Sea Horse tank

I was bored with my tank and thought about setting up a vase on my wet-bar. I was out looking for the largest cool looking vase I could find and came across a 8g biocube for a good price. I've always wanted to setup a seahorse tank but I know nothing about them.

I was thinking the 8g biocube might work, it will be plumbed into my existing system (~110g total volume) and I was planning to add some LS, LR and some soft corals....would this work for a pair of seahorses?

If it would, what's the hardiest seahorse and could someone give me a paragraph crash-course on keeping seahorses....pros/cons, just to help me decide if this is a good idea. In the end it would have to look good because it would be on display on my bar. thanks.

 

Well, seahorses need lower water temperatures than most reef tanks, for starters.

 

Not alot of water flow either. I have seen tank raised Kudas and put something in there that they can attach themselves to. But I also heard the tank has to be atleast 6 months old too.

 

Right. 8 gallons is way to small except for Pygmy seahorses, and for those you need to hatch bbs EVERY day. It's a lot of work.

You can check out seahorse.org for fish and coral comparability. There is a lot of old/incorrect info out there.

I have two Kuda seahorses in my 125 reef, although I am committing two seahorse fouls. I have some euphyllia corals and I keep the tank at 77-78. The temp is fine for the seahorses themselves, but some viruses are more prevelant above 74.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I'm not too worried about the age of the tank since it will be plumbed into my existing system and LR for the tank would be taken from my 2yr old fuge. LS might be new but that shouldn't be a problem. Because my current 75 is built into the back of my bar, there isn't much room for up-sizing. Between now and when I move to our next home (hopefully within the next year or 2) I'm trying to come up with a cool idea for a small tank project. As cool as they are, sounds like sea horses would be too much work...back to the drawing board...I have pretty much everything to start a small tank (LR, corals, pumps, heaters, I plan to build a small LED setup or buy one of the screwin LED bulbs)....maybe I should just invest the time into planning my next big tank....only problem is I have no clue what my next house would look like.

 

ALMOST NO WATER FLOW... and lots of vegetation. But I wouldn't put any seahorses (or much of anything) in a tank less that 15g

 

A tank that size is suitable for dwarf seahorses, H. zosterae.
While some people luck in a buck all the odds and successfully keep seahorses in conditions other than recommended, MOST will die.
Check out the links at the bottom of "MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING" page.
It is combined information of the "org" and people on the org, and a commercial breeder that can be found in the links.

 

this may sounds stupid so forgive me.

my friend goes to reptile and amphibian shows all the time, there they have tanks for chameleons, you can get a 30 gallon tank that is REALLy tall and very skinny. they hold water, and would be AWESOME seahorse tanks, just an idea if you have those around you.

 

Years ago we all kept our horses in low flow environments. I don't think we gave them enough credit. What I would more recommend now is moderate flow tanks with areas of low flow only. Stagnant water, which tall low flow tanks seem to be victims of, are really not the healthiest environments. My horses swim much more in the higher flow, yet one would expect the opposite if it were too much flow. If you have SPS type-a-flow... then that would be too much.

If your larger horse is eating frozen, which any horse should provided they are captive bred, it doesn't make an difference as the age of your tank for pods will not be essential. But they are messy eaters, so your biofiltration must be good and hardy.

 

Years ago we all kept our horses in low flow environments. I don't think we gave them enough credit. What I would more recommend now is moderate flow tanks with areas of low flow only. Stagnant water, which tall low flow tanks seem to be victims of, are really not the healthiest environments. My horses swim much more in the higher flow, yet one would expect the opposite if it were too much flow. If you have SPS type-a-flow... then that would be too much.

If your larger horse is eating frozen, which any horse should provided they are captive bred, it doesn't make an difference as the age of your tank for pods will not be essential. But they are messy eaters, so your biofiltration must be good and hardy.