Pygmy Seahorse

[MDeth]

Hippocampus bargibanti
Pygmy / Dwarf Seahorse

Does anybody know if these are legal for sale and where I can find one? Specifically I have the BioCube 14, and with my goby the only other inhabitant, a seahorse would be perfect! These little guys are so cute and only get to be 1.5 or 2"!

Thanks for any help

[amcarrig]

Not a good idea. Dwarfs are very small and very difficult to keep/feed. They really need a species only tank because they require a lot of hitching places, very low flow and a lot of feeding of frozen and/or live foods. Naturally, you will need to up your filtration to make up for the extra bioload this will place on your water. Also, your goby will get large enough to eat them eventually.

[MDeth]

...there also on the IUCN protected list :'(

hmmm....someday

I didnt know the goby would eat em ! What a crazy bastage...ty for the info, I wont try any type of dwarf. I assume horses should be out of the question no matter what then right?

And as for filtration, I made a few mods...In the 2nd chamber, I have additional LR w/ cheato + light. I also slit a bigger section out for move overflow and will be replacing the stock pump with a maxi 900

I'm a scatterbrain (this is my 4th edit)...I know about 'hitching posts' and was planning on making a gorgian field all across the tanks left and back (where there is little flow)

Finally, as soon as i pick up a different timer, I'll have a countdown timer that turns my pump for X time when i want for feeding

[amcarrig]

Originally Posted by MDeth

...there also on the IUCN protected list :'(

hmmm....someday

I didnt know the goby would eat em ! What a crazy bastage...ty for the info, I wont try any type of dwarf. I assume horses should be out of the question no matter what then right?

And as for filtration, I made a few mods...In the 2nd chamber, I have additional LR w/ cheato + light. I also slit a bigger section out for move overflow and will be replacing the stock pump with a maxi 900

I'm a scatterbrain (this is my 4th edit)...I know about 'hitching posts' and was planning on making a gorgian field all across the tanks left and back (where there is little flow)

Finally, as soon as i pick up a different timer, I'll have a countdown timer that turns my pump for X time when i want for feeding

Larger, captive raised seahorses are easier to keep because they tend to accept frozen mysis shrimp where wild caught ones willy usually only eat live food. As long as you don't have very strong water blasting all over your tank, you should be able to keep one or a pair of horses. They will hitch on gorgonians, however, not all gorgonians are easy to keep so do your homework before you purchase. If you do decide to keep horses, be prepared to have to make arrangements for feeding when you go on vacation because these animals absolutely need to be fed every day.

[MDeth]

I doubt my pistol (wherever he is) will give a horse trouble?

I hope my goby didnt eat ^^ I havent seen him since introduced or heard his clicking :p. The little 3/4" guys sound like clicking your fingernails instead of a .22cal

[amcarrig]

Good question but I'm not really sure. I would think that the "sonic boom" that the pistol creates might disturb the horses in some way or another. It is not in the goby's best interest to eat the pistol shrimp even if it wanted to so I doubt that's the case. Don't expect to see the shrimp too often or to hear it clicking too often. They are very reclusive and will only click when threatened or when hunting.

[MDeth]

I figured...but Im just too impatient...I think I got him on Wed

[amcarrig]

Yeah, give it a chance to settle in. I'm sure you'll see it soon