Dwarf Seahorse Questions

[Lolipop0912]

Hello. I'm very excited because after years of grueling reaserch I think I've finally found a seahorse design I think will work for these guys.

Tank:would be a tall 10 gallons with a sponge filter

Food: Baby brine shrimp (enriched) Hatched daily out of 4 soda bottle hatcheries

Decorations: Sand, mushroom coral?, macroalge and eelgrass, artificial decor

The enite tank will be treated with panceur

I was thinking about getting 3 pairs of DSH's and some type of clean up crew. I'd appreciate advice from an expirenced dwarf keeper in regards to what type of clean up crew works best.

I'd of course do everything very slowly and cycle my tank.

Thank you for your imput.

 

[kchristensen8064]

I have dwarf seahorses, and as far as cleanup crew goes I would just stick to snails. No hermits, crabs or shrimp. Make sure you have good turnover with the water for filtration but not to much flow. I found this to be a tough balance. I do the same method of hatching brine and it is definitely the most involved part.

 

[kchristensen8064]

I would probably avoid any corals as well. Mushrooms do have the ability to eat these little guys. I ended up going with some feather dusters instead of coral.

 

[mort]

When I kept and bred them the general advice over here was to do it in a non live system, so no sand, corals, rocks, macro algae or life other than the zostera seahorses.
After I did that and got used to them I introduced life and saw no negative effects. I had macro algaes and some snails but kept stocking pretty lite so I could keep things clean (I had the odd hydroid breakout) and it also means you can find the horses more often. I agree with the excellent advice above and don't add anything you can't 100% trust, so no crabs or predatory corals. I used a couple of the photosynthetic gorgs from the caribbean and they did well together but some gorgs can also catch the babies. It also mean that I had to slow the water circulation for a while when I fed as to little and the gorgs suffer but to much and the horses find it harder to eat.
I found pulsing xenia a great coral for them as well as it uses up nutrients in the tank, doesn't pose a threat to them and actually aids in water circulation slightly. Just make sure you keep it confined so it doesn't take over.

 

[Lolipop0912]

I have dwarf seahorses, and as far as cleanup crew goes I would just stick to snails. No hermits, crabs or shrimp. Make sure you have good turnover with the water for filtration but not to much flow. I found this to be a tough balance. I do the same method of hatching brine and it is definitely the most involved part.

I’ve heard a lot of information about feather dusters. Do you treat your tank with Panceur ( a de worming agent) to keep hydroids away? That’s the main reason they aren’t on my plan. (The Panceur kills them)

 

[Lolipop0912]

When I kept and bred them the general advice over here was to do it in a non live system, so no sand, corals, rocks, macro algae or life other than the zostera seahorses.
After I did that and got used to them I introduced life and saw no negative effects. I had macro algaes and some snails but kept stocking pretty lite so I could keep things clean (I had the odd hydroid breakout) and it also means you can find the horses more often. I agree with the excellent advice above and don't add anything you can't 100% trust, so no crabs or predatory corals. I used a couple of the photosynthetic gorgs from the caribbean and they did well together but some gorgs can also catch the babies. It also mean that I had to slow the water circulation for a while when I fed as to little and the gorgs suffer but to much and the horses find it harder to eat.
I found pulsing xenia a great coral for them as well as it uses up nutrients in the tank, doesn't pose a threat to them and actually aids in water circulation slightly. Just make sure you keep it confined so it doesn't take over.

Thank you for the coral advice. What lighting do they need?

 

[Lolipop0912]

When I kept and bred them the general advice over here was to do it in a non live system, so no sand, corals, rocks, macro algae or life other than the zostera seahorses.
After I did that and got used to them I introduced life and saw no negative effects. I had macro algaes and some snails but kept stocking pretty lite so I could keep things clean (I had the odd hydroid breakout) and it also means you can find the horses more often. I agree with the excellent advice above and don't add anything you can't 100% trust, so no crabs or predatory corals. I used a couple of the photosynthetic gorgs from the caribbean and they did well together but some gorgs can also catch the babies. It also mean that I had to slow the water circulation for a while when I fed as to little and the gorgs suffer but to much and the horses find it harder to eat.
I found pulsing xenia a great coral for them as well as it uses up nutrients in the tank, doesn't pose a threat to them and actually aids in water circulation slightly. Just make sure you keep it confined so it doesn't take over.

Have you treated your tank with Panceur?

 

[kchristensen8064]

As stated above, I do shut down all movement in the tank for feedings. I usually leave everything off for about 20 minutes to allow the horses to be able to eat. I have never had to treat the tank for anything. I have been fortunate and I have not had any issues with hydroids.

 

[Lolipop0912]

As stated above, I do shut down all movement in the tank for feedings. I usually leave everything off for about 20 minutes to allow the horses to be able to eat. I have never had to treat the tank for anything. I have been fortunate and I have not had any issues with hydroids.

Good for you! I’m glad you’ve never had to deal with hydroids. I was just curious because I don’t want to have to sacrifice the coral or the horses if an outbreak were to occur in my future tank.

