Considering a seahorse

[RWhitt907]

I've got a 75g mixed reef, and I've recently started considering a Seahorse. I'm looking for advice on care, and how realistic this is/what would be the beat kind of Seahorse.

Current Stock:
- 2 Oscellaris Clowns
- YWG, Pistol Shrimp
- Diamond Goby
- Bangaii Cardinal
- Pintail Wrasse
- Midas Blenny
- Coral Beauty
- Royal Gramma (maybe)

Coral:
- Red Cap Monti
- Pink Frogspawn
- Purple Indo Hammer

 

[tzabor10]

Seahorses are a special kind of tank dweller. They aren’t very good swimmers. Try to look up other seahorse tanks here and elsewhere to see what a successful tank looks like. I’d worry about the clowns and coral beauty. They can be aggressive. But good luck

 

[RWhitt907]

Seahorses are a special kind of tank dweller. They aren’t very good swimmers. Try to look up other seahorse tanks here and elsewhere to see what a successful tank looks like. I’d worry about the clowns and coral beauty. They can be aggressive. But good luck

Im not 100% dead set, if it's not a good match I won't do it. Don't like to see the aggression in a tank if I don't have to. But I'll check some out. Thanks.

 

[Tamberav]

They can be stung easily by corals too so a lot of LPS would be a no go. People keep them with softies, macroalgae, and gorgs and generally passive peaceful fish. They are kept in tanks made for them.

 

[RWhitt907]

They can be stung easily by corals too so a lot of LPS would be a no go. People keep them with softies and gorgs and generally passive peaceful fish. They are kept in tanks made for them.

Sounds like they require a lot of attention from what I'm reading.

 

[tzabor10]

Sounds like they require a lot of attention from what I'm reading.

The entire tank is based on them. It is a bunch of hand feeding. How will you ever go on vacation? Gorgonians, ricordea, tube worms, pipefish? Low light, frequent large water changes. Most likely a nano sized tank.

 

[IceNein]

If you want a seahorse tank, do some research and as a general guideline anything you can find at Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy is compatible with seahorses. I'm not saying you should buy from her, buy from who ever you want, but she basically only sells seahorse compatible corals/inverts/fish so use that as a guideline.

Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy

Welcome to Seahorse Savvy. We are a Maryland Seahorse Farm producing high quality captive bred Seahorses for retail and wholesale markets.

seahorsesavvy.com

 

[Tamberav]

Sounds like they require a lot of attention from what I'm reading.

Yes, if you leave town/go on vacation, you can't really have them unless you have someone who can also care for them while you are gone and feed the correct foods every single day.

They are sort of an animal you have to adjust your life a bit to have.

It is why we don't see many tanks with them. Most people do not want to dedicate that sort of time/lifestyle to them.

 

[shorse]

I second Seahorse Savvy--Alyssa and her crew are great. As far as your current plan:

Frogspawn and hammers are not recommended for seahorses because of their ability to sting and capture fry. Pintail wrasse are great, but I thought they required a larger tank. As such, any stressed fish due to a small environment might act erratically or aggressively and may not do well with seahorses as a result. Midas blennies can be hit or miss--I have read that a large number of folks never had issues with theirs, while others do have aggressive or territorial blennies. Coral beauties are similar--tend to be territorial. Royal gammas wouldn't be a problem at all, but because of their timid nature, might be picked on by a coral beauty. Diamond gobies are hilarious and I have one with my herd, and although he does sometimes gum the ponies' tails during feeding time but they don't seem bothered by him in the least. He IS a food thief, though! YWG/shrimp pair would also be fine.

While seahorses aren't great swimmers, they do benefit and enjoy some flow so long as it isn't overwhelming. You do need to absolutely ensure they can't get their tails into any crevices because they WILL, the impeller will injure your horse's tail, and it'll be a potential infection risk while you have to hand feed (multiple times per day, of course) for about a week until they recover. Ask me how I know

And as others have said, seahorses do require a lot of one on one care. First thing to note is that they prefer a cooler tank than most marine fish, with 72-73 degrees f being the sweet spot.

Second thing to note is that seahorses have no stomach! This means they must be fed multiple times every single day to keep their calorie count up--I feed mine twice every day, but they also have a population of copepods to pick at all day long as well. I've even seen them fight over a snail that was taken out by the hermits! And of course, these creatures don't eat pellets, so you have to thaw mysis shrimp multiple times every day, supplement periodically with adult brine shrimp for enrichment, etc. I love this; I work from home and am homebody, so I'm not exactly doing a lot of travel, but I acknowledge this kind of husbandry is not for everyone.

Third, it is important to note that seahorses need hitching posts. I highly recommend gorgonians, as mine adore those over all other items, including macro algae, which is sometimes the top recommendation. Mine have never hitched on any macro algae I've offered, but perhaps that is because I've offered so many gorgs. Branching sea sponges are also loved, but they are among the hardest to keep long term. Their next favorite hitching post type are wires, so the temperature gauges are often a sitting spot as well. Finger leather also seem to suffice, and can even be used as enrichment if you place some mysis shrimp within, they will perch on the fingers and "hunt." Anything they don't find is gobbled up by the leather!

