A Seahorse Build.

[yankeefan]

Here are the 1st pics of my soon to be seahorse tank. I set up the tank this past Saturday with the SW and LS. Got the LR in on Monday. Since then I've pulled out 3 tiny baby crabs and this little pistol shrimp. All are back at my LFS. There is 2 pics of the pistol shrimp but the crabs were to small. There is 1 more crab in the tank still trying to get him so when I do I'll try for another pic. My LFS has got me on the list to get me a pair of red, yellow or orange seahorses. I don't care which color. They have a breeder and all seahorses are tank raised so thats good. I'm open to any suggestions and/or advice. I'll keep the pics coming.

 

12gal JBJ Nanocube Deluxe

14lbs LR

15lbs LS

Stock pump with spray bar

 

[Jacobnano]

I hope your live rock doesn't carry any diseases. Seahorses, especially tank bred ones are very susceptible to disease.

 

Are the seahorses you are getting eating frozen?

 

What species of seahorse are they? How big are they?

 

Are you planning on having other tankmates?

[Fishfreak218]

Dont worry about diseases on the LR, that is highly unlikely. Something to keep in mind is that they will more likely than not change color. With that black background I'm going to assume they'll turn dark gray-black.

Depending on what species you're getting that tank may be too small in the long run. Ask your LFS what breed you are getting, they should know if they are in fact captive bred. If they are H. Reidi or H. Kuda or H. Erectus; your tank is going to end up being too small.

Good luck with your seahorses!

[yankeefan]

Not sure of the breed but they said that they would be no bigger than 4-6in when full grown. I thought about them changing colors but was gunna add some zoas as I've read that they can change color to match their surroundings. So I hoped to use the color of the zoo's to keep them from losing color. Maybe??? They do eat frozen I was told. I was hoping that they would be ok in this tank. If anything I can always break some of the LR and put it into the therear chambers. I was thinking of doing this anyway to make some more swimmimg room in the tank. I'm not really worried about them getting anything from the LR except beat up by a crab or something. And no other tank mates...maybe a a turbo snail and a cleaner shrimp.

[Jacobnano]

I wouldn't go with a cleaner, I mean they are nice and all but the horses might not like it hopping up onto them lol. Go for snails

 

Don't put rock in the back chambers, it acts just like bioballs. You will need things for them to cling onto with their tails, look into the photsynthetic gorgonians (your lights might not be enough, IDK), or a DEAD birdsnest or other branching SPS coral work great. There are also a lot of nice macro algae you can get, check ou reefcleaners, they have a ton.

[yankeefan]

I was thinking about some gorgonians for them. Havn'e thought that part out yet. Still researching what to use. I like the looks of this....http://melevsreef.com/id/h_reidi.html

[yankeefan]

Today I went to the LFS and got 3 turbo's for the tank. While I was there I seen they had 3 fans there and all were $45. Didn't buy one yet but definitely getting one for the tank. The only thing stopping me was that the tank is not completely done with the cycle. Don't want to kill it, the snails were free and I'm sure that they will be fine. So i get home to put them in the tank and pop the lid only to notice hiding in the hole in the back of the LR was the crab. I got to get him. He's being real still to so I don't want to scare it. Quick thinking I get a pair of chop sticks and go to get em. When I do it doesn't move. Is it dead? I pull it out and it looks like it might be a shed. I thought I had em. I looked at it good but its small and hard to tell if its a shed. It was hard, beige in color with black claws. 1 claw was bigger than the other and it was about 1 inch long. It had to be the mama/poppa of the baby crabs I found. I hope I didn't kill it while trying to get it out. He was just sitting there and I went in so quick, tried to get em from behind so it wouldn't run back into the rock. I had shined the flashlight on em and it never moved so maybe just a shed. Gotta keep my eyes open and watch the snails. If its still alive they might be a quick meal. Anyway found a star fish also, its small bout the size of a nickel. Also found 2 worms. 1 was a samll bristle worm about an inch long. Pretty sure bout that but the other 1....I don't know. It was round like a earth worm only it wasn't segmented. It realy looked like the trunk of my fighting conch snail. Dark in color with light spots on it. Only out at night and when I shine the light it retracts into the rock. IDK but they need to come out while the lights are on so I can get them. That would be to easy.

[yankeefan]

Got the bristle worm out tonight and got pics of the starfish. I think the other worm is a peanut worm still doing some research on it but I'm pretty sure its a peanut worm. Also did test tonight and

zero-ammo

zero-nitrite

10- nitrate

8 ph

79 temp

Cycle coming to a close and the diatoms coming in. All snails ok and no sign of a crab. Still no word from the LFS about the seahorses but that ok. anyway heres the pics.....

[yankeefan]

Got the seahorseson friday. Black horses. Changed the aquascape too. Had some rocks in my 30gal that would grow caulerpa and I hated it. So I put them into the seahorse tank, and put LR from SH tank into 30gal. I thought it would give something for them to hold on to while helping to keep down the levels in the tank. Plus the LR is about 2yrs old and has lots of life on there to help seed the tank. They eat frozen mysis and I just got some arcti pods yesterday and they seemed to like it. They also eat live ghost shrimp. I get the smallest ones and they will hunt them down. Seahorses are good hunters. Who woulda known. Anyways I'll get pics up soon.

[johnmaloney]

you can help get them to change color by using bright (red, yellow,green) hitching posts, preferably plastic (dont ask why horses love plastic - no one knows), and by keeping the two apart. Not that you would want to do that, but that is how the pros get them to change colors this way they have a few rare red, yellow, green ones etc... black is their normal color and their breeding color, if they are with another horse they tend to go that way. H. erectus right?

[yankeefan]

Here are a few pics of the SH's. Yes they are H. Erectus. They are eating mysis and super shrimp. The super shrimp are brine that are soaked in vitamins and omegas. Also got them some arcti pods. They are good eaters. Plus whatever live pods and small ghost shrimp. They seem to be happy, I'll try and get a good video together this weekend. I could watch them all day. [:-) Enjoy the pics. I'll update from time to time.

 

[raphaelben]

Here are a few pics of the SH's. Yes they are H. Erectus. They are eating mysis and super shrimp. The super shrimp are brine that are soaked in vitamins and omegas. Also got them some arcti pods. They are good eaters. Plus whatever live pods and small ghost shrimp. They seem to be happy, I'll try and get a good video together this weekend. I could watch them all day. [:-) Enjoy the pics. I'll update from time to time.

 

 

hey i was interested in setting up a 10 gallon aga into a species tank for H. erectus and i wanted to learn from your experience with them. what do you feed them and how often? is an aquoen 10 HOB filter ok?

thank you

[yankeefan]

Here is a new pic. The female died but the male is better than ever. I feed him frozen mysis that are enriched with vitamins. He eats atleast 2 times a day and couldn't be more happy.