 

[kchristensen8064]

My reef tank had some hydroids pop up but they went away almost as fast as they appeared. I still see one pop up on occasion but they are usually gone after a couple of days. They biggest issue I've had so far with the seahorse tank is due to the low flow in the tank is algae growth. I'm still battling this one but it's getting better.

 

[mort]

Have you treated your tank with Panceur?

No I didn't treat it with anything but removed the hydroid infested rocks and scraped them off the side. When I started to decapsulate the Brine Shrimp before hatching I found the problem disappeared.

Thank you for the coral advice. What lighting do they need?

Any reasonable light should do the job, they really aren'tlight hungry or hard to keep and will benefit from the daily bbs feedings.

 

[Devaji]

good luck! I really thought about a DSH for a while. keep us posted I am curious how this goes for you.

 

[Lucie]

Nassarius such as N.vibex, live mysis (as a bonus they will provide live food with their youngs and will eat the remaining dead BBS at the bottom)
Both handle normal panacur dosing very well also... nice if you have to treat the whole display

 

[rayjay]

I'm curious as to why using a ten gallon tank for just 3 pairs of dwarfs?
They are so small it will be difficult seeing much of them.
I used a five gallon tank and it was no problem with up to around 50 dwarfs.

 

[Lucie]

I'm curious as to why using a ten gallon tank for just 3 pairs of dwarfs?
They are so small it will be difficult seeing much of them.
I used a five gallon tank and it was no problem with up to around 50 dwarfs.

I think people just don t realise how small they are... in 10 g I house around 100 without counting fry...
Imo, the most difficult part will be to feed 6 properly in a 10g

 

[rayjay]

Imo, the most difficult part will be to feed 6 properly in a 10g

Can be done though but sure wastes a lot of artemia because you need to remove the ones depleted of enrichment before adding new enriched artemia nauplii.

 

[Lolipop0912]

Hello everyone. I decided to get a 10 gallon so that I could have lots of fry and seahorses. The plan is to start with 6 and let them breed. From what I read, I belive they’ll be 1 to 2 inches fully grown. I love the size. I’m also very prepared to do daily maintenance, water changes ect. to ensure thier health. Since posting, I have seriously revised my plan.
For starters, I’m not doing mushroom coral. I’m treating the tank with a de wormer to kill hydroids. Also, I did a practice run of hatching BBS. It went awesome. I had at least 1k per 1/2 liter. Thier tank is set up with treated live sand and macro alge. Both of them have been quarantined for a month. Now, I’m about ready to add seahorses. My tank is completely cycled. (0,0,20) according to API master test kit. Also, thier salinity is slightly above 1.020 but not higher than 1.025. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[rayjay]

Forget 2" as the maximum recorded length of H. zosterae from the wild is 2.5 cm which is one inch. I have seen postings where some claim to have 1 1/4" ones in tanks.
I could easily fit 3-4 of mine on a silver dollar.
You are going to have a BIG problem with feeding 6 dwarfs in a 10g tank. The food density has to be sufficient as to provide all they need in just passing them by when they are hitched, as many times they don't go hunt down their food.
As the enriched nauplii will loose their nutrition VERY quickly, you need to remove the uneaten nauplii before you feed the next enriched nauplii or the dwarfs will end up eating food that is depleted of nutrition.
May I suggest getting another tank like maybe a 2.5g to house them until you have more quantities to be able to run a 10g efficiently.
Even my 5g was sufficient for 50 dwarfs.
What procedure are you using to enrich the brine nauplii and what enrichment will you use?

 

[Lolipop0912]

I currently can’t get a smaller tank. But, the uneaten BBS will find homes in my other tanks which will love them (as a treat of course, along with protein sufficient foods) As for enrichment, I’m going to use other dans feed or selco. I’m aware that a ten gallon isn’t the best for ideal feeding of the horses. But, I’m hoping to have 20 by 10-14 days from when they come. I really want them to breed lots so that I have loads of fry!
Speaking of, are there any tips on getting dwarfs to breed?
Do I need to do more than give them more than twelve hours of light?

 

[rayjay]

If you are going to use Selco, be sure to use DHA Selco not just the regular stuff. Selco, being an emulsion, has storage problems and is not suitable for long term keeping.
As for lighting, I only provided ambient room lighting for dwarfs. Time depended on when I went to bed.
In my case, I found that as the dwarfs aged, they for some reason would stop producing so I had to use offspring to keep the production going. Usually this occurred for me when they reached a year or so in age.
Your hopes are most likely too high to expect to have levels of 20 in two weeks starting with just 6. While it may be possible, I don't think it really likely.
For your own interest, brine shrimp DO have plenty of protein. What they DO lack is the DHA component of the fatty acids.
Great Salt Lake cysts will produce nauplii with protein levels averaging in the mid 40% range, while juveniles and adults will run 50-62% range.
The juveniles/adults though will only have about half the fats that nauplii have as the egg sack will have been already consumed. In any case, there is usually no measurable DHA in any of them and seahorses cannot manufacture DHA themselves.