A Seahorse Experiment

[Keko21]

A friend of mine just bought a new tank and it is still cycling. He had ordered two seahorses and cancelled the order because he realized his tank wouldn't cycle in time. Well they gave him his money back and shipped them anyway. SOOO they either die in his uncycled tank, or die in the box- no bueno. Unfortunately we only have big box LFS's around here that dont buy product. He asked if I could house them in my tank until his is done cycling.

I have zero experience with seahorses but I know they are very fragile and have a care requirement all their own. I have a bunch of coral and fish in my tank right now and my parameters and system are very healthy, and I'm going to give it a shot and see if I can keep them happy. I have a big yellow gorgonian coming tomorrow as well so hopefully they hang onto that.

Obviously not a lot of options here and I know this is not an ideal scenario for these creatures, but its better than dying in a box. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[penguinexdeus]

If you have any extra live rock in a sump or somewhere, give him a few nice big pieces to put in his tank for insta-cycle. Not knowing what you have in your tank there could be coral in your tank that would sting seahorses and they should be at a lower temp then most of us keep non-seahorse tanks at. The established fish are also likely to be aggressive eaters so i'd worry about the seahorses getting to eat. I think live rock into the friend's tank is the quickest and best way to go in this scenario...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

You're friend can Instant Cycle their tank using bottle bacteria, and that may be better for them than keeping them in a normal reef tank:

Dr. Reef said:
Few years ago I conducted a massive study here on r2r. It's called bacteria in bottle myth or fact.
We studied 9 or 10 different brands.
Fritz turbostart 900 wins in every way possible.
Bio Spira and Dr Tim one and only are runner ups.
Rest I found might be hetrotrophic ammonia sludge removers.
We use instant cycles in our qt tanks in between bleaching tanks.
Never had any issues. I use fritz turbstart 900.
Bleach the tank. Air dry for 24 hrs rinse and reset. Fill up the tank and use 2 to 3 times the amount recommended and release fish.
Algae is normal phase of every tank cycle that likely can't be avoided.

Some seahorse advice that may help (reading through the stickies on the Seahorse forum here on R2R would probably be wise too):

Third, I know a lot of different species can be enticed to eat using live feed, so you might want to try adding some live mysis, amphipods, brine shrimp, or - if the horses are big enough - even live ghost shrimp. Of course, you would want to gut-load these before adding them to the tank (i.e. you would want to feed them a bunch of phyto before adding them).

Fourth, I'm not sure how you're spot feeding, but the method I've seen recommended uses a turkey baster to basically just squeeze the mysis out in front of the seahorses face***.

Hope this helps!
* https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/k...ion-and-setting-up-your-seahorse-tank.301434/
** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/seahorse-tankmates-guide-part-i-fish.258832/

Fish Inhabitants with Large Seahorses

Fish that go well with large seahorses A lot people want to keep other fish in their seahorse tanks to complement their seahorses. The fish also help with consuming excess food that the seahorses do not eat as well as adding another dimension to the tank. It is important to take certain...

www.reef2reef.com

*** https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/keeping-seahorses-in-aquaria-5-feeding-your-ponies.310076/

For feeding brine shrimp:

Here's an article all about the feeder and how it's made:

DIY Target Feeder for Mandarinfish (and Pipefish) | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

We as aquarists tend to keep all sorts of creatures in our tanks, and some of them present a challenge to feed. We know what fish eat, and we know how fish eat, but sometimes the fish’s schedule does…

reefbuilders.com

It works for pipefish, and I’ve seen it recommended for seahorses before too, so I’d imagine it works fine for them, but I can’t personally vouch for it working.

 

[o2manyfish]

You might be surprised at how well they do. I kept Sea Horses in a packed 400g reef with heavy flow. The seahorses did well. Holding onto acros and feeding on all the natural foods the reef tank provided.

Most suprising was for all the information about low flow environments, my tank had a surge tank, and when the surge tank was running the sea horses would hold onto the acros underneat the outlet (outwas thru side of tank) and then when the surge was blowing would let go and glide across the length of the tank. We had the seahorses for a little over a year.

We have also had great success with keeping several types of Pipefish long terms in a packed reef tank. Janss, Blue stripe and Dragon Faced have all be very successful for us living for years and years.

Dave B

 

[Keko21]

Well here we go!

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

Ive had my current 4 H. erectus in a tank with an Achilles tang, gem tang, regal angel, and a few other pretty aggressive feeders for around 9 months. They handle flow very well and will eat along side the big tangs.

To keep them fed, I feed in the same spot every day. I hold the mysis chunk and let them eat out of my hand until the whole thing defrosts.

Start by feeding 3-5 times a day. You can scale back and watch their weight to see if they’re getting enough food. I’m down to 2-3 feedings a day and they’re doing well

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

Those look like wild caught seahorses (based on size) you may have to coax them into picking at frozen food. You can mix frozen mysis with live pods to get them feeding

 

[vlangel]

I have kept seahorses. If you have a 10 gallon tank with an air stone, and you are willing to do a 50% water change every other day, they will be fine until the tank is cycled. They need plastic plants to hitch onto and to hide behind.

Putting them in a tank with fish and warm reef temperatures is going to make them vulnerable to infections.

 

[Keko21]

Those look like wild caught seahorses (based on size) you may have to coax them into picking at frozen food. You can mix frozen mysis with live pods to get them feeding

They are quite big. Much more than I expected lol.

Certainly no shortage of pods in the tank and i feed frozen mysis everyday

 

[Keko21]

So far so good they are eating frozen mysis presented with tongs