cube along with parameters.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrate: 5 (My 90 Gal, with 65 Gal Sump, and 25 Gal refugium always runs 5. Hopefully in the bio cube a few water changes will help with that)
PH: 8.4
Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.023

LR 8 LBS
LS 9 LBS

Young Soft Coral - Cladiella species
Neon Green Star Polyps - Clavularia species
Hot pink Mushrooms - Actinodiscus species
Yellow Fuzzy Porites Coral - Porites species
Some kind of Daisy Coral. They just came to LFS???????
I was also thinking of a Pipe Organ

Derasa Clam - Tridacna derasa
3 1/8 inch blue leg hermit crabs
5 Astrea Snails
1 Peppermint Shrimp - Lysmata wurdemanni

Thanks for help.

Nate

**CarmieJo** · 07-07-2007, 11:39 PM

Hey Nate,

I don't keep ponies but I know that there are some good online retailers, I just don't know who. Greg and Renee are into seahorses and could tell you all you need to know. So here is a

and I am sure that one of them will answer you soon.

**Seahorsedreams** · 07-08-2007, 07:55 PM

ERF! This is not something you are going to like, I'm afraid. A 14 gallon biocube is too small for horses. It's true they don't move around alot but they still need their space. Not to mention they are a huge bioload. I can't tell you the difference of moving my newest additions from their 10 gallon tank. They were existing quite fine.... for a whole year in a 10 gallon uncycled tank. Actually I had 2 uncycled tanks for a year. One was some erectus babies that I raised and the other was some Reidi that I had purchased from Seahorse Source, the ultimate place for captive bred seahorses.. In their 10 gallon tank they just sat there, never interacted much, no one paired off. Now that they are in a more appropriate size tank, all of them have paired off and are producing babies.

A general rule of thumb for breeding horses is to have a tank height that is 3 times their length from crown to uncurled tail tip. They need it for their full courting behaviour. It's not impossible to have a pregnancy in a shorter tank but the odds are against you. Like in my short 10s... a whole year nothing... and then within a week the first male was pregnant after the move.

Are you looking for horses they are "easy" to raise or one that has a huge learning curve. Many dedicated people have been trying for years to raise certain species and still have not succeeded. Southern erectus are by far the easiest to raise, are well priced, and are available CB. As I said above, I buy mine from Seahorse Source, the ultimate place for captive bred seahorses..

Seahorses turn whatever color they want to. All those little black horses you see at the LFS, most of them will change color when moved to a more appropriate tank. And on the same note, don't buy a seahorse for it's brillant color, you may see a drastic change once again when you move them to your tank. There are a multitude of reasons why they do this.

You tank is a little warm for horses. We like to keep them below 75. Yes it's true horses live in warmer climates than this, but we are suspecting higher temps causes the multiplication of harmful bacteria to excel.... a certain bacteria that horses seem to be really susceptiable to. In the summer months we get a lot of visits to the Seahorse Emergency Room and over the years we can see a direct link to the increased temps.

Clams are not recommend seahorse tankmates. They are tail draggers and can sustain injury from a clam who shuts his shell too fast.... it's happened.

HTH, I know it may not be what you wanted to hear. There are a few groups of people you have a different opinion on some of this stuff.

***lReef lKeeper*** · 07-08-2007, 10:57 PM

i will just say this to you Bob. if i wanted to keep seahorses ... Renee and Greg are two of my three (the other being JustDavidP) TOP choices to get info from. i have known them for a long time and they will not steer you OR the seahorses in the wrong direction.

**BoB_27** · 07-09-2007, 11:27 AM

Thanks for everyone’s help.

Renee,

I talked to a guy from Seahorse Source Friday night and he told me the same thing you did. He did say something about a new horse he getting that would work in my bio cube, H. Fuscus. They come from the UK, he said they should be in at the end of the month. So I am going to wait for them.

Thanks again.

Nate

**Seahorsedreams** · 07-09-2007, 07:58 PM

Ohhhhh.... I didn't know Dan was getting fuscus. Didn't really think anyone had access to them recently. That's great news. Dan is one of my mates.

So, ya wanna work on the heat in your tank? Can ya check the pump and tell me what the gph and watts are :-)

**tim** · 07-21-2007, 10:34 PM

waiting on dan sounds good to me, although just becareful with the bio load. Tim

**JustDavidP** · 07-24-2007, 09:25 AM

For the record, although I am somewhat "read up" on seahorses, I'm sooo NOT an authority. Also, after a few years playing "cowboy" with ponies, I've had to give them up.

Dave's going reef again!

My custom built acrylic (approx 74 gallons - 30X24X24) is almost done. I sold a pair of ponies and lost my last and oldest male (I had for 2 years, previous owner had for at least 2) in the Spring.

Dave