Can i keep seahorses!!??

[Boomerblaster]

Hey everyone! I just was curious to hear about those of you who keep seahorses... or is it not possible to keep seahorses in a nano tank??? I have a 20 gallon (TBS SATURDAYY! WooOoO! - Cannot wait! Literally!) is it possible for me to even have one seahorse, and if so what species. I know basically nothing about the creatures... so enlighten me on the topic if you will! I need to know everything about em! Thanks everyone!

 

-Jonathan

[tinyreef]

very possible but a taller tank is preferable. seahorse tanks are basically species-tanks. the only co-inhabitants i'd recommend would be pipefish or mandarins. on a scale of difficulty i would rate mandarins much easier than horses. otoh most of the difficulty lies in work (for me), i.e. live foods/frozen mysis, and since i'm a lazy bastage i rate them as very difficult.

 

suitability of your setup depends upon the species. since you're using LR (very fresh/wild, TBS), i wouldn't recommend dwarves. if your 20 is a Long versus High, i wouldn't recommend horses at all.

 

seahorse.org is the definitive source imo. check out the orgy and they'll be able to give you more competent advice. good luck!

[Reefer_Buddha]

good luck, theres a reason why hardly anyone even tries to raise them

[madness]

The short answer is: Yes, you can keep horses in a nano.

 

The long answer is: No matter what size tank you raise them in, it helps if you are an obessesive-compulsive anal retentive work-a-holic. Well, maybe not that bad. But, close.

 

The tricky part is that they are more prone to illness than your regular fish. Even though they are messy eaters, they want very clean water with lowish circulation (hard to do!).

 

My advice: Read, read, read, study, study, study, plan, plan, plan.

Go slow and, finally, jump in. They aren't going to get any easier to keep unless people work hard and share their successes and failures.

 

That's just my 0.02.

[allimar]

If you are seriously interested in seahorses, check out www.seahorse.org and www.syngnathid.org.

Both are great sites. I currently have a SH tank and they are not that difficult to raise, if you do your research. Mine eat frozen mysis, and occasionally live food. They are trained to use a feeding station, so they are not too messy, just suction out the leftovers, when they are finished eating.

Decide what species you would like to keep first though, some are tropical, while others will require a chiller. I would not recommend that you keep anything other than a pair of medium sized species in a 20 gallon and it should be a 20 XT. They need 3 times their length in tank height.

[jaguilar]

like tiny said, it would have to be a species tank. but it can be done. another good site to check out is(www.oceanrider.com). a lot of helpful info over there, and a good selection of various seahorses. and i believe that all their livestock are captive bred. check out the dwarf species, really cool....

[allimar]

Yes, OR horses are CB, but before you order check out vendor experiences at the sites I listed. You might change your mind quite a few people have had bad experiences with them. MDL is a great supplier for CB horses. Dwarf SH need a very specialized tank. If you are interested in them, a 20 gal is way to big. They need a 5 gal. They are easily killed by almost everything, so the only things that you can keep with them are snails and pipefish. They need daily feeding of decapsulated bbs too. Hydroids will also kill them, so tank must be cycled using no live rock and everything that goes into the tank, must be fw dipped or treated with panacur.

I agree with the other post's that it really needs to be a species only tank.