Fourth, setting up the tank itself is important for a happy herd. If you have any mated pairs, you'll be to make sure you have an open space in your tank that has a clear vertical area of about twenty inches in height. Mated seahorses do a coupling dance regularly that requires entangling tails and falling through the water column. This is also similar to their actual mating dance in which the pair meet belly to belly at the top of the water column and the girly moves the eggs to her gentleman's pouch. This happens as the pair are entwined and drift downward, so they need ample space--and that space should have minimal water flow so the aiming of egg transfer doesn't get blown around.

Phew. I think those are all the basics but I'm sure I've missed something! Happy to answer any questions!

 

[jaghorireefs&mma]

In a week when our online shop goes up we'll have captive bred and wild caught seahorses who have all been weaned onto mysis, marine cusine, even some picking at pellets, the neat thing about this batch is that they have been housed with peaceful fish so most of them have much better hunting abilities then normal seahorses. However we still strongly recommend a strong pod population as this will insure they are kept full. Besides the lps which is a no go due to stinging issues, a small pair of clowns and a small captive bred coral beauty shouldnt present an issue. We have actually housed a handful with some small oscellaris clowns, haven't tried it with the coral beauty but we can always give it a shot for you!

Regards,
Slade

 

[Tahoe61]

I second Seahorse Savvy--Alyssa and her crew are great. As far as your current plan:

Frogspawn and hammers are not recommended for seahorses because of their ability to sting and capture fry. Pintail wrasse are great, but I thought they required a larger tank. As such, any stressed fish due to a small environment might act erratically or aggressively and may not do well with seahorses as a result. Midas blennies can be hit or miss--I have read that a large number of folks never had issues with theirs, while others do have aggressive or territorial blennies. Coral beauties are similar--tend to be territorial. Royal gammas wouldn't be a problem at all, but because of their timid nature, might be picked on by a coral beauty. Diamond gobies are hilarious and I have one with my herd, and although he does sometimes gum the ponies' tails during feeding time but they don't seem bothered by him in the least. He IS a food thief, though! YWG/shrimp pair would also be fine.

While seahorses aren't great swimmers, they do benefit and enjoy some flow so long as it isn't overwhelming. You do need to absolutely ensure they can't get their tails into any crevices because they WILL, the impeller will injure your horse's tail, and it'll be a potential infection risk while you have to hand feed (multiple times per day, of course) for about a week until they recover. Ask me how I know

And as others have said, seahorses do require a lot of one on one care. First thing to note is that they prefer a cooler tank than most marine fish, with 72-73 degrees f being the sweet spot.

Second thing to note is that seahorses have no stomach! This means they must be fed multiple times every single day to keep their calorie count up--I feed mine twice every day, but they also have a population of copepods to pick at all day long as well. I've even seen them fight over a snail that was taken out by the hermits! And of course, these creatures don't eat pellets, so you have to thaw mysis shrimp multiple times every day, supplement periodically with adult brine shrimp for enrichment, etc. I love this; I work from home and am homebody, so I'm not exactly doing a lot of travel, but I acknowledge this kind of husbandry is not for everyone.

Third, it is important to note that seahorses need hitching posts. I highly recommend gorgonians, as mine adore those over all other items, including macro algae, which is sometimes the top recommendation. Mine have never hitched on any macro algae I've offered, but perhaps that is because I've offered so many gorgs. Branching sea sponges are also loved, but they are among the hardest to keep long term. Their next favorite hitching post type are wires, so the temperature gauges are often a sitting spot as well. Finger leather also seem to suffice, and can even be used as enrichment if you place some mysis shrimp within, they will perch on the fingers and "hunt." Anything they don't find is gobbled up by the leather!

Fourth, setting up the tank itself is important for a happy herd. If you have any mated pairs, you'll be to make sure you have an open space in your tank that has a clear vertical area of about twenty inches in height. Mated seahorses do a coupling dance regularly that requires entangling tails and falling through the water column. This is also similar to their actual mating dance in which the pair meet belly to belly at the top of the water column and the girly moves the eggs to her gentleman's pouch. This happens as the pair are entwined and drift downward, so they need ample space--and that space should have minimal water flow so the aiming of egg transfer doesn't get blown around.

Phew. I think those are all the basics but I'm sure I've missed something! Happy to answer any questions!

Thank you. You put a lot into that response. Nicely done.

 

[youclowntoomuch]

pretty sure you gotta make a species specific tank , never have seen one in a mixed reef

 

[jaghorireefs&mma]

pretty sure you gotta make a species specific tank , never have seen one in a mixed reef

It's actually getting more common now, I have seen plenty in mixed reefs. Just the other day I saw a clients tank that housed a few along with banded pipefish, a pair of mandarins, and a pair of orange spotted files.

 

[Paul B]

I have collected and kept seahorses since the 60s, even before I had my ref tank and although I'm sorry, a seahorse will not live long in your mixed tank. They require a lot of food and prefer it moving. Your clowns will not give it a chance to eat anything and they need to eat almost constantly.
Here are mine spawning in my reef, but I had to section off a part of my reef to keep them.

I collected this pair in the sea.

 

[Cheese Griller]

It's actually getting more common now, I have seen plenty in mixed reefs. Just the other day I saw a clients tank that housed a few along with banded pipefish, a pair of mandarins, and a pair of orange spotted files.

TBF that sounds less like a mixed reef and more of a tank centered around difficult fish. They’re all slow methodical feeders that won’t outcompete each other