Packs Dwarf Seahorse Sanctuary

So the other today at the LFS, my wife saw a pair of dwarf seahorses for the first time. She was so excited she literally jumped and down. Then I told her they can't be kept in our aggresive community tank. Then she was sad and angry. Then I got sent out to set up another tank ;D
So here it is. 10 gallon standard, everything picked out by her. Decorations were picked out with hitching in mind. Has about 8 pounds of rock and fake stone decoration (nothing live of course), plus the fake plants she so loves, which actually should work well with hitching. Currently cycling with just some shrimp.
Tank will be at 75-76 degrees, 1.021 SG. Small, weak filter. Any other suggestions are welcomed from anybody who has kept them before, and I have done quite a bit of studying as well.

 

I don't have any suggestions, but I am following. I'm very interested in watching this develop because this kind of thing is on the back burner for me for when I get back from Korea hopefully.

 

Good luck from your neck of the woods! ;D

 

I was thinking about converting our old 10 g goldfish tank into this, but thought it was going to be too hard...maybe I will?

 

Oh also what r u going to feed?

 

Wives... You can't live with 'em, you can't sell 'em to gypsies like worked so well with the kids, huh!

Is my wife listening?

More seriously, that looks really neat. I have some questions though, coming from a total no expert who read just a little on these guys. I hear they involve a lot of food waste. That combined with a small weak filter and you've got nasties to remove. How are you planning to export? Will you need some LR somewhere in the system for filtration help? is that sanded going to stay clean?

I understand filtration is a pita with these guys, but once you're past it, this looks to be the beginnings of a really cool little tank!

 

I don't want to be a downer Pack but 10 gallons it to big for H. Zostrae. They are extremely lazy feeders and the food becomes to dispersed before enough of it swims within their reach when in an area that large. 5 gallons max for dwarfs.

Also if the tank has anything but an air driven sponge filter you'll be losing ponies to the suction. They are very weak swimmers and even a small power filter will be more than they can swim away from when the decide to hitch to the intake screen. And they will decide to eventually.

Good luck man. They are a ton of work. I had my herd for about a year before I couldn't keep up with them anymore.

 

I'll second that.
I put 20 dwarfs in my 5g tank and it was still hard to see/find them, but the feeding task would be prohibitive for me if they were in a 10g tank.
Dwarfs adults are only 1 to 1 1/2" in overall length so be sure that is what you are looking at.
Unfortunately, there are hardly ANY LFS's that have the knowledge needed to pass on to customers about the needs of the seahorses.
Lately there have been a lot of reports of standards being sold as dwarfs because they are being sold too immature and have less chance of survival.
If you join seahorse.org and check out the dwarf forum you will find pretty well any information you need on dwarfs.
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There is a thread on the dwarf forum with a picture of a dwarf in a hand to show the nominal size of dwards, scroll to post #6. I think you have to join before you can view the posts.
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Louicopp on seahorse.org posted this picture in that thread.


Forgot to mention that the 10g tank is NOT large enough by far for a pair of standard seahorses.

For more information on seahorse keeping see the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on ....." link in my signature.

 

All this info makes me feel even worse about the pair of black seahorses at one of our LFS~I'm bossy enough going in there when it comes to their fishes, it was so very hard for me to keep my mouth shut about those lil ponys.

I hate it when an LFS sells animals that need special care when they themselves care for them not!!!

 

Live enriched baby brine, with hopes of switching them to frozen, although that is rare.

Live rock is NOT recommended, due to the risk of hydroids. I do have base in there though. That, and all the decorations, will become live as the tank cycles. And we will have a clean up crew and some misc inverts in there as well, along with aggressive water changes. Many I was talking to suggested 25% weekly water changes.

Dwarfseahorse.org is where I have been doing a lot of studying, and where both the particular filter I have and the 10G were recommended numerous times by numerous senior members.
The filters is pretty weak, the inlet is covered by a sponge sleeve, and that is shoved in, behind, and surrounded by rock. There is no way the horses could get to it to become stuck in it. And I have confidence in the size of the tank.