Seahorse Enthusiasts!

[Inconservatory]

I'm looking for you seahorse enthusiasts to share your wealth of experience and knowledge with those willing to learn! My lady and I are looking into setting up a seahorse tank over the course of this next year. We have a 50 gal corner tank, about 18"-20" in height.

The tank came used with rock and sand. Concerned with contamination, we are considering just getting new sand. If this is a legitimate concern, should we worry about sterilizing the 20+ lbs of live rock in there too (kind of defeats its purpose) and just re-seed it with carefully selected algae and microfaunas?

Having a nice local source of compatible macro algae would be a boon to this trial. Is there a store (or individual, for that matter) in the area with a decent selection? Where would one go to get healthy seahorse specimens?

Ipisces has a beautiful setup, and this post may be a call out for some information from a pro! Aside from here, I'm joining the Seahorse.org forum for more detailed information. As stated previously, though, it's great to have some local information!

 

[IPisces]

Hi, I have gotten my sea whip and gargonian from A Red Sea Aquarium in Shoreline. He gets some beautiful pieces in. Rob is or has been very helpful and knowledgeable with the seahorses and the different corals and leathers. Herefishyfishy, and my self have an abundance of the mexicana caulerpa. I can give you some. It grows fairly quickly.

As for the sand, I myself would start with new sand. Heard used sand can cause problems with water quality. I would do a saltwater scrub and then a freshwater dip on the rocks to clean them up a bit, then let the tank cycle with them. I'm no expert. Have had some trouble with the seahorses and not sure what had caused it.

 

[returnofsid]

I would also recommend starting with new, dry sand. It'll become live sand very quickly. As for the rock, if it's healthy, and free of unwanted hitchhikers, such as bad algae, Aiptasia or Majano, I would use it as is. If you wanted to sterilize it, you could do so with Muriatic Acid, which would clean it, open it up and kill everything. Then you'd have to cycle it and then seed it with a piece of healthy live rock.

To help figure out the past troubles you've had, you might want to check out this forum, dedicated to Sea Horses. http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?

 

[vinny2261]

Sid, I think using the old stuff would be just fine. I believe you will have more good stuff coming from using the older sand and rock. If you are going to set it up in advance and recycle everthing anyway, you will be able to eliminate any such pest. The pods and other little critters the Seahorses love hatch out pretty good when you use the old sand, of course if the system was healthly when it was taken down or moved
Seahorses like a top to bottom flow, i like using the Aqua Clear HOB filter with the black screen cover over the intake to ensure no one gets stuck. I use a rubble base coat on the bottom of the tank to set my rock on. This gives the pods ample hiding areas to nest and breed without being wiped out from hunting Seahorses or Pipefish. I will setup my tank and I will feed it a little amount of flake food after about a week or so of being setup. If the pods have a good food source your population will be higher. They will turn canibalistic if not fed. Make sure the rock is setup so it does not shift and trap a horse. I also like to be able to see most areas in the rock work to keep a eye on things.
THey like a routine of feeding times and after a short time will be out waiting for you to feed them. Most of the tank raised guys will eat frozen Mysis or Brine SHrimp. But be prepared to hatch some brine shrimp depending on where you purchase them. A well established tank with lots of pods helps to ensure succes.

 

[rayjay]

As you can see already there are many opinions on seahorse keeping.
I now sterilize everything for each seahorse tank I set up after years of trial and error and some seahorse losses.
I have been in the reefing hobby for 17 yrs now but into seahorse keeping for only 4 1/2 yrs.
I just set up my fifth seahorse tank and like the others, I boiled the rock and bleached the tank, sump and equipment before cycling with ammonium chloride.
My preferred tank to use is 40T with 20H sump.
I don't use sand bed, as I prefer to vacuum the detritus and uneaten food daily to make water changes less frequent.
I have reidi, barbouri, angustus, erectus, and comes (tigertails) at the moment, and have raised reidi fry that will be one year old on Feb 9 in a few days.
I'm trying to raise kuda fry I get from a friend next.
Hopefully soon some of my other species will start to reproduce so I can attempt those as well.
My thoughts on seahorse keeping are posted on my website, linked to from my pictures page.
MY SEAHORSE PAGE
Then click on "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping".

 

[Inconservatory]

Thanks for all of the input! There are some very interesting methods here.

