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The Seahorse Club!


Felicia

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I am hopping on this seahorse band wagon to learn as much as possible. I love them so much but I will wait until I have some more experience in this hobby.

 

I am still trying to figure out what is the best lighting values and how corals use light to grow! :lol:

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I am hopping on this seahorse band wagon to learn as much as possible. I love them so much but I will wait until I have some more experience in this hobby.

 

I am still trying to figure out what is the best lighting values and how corals use light to grow! :lol:

You should definitely follow along and then get seahorses sometime down the road when you're more comfortable. I think if I can pull this off, then you should know that you could handle it too :)

 

I think scientists are still trying to sort out the ins and outs of coral photosynthesis. :lol:

 

Zia, I love that shot of both the seahorse and the jawfish :)

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Ok, so the video I posted isn't the breeder I've been talking about. The video was just sent to me today by one of my local club members. Its a client of his who keeps seahorses and they ended up breeding and now he has a bunch. He doesn't normally sell them, but my friend in the club was telling him about my new tank and he offered to potentially sell me a couple. I don't think I could get any more from that particular person because he's not breeding and selling. I don't know what the price will be yet. He's out of town until Thursday, but when he gets back, I'm going to try to set up to go see his seahorses and see which are for sale and discuss price. They do look fat and happy and look like they may color up really well in a brighter tank, so I am definitely interested in maybe getting one or two.

 

I am also going to talk to the local breeder about what he has left very soon. He's the one with black and white H. Erectus, so I may get one seahorse from him. That breeder charges $18 a seahorse, so I could potentially get some for you Martin, but shipping seahorses makes me nervous. I could maybe try though.

 

That's a good reason to stop by. We'll provide the seahorse fix for anyone who can't keep them :lol:

Wow. For 18 bucks and captive-bred, I would set up a seahorse tank lol

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Wow. For 18 bucks and captive-bred, I would set up a seahorse tank lol

Yeah, they're all black and white instead of bright colors, but its still an AWESOME deal :)

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Love 'horses, Zia! Are they Reidi or Erectus? Such nice, bright colors... What species of gorgonian is it in the background of the pictures? It looks like Pseudopterogorgia Bipinnata, but I have never seen that species form that bottlebrush shape with its branches. I am setting up my first tank of large seahorses after four years of dwarf seahorses (ending with a tragic massacre-by-clumsy-kitten and ten gallons of water on the floor), and I want to have some photosynthetic gorgonians like the purple ones in your pictures. It won't be a nano by any stretch of imagination, but I suppose I can post a thread in the forum for large tanks... I will definitely post pictures here, but it will be very slow going. I won't have actual seahorses until at least next spring. :(.

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Love 'horses, Zia! Are they Reidi or Erectus? Such nice, bright colors... What species of gorgonian is it in the background of the pictures? It looks like Pseudopterogorgia Bipinnata, but I have never seen that species form that bottlebrush shape with its branches. I am setting up my first tank of large seahorses after four years of dwarf seahorses (ending with a tragic massacre-by-clumsy-kitten and ten gallons of water on the floor), and I want to have some photosynthetic gorgonians like the purple ones in your pictures. It won't be a nano by any stretch of imagination, but I suppose I can post a thread in the forum for large tanks... I will definitely post pictures here, but it will be very slow going. I won't have actual seahorses until at least next spring. :(.

Yay! Another person doing a seahorse build :) I am very sorry to hear about your dwarf seahorses :( No worries about not having ponies for quite some time. We'd love to hear about how you're setting up your tank and your planning and such. Its hard to wait that long though. I'm itching to be able to get mine!

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Waiting is the worst! I have only just gotten my tank, stand, canopy, and sump. They were a steal: $150 for the 120g tank/stand/canopy from a local reefer who is going to college and needed to get rid of it ASAP, and $40 for a 40g breeder at petco's sale. 40g is smaller than I would like, but it leaves room in the stand for the chiller, so I will just have to deal with it. I still need a quarantine, but at this rate I will probably just buy a big clear Rubbermaid and call it a day. ;). Thankfully, the DT is reef ready; all I will have to do is a bit of plumbing to hook it up to the sump and then I am good to go. It will probably be September before I even have water in it, at this rate, though. :(. I figure that'll be my birthday present to myself!

