I would like a seahorse....

Hehe! My newest craze...

Now does anyone have any experience here with Seahorses? I have a 10 gallon with the 18" CPR HOB Fuge, and a powerquad light.

I understand this tank is likely too small for any but the zoestrae or dwarf horses?

What is the opinion here, or is it my new task to become the resident expert on my own??? ;D

 

I invetigated it for a while. I was going to modify my 40G to house them.

I discovered that I would have to invest in a new set up and Sea horses are a lot of work. Many do not eat anything but live food and even then can be really picky.

I knew I was not up for the challange and the time I just didn't have

Jason

 

These things are all true...I feel I am up to it tho ;D

I would only buy CB seahorses that already eat frozen foodstuffs, in addition I am going to set up a baby brine shrimp hatcher...I know, glutton for punishment I am! ;D

 

I have 2 H.Reddi they are easy. Mine live in a 26 gal with 25 lbs of live rock 2 in of sand and the whole bottom of the tank is planted with culpera so they have something to hang on to.
I have a crapy proteen skimmer but with all the culpera there is not much need for it. For filtration I have an emperor 400 turned down to one click above off.
Mine are captive bread and eat frozen once a day, besides that the tank is basicly a large fuge and once in a while I add a bottle of pods.
Before you buy make sure you watch them feed.

 

I kept h. erectus for several years and even though they do have special requirements, it didn't involve much more work than my reef does. Only problem is that if you go on vacation, you'll have to make arrangements for daily feedings while you're gone. Most captive raised horses will eat frozen mysis shrimp. Make sure that you don't keep aggressive tank mates with the horse and that you set the tank up with heavy filtration and low flow. You'll also need lots and lots of grasping places and if you keep a mated pair, be prepared for babies every 20-30 days

 

Thanks, I have the 10 gallon and it would only house horses, but can I keep anything larger than the dwarves?

 

I'm not sure if a reddi are dwarfs but they are about 6 mos old and about 6 "long

 

No, the reidi's are not dwarves. I am talking about the Hippocampus Zosterae...see here...

http://seahorse.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=29

They are max 2" uncurled ;D Only problem, tiny horsie needs tiny food :

 

The other one I am considering is the Capensis...seen here

http://seahorse.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=28

They get up to 3 inches...but they are a bit pricier, but easier to feed....so I am not too sure! They also prefer temps of 70F or below...so , I would need an iceprobe chiller....

Still got your old one Matt? Wanna sell it? ;D

 

Sorry Sue, I actually am still using it! It got a little workout recently with indian summer.

Are all seahorses supposed to be farmed now? I can't remember the details but I thought there was a big CITES ruling not long ago on the wild ones. I read that the farmed ones are easier to feed. But man are they expensive! At least the ones from that place in Hawaii.