It looks like the majority is leaning towards fresh, clean sand. The former owner of the tank said that there was a sand-sifting sea star, but we did not find it in the move. This leads us to believe that it died, though there is no trace for ammonia or nitrites. Would this be a terrible contaminant? How do you go about sterilizing the sand?

We may have to pass on the muriatic acid, as we have little experience with it and would rather not melt our bones through our bodies! Could you use a diluted bleach or vinegar solution to wipe down the equipment or clean the substrate?

I think that we will model the rock structure off of Ipisces beautiful setup! Then we could add some plants and gorgonians to fill out the rest of the tank. What type of lighting setup do you use to keep any plants and coral alive?

We were also thinking of adding tank mates. This gent houses pipefish and leaf fish with his horses without any trouble, it seems. http://www.seahorses.de/index.htm

Rayjay, do the seahorses not mind plastic plants? I heard that they were sharp and could damage seahorses. You have a beautiful breeder setup, by the way! Where did you get the inspiration?

 

[rayjay]

Well, I've been on seahorse.org forums for almost eight years now and haven't seen a post about seahorses being hurt from plastic plants. I HAVE seen many posts though about tail rot that had been blamed on tails being dragged across the sand bed and allowing bacteria like vibriosis to get a hold in the scraped tail. Don't know how much truth there is to it but I don't bother anyway.
I don't keep corals in the seahorse tanks any more or bother with macros, because I have heat problems in summer trying to keep the heat at 74° or less as my basement usually runs 80° to 85° then and I can't afford a chiller. I've learned that the risks running higher temperatures just aren't worth it for me.
I don't have a breeder set up, do you mean fry raising containers?
I tried and failed 9 times using various methods, including using Kresils so I guess you could say the inspiration for using those 4L jars for nurseries was born out of desperation and availability.
One thing to remember in your endeavor to keep seahorses and that is, the more species in the tank, the lower your odds of success. Just because it has been done, doesn't mean that it is likely to be a success for most others. In fact, it is normal that many horses die for each one that succeeds. Same with keeping them at warmer temperatures above 74°.

 

[IPisces]

I think that we will model the rock structure off of Ipisces beautiful setup! Then we could add some plants and gorgonians to fill out the rest of the tank. What type of lighting setup do you use to keep any plants and coral alive?

I have compact fluorescents on this tank. I have sea whip, gargonians, kenya tree, mushrooms, finger leathers, blue and pink xenia. I feed oyster feast, cyclopeeze, microblift all in one reef food. Oh, also phycopure. I think thats what it is called.

 

[leebca]

Inconservatory:

Note that there are whole websites with Forums strictly devoted to seahorse husbandry. Just search the Internet.

 

[rayjay]

One of those specific websites for seahorses has been down for a while and it's not known if they can resurrect it.
The other is mentioned in a post above, with a link to it.
It is the best site on the internet for hobbyist seahorse keeping.

 

[Inconservatory]

My apologies if this thread is not in the right section. My initial purpose for starting this topic was to find local stable-keepers and I figured this section was better than Boomer's Reef Chemistry (though I'll soon be raiding it for information on macro algae!).

I've just joined the Seahorse.org forum and will troll it for a few months before adding any content. Perhaps I will run into you guys and can continue these discussions at a later date.

 

[returnofsid]

My apologies if this thread is not in the right section. My initial purpose for starting this topic was to find local stable-keepers and I figured this section was better than Boomer's Reef Chemistry (though I'll soon be raiding it for information on macro algae!).

I've just joined the Seahorse.org forum and will troll it for a few months before adding any content. Perhaps I will run into you guys and can continue these discussions at a later date.

This is exactly where I'd have put this thread. Seahorses are a Marine Fish. Glad to see people getting more interested in them. While I've been researching setting up a Pony tank, for quite some time, I haven't done it yet. Someday!!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Mine have become family pets...

 

[rayjay]

I've just joined the Seahorse.org forum and will troll it for a few months before adding any content. Perhaps I will run into you guys and can continue these discussions at a later date.

Good luck in your research and set up.
I believe you will find it to be a tremendously rewarding experience, especially because you are taking time to learn about it before proceeding.

 

[IPisces]

Mine have become family pets...

They do become part of the family. Like newborns. They will need a lot of attention.