 

The tank will be primarily planted; one end will have seagrass (Halophila Engelmannii and Halodule Wrightii/Beaudettei, Halodule Pinifolia as well if I can get my hands on some), and the other will be a mixture of photosynthetic gorgonians and macro algae with one or two NPS gorgonians thrown in for a splash of color. The main color scheme is green/blue/purple/red, with orange/yellow only as little accenting colors here and there (the orange on Dragon's Breath, for example). Hopefully this will make the seahorses stand out more. I am going to get 8 H. Barbouri, which I have noticed prefer to stay yellow, unlike their cousins the Reidi which turn every color imagineable on a regular basis. Also, if I can get my hands on some, I would like to add a pair of CB pipefish. Dragon-face, preferably. It is an ambitious project, but I am hoping that enough care, research, and attention to detail will let me pull it off without too much trouble.

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Waiting is the worst! I have only just gotten my tank, stand, canopy, and sump. They were a steal: $150 for the 120g tank/stand/canopy from a local reefer who is going to college and needed to get rid of it ASAP, and $40 for a 40g breeder at petco's sale. 40g is smaller than I would like, but it leaves room in the stand for the chiller, so I will just have to deal with it. I still need a quarantine, but at this rate I will probably just buy a big clear Rubbermaid and call it a day. ;). Thankfully, the DT is reef ready; all I will have to do is a bit of plumbing to hook it up to the sump and then I am good to go. It will probably be September before I even have water in it, at this rate, though. :(. I figure that'll be my birthday present to myself! The tank will be primarily planted; one end will have seagrass (Halophila Engelmannii and Halodule Wrightii/Beaudettei, Halodule Pinifolia as well if I can get my hands on some), and the other will be a mixture of photosynthetic gorgonians and macro algae with one or two NPS gorgonians thrown in for a splash of color. The main color scheme is green/blue/purple/red, with orange/yellow only as little accenting colors here and there (the orange on Dragon's Breath, for example). Hopefully this will make the seahorses stand out more. I am going to get 8 H. Barbouri, which I have noticed prefer to stay yellow, unlike their cousins the Reidi which turn every color imagineable on a regular basis. Also, if I can get my hands on some, I would like to add a pair of CB pipefish. Dragon-face, preferably. It is an ambitious project, but I am hoping that enough care, research, and attention to detail will let me pull it off without too much trouble.

Wow! You're going to have so much room in that 120 gallon! It sounds like you have a great plan, and yes a large build like this will take a long time, but its fun! It is really hard to wait though! I like the plan of having the tank split in half between a planted section and a gorgonian section. I'm excited to see someone keep a different type of seahorse! I'm just planning on keeping H. Erectus since they're supposed to be really hardy and good for beginners. Do you know of any sources for captive bred pipefish? The only one I know of is Ocean Rider. Definitely keep us updated on your build and you should start a thread in the large tanks forum once you get going. I want to follow along on another seahorse build. :)

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I got two shipments of goodies for the seahorse tank today! Everything is in the frag tank for now until the seahorse tank is done cycling. Here's a list of what I got:

 

Fish

Mated pair of yellowhead jawfish

Yellow neon goby

Blue neon goby

Green clown goby

Citrinis clown goby

 

Inverts

Nassarius snails

Astrea snails

Nerite snails

Cerith snails

Scarlet hermits

Blue leg hermits

Nano serpent stars

 

Corals

St. Thomas Mushroom

5 Gorgonians

Red tree sponges

Red ball sponges

Yellow ball sponge

 

Misc.

Empty coralline covered hermit shells

16 oz. Tisbe pods

PhycoPure Copepod blend (phytoplankton)

 

Here's what my frag tank looks like right now :)

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/IMG_3650Edit.jpg.html'>IMG_3650Edit.jpg



OMG...you guys have a seahorse club!!!!! Fun :D

Yep! We'll let you be an honorary member, Gena :)

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Having a seahorse is obviously a bit more challenging than regular fish... but why haven't they been as popular until now?

