Keeping Seahorses

[wend121]

I'm looking for advise and tips from those of you who are successfully keeping Seahorses.

I'm going to be buying a Nano-Aquarium or Bio Cube and will only keep 1 seahorse in my tank. I have been told that it should be at least 20 gallon but am wondering if anyone is keeping a seahorse in anything smaller.

If there is any other tips you may have I'm all ears!!!


Thanks,
Wendi

[ShipWreck]

The size of the tank is somewhat dependent on the type of horse you plan on keeping. Seahorses should be kept in a tank that is at least 3x as tall as the horse as they are primarily a vertical swimmer. Also providing a setup with a large refugium is beneficial to help with water quality but will also provide a free food source.

Also make sure that the seahorse(s) you buy are CB (Captive Bred) as these are hardier but also help protect the wild populations.

[wend121]

thanks....so you are keeping seahorses?

[kennyfish]

I read they need to be fed frequently because they do not have a true stomach. They cant fill up on food to last the whole day because there is nowhere to put it. Any truth to that?

[ThisGeekyChick]

Informative sites although actual amount of living space is not mentioned in either one...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2004/fishb.htm
http://www.seahorses.de/keeping.htm

[nickb]

Other sites (which you likely already know about). They are all active, have excellent beginners guides and lots of experienced keepers:

http://www.syngnathid.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

http://www.saseahorse.com/seahorse.htm

http://www.seahorse.org/

I kept some seahorses for about 4 months. They were CB from Marinescape, about 3-4" in size. They were in a 60G tank (2x2x2). They can be kept in smaller tanks than 20G. But, as was pointed out, a tall tank is a good idea. There aren't many other fish you can keep as tankmates since seahorses are not very aggressive eaters and other fish tend to snap up the food before they get a chance (watching them eat is neat). Stay away from stinging corals. A seagrass environment would be ideal (if you can get your tank to grow seagrasses). They also need a low flow system. You need to provide lots of tailholds. Long algae is one possibility or artificial corrals

CB seahorses eat well since they have been trained to accept dead food. However, stay away from dwarf seahorses unless you are prepared to take on a big feeding challenge (dwarfs actually need a very small tank (2-5G) to make sure that they made contact with their food).

Mine did fine in the tank. However, they both somehow managed to get into the tank overflow system and died. I never did figure out how they did it since the overflow had a 1/2" mesh cover over it.

Good luck and post pictures.

[seahare]

Baby mollies make a good food substitute as they will live in the water you can keep the baby mollies floating in an open bag and the seahorses will swim right into the bag.Low current and a place to wrap their tails around and no anemones to be safe, kudas would be a nice species to have.