seahorse tank ready?

Okay I've finally decided what to do with my ten gallon that I've had going for awhile. The tank has cycled already, and I've decided to do seahorses. There are some black seahorses at my LFS that have been there for over 2 months and are fat and healthy. They are eating frozen and live.

I mainly am checking to see if anyone thinks I need to do anything else. The tank is cycled. Right now I'm letting the copepod population increase. There is plenty of Tonga LR and acro skeletons for the horses to perch on. I'm thinking of borrowing a chromi just to make sure the water is alright and letting it swim around for a week or so and then returning it. Since I'm going out of town in about a week I'm going to wait to get the horses until I get back. I've included some pictures of the tank below. Sorry about the cloudiness, I was rearranging the tonga and the sand got kicked up a little.

This is the full tank shot:


This is a close-up of the left side "play area":


I figure if they do well and I decide that this is really something I could get into I'll order a 20 XH tank for them.

 

depending on what type of horses they are you are most likely going to need to get some live plants, i think its best to keep it more natural for the animals well being. Other than that the tank is looking pretty good, you may want to add a bit more live rock though.

Matty

 

what are you using for flow? i dont see any powerheads in there.

 

Oh yeah the plants..That's what I forgot to add. There's actually some chaeto in the back of the tank and I'm getting a codium plant that comes with the horses.

And I can add some more LR.

 

There are no and will be no powerheads. There is a HOB filter.I'm fully aware that this tank will require weekly maintanence in the form of water changes and the like, but I'm willing to do it if it means I get to keep seahorses.

Anything else that anyone notices? Or any pointers on seahorses would be nice.

 

i would go to the LFS and ask them for two low flow powerheads and put some type of sponge type material where the water gets sucked up, i dont think its a good idea to run a tank like that on the filter alone.

 

It's not that big of a tank. The flow from the HOB will be enough. And I've researched enough to realize that seahorses and powerheads don't make a good combo:-/. Plus they like low flow, no since in increasing what they don't like.

If I upgrade them to a 20XH I'll probably add a small one.

 

well, if they thrive then you know your doing it right, best of luck to you, Sea Horses are some of the most incredible animals to watch, i used to love watching mine eat

BTW how long has your tank been established?

 

It's been up and running for 3 months. Like I said I'm not getting the horses for another 2 weeks. Until then I'm letting the pods multiply. I can already see them all over the glass. I figure a massive population will be a nice 'house-warming' gift to the horses.

 

hmmmm, did you use anything like Byro-Spyra to jump start the process? 3 months seems awfully early for horses, any coralline on the glass?