I remember Hype's before Zia and his duo, I haven't seen too much mention of any others.

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Having a seahorse is obviously a bit more challenging than regular fish... but why haven't they been as popular until now?

I remember Hype's before Zia and his duo, I haven't seen too much mention of any others.

I don't know! Zia created that awesome tank and now is giving everyone seahorse fever. Also, I think the fact that captive bred ones are more readily available probably helps with the popularity.

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Love 'horses, Zia! Are they Reidi or Erectus? Such nice, bright colors... What species of gorgonian is it in the background of the pictures? It looks like Pseudopterogorgia Bipinnata, but I have never seen that species form that bottlebrush shape with its branches. I am setting up my first tank of large seahorses after four years of dwarf seahorses (ending with a tragic massacre-by-clumsy-kitten and ten gallons of water on the floor), and I want to have some photosynthetic gorgonians like the purple ones in your pictures. It won't be a nano by any stretch of imagination, but I suppose I can post a thread in the forum for large tanks... I will definitely post pictures here, but it will be very slow going. I won't have actual seahorses until at least next spring. :(.

Thank you and :welcome:

 

They are Erectus and have stayed bright yellow for me since day one :D As for the gorg, to be totally honest, im not sure what type it is. I have a huge variety of all different types in there. But as some on this thread can attest to,im no expert by any means. I just wanted to set out and try something different.

 

Cant wait to follow your progress on your pony mansion! Dont be shy and set up a build thread and let us all enjoy the build from the early stages.

I'll be posting a new video over in my build thread, of my ponies in action shortly.

 

 

Having a seahorse is obviously a bit more challenging than regular fish... but why haven't they been as popular until now?

I remember Hype's before Zia and his duo, I haven't seen too much mention of any others.

 

 

I think the regular 2-3 times a day feeding for 6 days straight and only able to take one day off is what keeps more people from attempting it. I have my tanks in my office where i spend a considerable amount of time every day in. So it's very convenient for me to be available for them.

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Along this subject, does anyone know where I can get a pair of H. barbouris? I've looked everywhere on the net and everyone seems to be out of stock... :(

Seahorsesource and Ocean Rider sell them sometimes. I would call both of them and see when they will have more available.

 

 

I think the regular 2-3 times a day feeding for 6 days straight and only able to take one day off is what keeps more people from attempting it. I have my tanks in my office where i spend a considerable amount of time every day in. So it's very convenient for me to be available for them.

 

 

This doesn't really seem like it should be that much of a barrier though. A lot of people feed their main tank 2 times everyday and I know I refuse to leave my main tank unattended for more than a day. So if I go on vacation, I make sure I have someone come in every single day to check on it and feed. I guess the only difference is your tank sitter would have to come in twice a day to feed, but I'm going to work out some way to make it only once a day :)

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Yes! I love it! Those are some gorgeous yellow seahorses you have there, Gena :lol:

Nice ponies Gena, so unexpected but they look awesome in there. That's the exact same spot in the tank mine love to hang out in

http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/ziareefer/media/P1240866_zpsb4ce9867.jpg.html'>P1240866_zpsb4ce9867.jpg

 

Your fuge would actually make a perfect little habitat for some dwarf seahorses. If your already hatching brine for the Mandy than your set :D

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Your fuge would actually make a perfect little habitat for some dwarf seahorses. If your already hatching brine for the Mandy than your set :D

Do it! :)

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Nice ponies Gena, so unexpected but they look awesome in there. That's the exact same spot in the tank mine love to hang out in

P1240866_zpsb4ce9867.jpg

 

Your fuge would actually make a perfect little habitat for some dwarf seahorses. If your already hatching brine for the Mandy than your set :D

 

Your tank looks awesome. Here are a couple of pics from my seahorse NPS tank. I will show you more Gorgonians later, I just worked on the tank and theyre all closed up.

ke1g.jpg

omgzq.jpg

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Your tank looks awesome. Here are a couple of pics from my seahorse NPS tank. I will show you more Gorgonians later, I just worked on the tank and theyre all closed up.

ke1g.jpg

omgzq.jpg

I was wondering when you'd pop into the seahorse club. Nice looking ponies and corals. I also really love that filefish.

