Adding seahorse, yay or nay?

[Seahorse man]

I have a 55 gallon FOWLR tank with two mated Occelaris clownfish and one extremely shy firefish goby, and it's been my dream to have a seahorse in there ever since. I'm getting some caulerpa prolifera Macro algae to put in there next week. I think I will have to feed a lot in order to give the seahorse some, but I have a large clean up crew and good filtration so I think it will work, I've been hatching and supplementing brine shrimp with seldom for about a month now to feed my fish as treats, so I figure that they will do as a live food to slowly convert them to frozen mysis. I have this sort-of put together into a plan, but I'm really looking for an expert opinion to make sure I'm not to hasty on pulling the trigger! If someone has any advice or criticism, id be so happy if you gave it! Thanks everyone!

 

[cmcoker]

Nay, unless you rehome the clowns. Not sure about the goby.
I'd recommend to email Ocean Rider and ask to have access to their seahorses keeping program. It's free and has a lot of good information

 

[Seahorse man]

Nay, unless you rehome the clowns. Not sure about the goby.
I'd recommend to email Ocean Rider and ask to have access to their seahorses keeping program. It's free and has a lot of good information

Thank you, I figured it was a long shot but oh well. The clowns are kind of part of the family now so it's a bit to late.

 

[rayjay]

Nay also!!!
While clowns occasionally can work out with seahorses, it's not too often that mated clowns will tolerate seahorses.
Also, enriched brine shrimp nauplii are great for seahorse benthic type fry, and pelagic fry after a period of time, they are basically useless to adults as they are too small to be of any benefit. Most seahorses wouldn't be bothered even trying to eat nauplii, and some even won't go for adult brine, like my abdominalis. (I keep trying with them every week though and hope eventually they will)
For most of reidi, erectus comes and angustus they enjoy the hunt for the adult brine with only the odd one that won't bother.
Enriched adults are great to feed occasionally to boost the nutrient profile, especially for the DHA component, by choosing an appropriate enrichment.
Some sites I recommend to check out for additional information: https://fusedjaw.com/ http://seahorsesource.com/?page_id=781
Also check out post #5 on this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2274878
If you come across any information by Dan Underwood of seahorsesource I'd highly recommend placing it at the top of the list as IMO he is the best thing that has happened to this hobby in the last decade plus.

 

[Seahorse man]

Nay also!!!
While clowns occasionally can work out with seahorses, it's not too often that mated clowns will tolerate seahorses.
Also, enriched brine shrimp nauplii are great for seahorse benthic type fry, and pelagic fry after a period of time, they are basically useless to adults as they are too small to be of any benefit. Most seahorses wouldn't be bothered even trying to eat nauplii, and some even won't go for adult brine, like my abdominalis. (I keep trying with them every week though and hope eventually they will)
For most of reidi, erectus comes and angustus they enjoy the hunt for the adult brine with only the odd one that won't bother.
Enriched adults are great to feed occasionally to boost the nutrient profile, especially for the DHA component, by choosing an appropriate enrichment.
Some sites I recommend to check out for additional information: https://fusedjaw.com/ http://seahorsesource.com/?page_id=781
Also check out post #5 on this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2274878
If you come across any information by Dan Underwood of seahorsesource I'd highly recommend placing it at the top of the list as IMO he is the best thing that has happened to this hobby in the last decade plus.

I feel sort of embarrassed now, what I meant was I enrich brine shrimp with selcon, and have been doing that for a few months. I must have totally spaced the word for enriched, but it was midnight! Thank you for the links, I will read them and look more in depth to getting a seahorse tank set up. Money has a Funny way of leaving my wallet quickly whenever a new tank is involved!

 

[rayjay]

I suggest not to do much investigation unless you REALLY already have the passion as this hobby is SOOO addictive once you get started, you tend to expand/spend exponentially once into it.

 

[vlangel]

Amen to the addictive nature of seahorses! They are adorable, and so personable that once you have them they are hard to resist. However it's very painful to lose them to death and I get attached to all my fish. Seahorses really hurt though, so if you decide to keep them, you will want to do everything possible to try to be successful. With any living creature, death happens but I have lost a few to poor choices on my part and that is the worst feeling of all.

 

[Heather w]

I have a 55 gallon FOWLR tank with two mated Occelaris clownfish and one extremely shy firefish goby, and it's been my dream to have a seahorse in there ever since. I'm getting some caulerpa prolifera Macro algae to put in there next week. I think I will have to feed a lot in order to give the seahorse some, but I have a large clean up crew and good filtration so I think it will work, I've been hatching and supplementing brine shrimp with seldom for about a month now to feed my fish as treats, so I figure that they will do as a live food to slowly convert them to frozen mysis. I have this sort-of put together into a plan, but I'm really looking for an expert opinion to make sure I'm not to hasty on pulling the trigger! If someone has any advice or criticism, id be so happy if you gave it! Thanks everyone!

Until they can beat the clownfish for the food(never)I wouldn't. They need low flow, intense filtration, they are really dirty, believe it or not, they need to be hand fed initially, the tank needs to be tall enough for them to stretch head to the tip of their tail, at full growth. Fish that are friendly are jaw Fish, fire fish, gobies, or mandarins, any scooter species, any slow mover and slow eater. Seahorses cannot begin to compete for food. Seahorses are my dream and goal. When i move my mixed tank into a 210 my 75 will be for them. Corals that require low currant are good as hitching posts and bio-filtration. Keep a copepode rich refugium for grazing. Chateo is a good start,also add green macro algae into the refugium, both will mow down your nitrogen, but keep it controlled and clipped back so it will continue to grow and use it up. If you don't have one, get a skimmer. Get one that is OVERRATED for your tank size. As I said...They are dirty and LFS usually keep several in an octagonal tank, leading to the misnomer that this is optimal conditions. IT IS NOT!!!
You probably know ALL this, but there you go.
I always get bashed on this forum and I'm sure this will elicit more, but this is some of my knowledge this far.
Cheers and good luck

 

[rayjay]

They need low flow

Please don't consider this to be "bashing" as it is merely informative in intent.
No sure what "they" is referring to but if it is the seahorses, they do NOT need low flow. I'd suggest a setup where there are areas of low, medium and high flow, with no blast that can blow them against something and damage them, with hitching in all areas so they can choose at any point where they wish to be.
A seahorse tank IMO, needs to have good flow such that the crap is kept in suspension long enough to be captured by the mechanical filtration.
I would say that 10X flow would be minimal, with many tanks at and above 20X.

Corals that require low currant are good as hitching posts

I'd suggest again that low current isn't really a requirement, but choose corals that can handle the lower temperatures of the seahorse tank, don't sting and can survive the hitching of the seahorses to it if they so choose to.

I always get bashed on this forum and I'm sure this will elicit more

I certainly hope you are not truly being bashed and that perhaps you may be taking constructive criticism to be more than it is?
Bashing someone who is intent on learning is inappropriate and doesn't serve any real purpose.
I hope you will soon be able to pursue the hobby with more than a dream as it IS an amazing hobby.