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Your tank looks awesome. Here are a couple of pics from my seahorse NPS tank. I will show you more Gorgonians later, I just worked on the tank and theyre all closed up.

ke1g.jpg

 

Woa, WTF?!?! This came out of no where!!! I knew you had some awesome NPS and they are wild how beautiful they are with all the PE going on.

But.., hold the bus! You have SEAHORSES?!? Dude you've been majorly... i mean majorly holding out on us! I blame =^..^= as an accomplice because shes seen your tanks in person and she didn't even mention anything. Wow, im so taken back by those amazing gorgs, and even more intrigued by that stunning file fish, bat fish, and even ponies :o I guess i was the slacker and needed to be flowing your thread. Maybe you already let people know you had these gems over there. Enough rant, seriously though, thanks for sharing! PLEASES SHOW MORE :D

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I was wondering when you'd pop into the seahorse club. Nice looking ponies and corals. I also really love that filefish.

 

Thank you! Just added it to my Favorite places :)

 

 

 

 

Woa, WTF?!?! This came out of no where!!! I knew you had some awesome NPS and they are wild how beautiful they are with all the PE going on.

But.., hold the bus! You have SEAHORSES?!? Dude you've been majorly i mean majorly holding out on us! I blame =^..^= as an accomplice because shes seen your tanks in person and she didn't even mention anything. Wow, im so taken back by those amazing gorgs, and even more intrigued by that stunning file fish, bat fish, and even ponies :o I guess i was the slacker and needed to be flowing your thread. Maybe you already let people know you had these gems over there. Enough rant, seriously though, thanks for sharing! PLEASES SHOW MORE :D

 

 

 

:) I like to maintain a low profile :ninja:

 

More later, getting on the subway..oh and my thread stinks. LOL.

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:) I like to maintain a low profile :ninja:

 

More later, getting on the subway..

 

Your even underground as we speak, you are a ninja! So stealthy of you man, i like and look forward to more........

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Do you know of any sources for captive bred pipefish? The only one I know of is Ocean Rider. Definitely keep us updated on your build and you should start a thread in the large tanks forum once you get going. I want to follow along on another seahorse build. :)

Will do! As for the pipefish, all I know of is ocean rider, but when I asked about alternatives on seahorse.org, they suggested I talk to Jim Welsh about it. He is involved in breeding efforts for pipefish, for those of you unaware. I am also keeping track of the syngathid section on MBI. Other than that, some of the people on the seahorse breeder's registry are also listed as breeding pipefish, so I suppose when the time comes I will contact them to ask about it as well.

Along this subject, does anyone know where I can get a pair of H. barbouris? I've looked everywhere on the net and everyone seems to be out of stock... :(
Everyone is currently out of stock, yes. I emailed Dan from seahorse source about it a few weeks ago and he said his Barbouri had decided to take a break for a while. He also mentioned that Barbouri are slow growers, and take about 9 months to reach maturity. So I am expecting at least a years' wait for seahorse source. Southwatch seahorse farms also offer Barbouri, and while they don't have any ATM, they might have some before seahorse source does.
Thank you and :welcome:

 

Cant wait to follow your progress on your pony mansion! Dont be shy and set up a build thread and let us all enjoy the build from the early stages.

Thanks! I will probably start a build thread when I am finally ready to add livestock. I am taking pictures of the process and will post those when the time comes, though. ATM I am installing a GCFI and a plastic cover for the plug. The canopy is in rough condition, so I will be fixing that up pretty soon.

 

As for why more people don't keep SH, I think it is probably a combination of not being able to keep them in a typical reef tank, the cost of a chiller, the limited choices for tankmates, and the bad rep they have from the days before CB were widely available. I think another part of it is just that there are few examples of stunning seahorse tanks, compared to all the pictures there are of fantastic reef tanks. Not to say that few seahorse tanks are stunning, but rather that those with stunning seahorse tanks often neglect to post pictures and share them with the public (hint hint). When tackling a seemingly difficult project like a SH tank, motivation is very important, especially before you have actually invested money in the project.

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