IOAOI Nano Tank - Hope

[kizzy89]

I'm sorry to hear all the bad news. So i recently tried a dwarf seahorse tank and i have some pointers of what didn't work. The hygger light worked good for awhile for macros and gorgonian, i just recently switched lights on the tank (kept it as a pico after the seahorses didn't make it) for a aquaknight a029 that hangs over the 3 gallon and a pico jar i like it much better. The daily or every other day of hatching baby brine shrimp wasn't much fun, my schedule didn't help though but you might find it easier. The sand looks amazing and against others advice i used sand, it was harder to do the cleaning the dwarf seahorse required. The live rock i used came from a tank with no issues and no visible pests, i still ended up with bristle worms and hydriod Medusas. Disappointing for sure, so dry rock and no sand would be your best options. There's a bunch of medications you should have on hand for your dwarfs. Another good person to talk to would be @cowfishpro. She has a YouTube channel about them and other seahorses (sadly she isn't raising them anymore) but definitely check those videos out if you haven't already. I also got my dwarf ponys wild caught from foxysaltwatertropicals, i didn't realize this till after i ordered so that's on me and could have contributed to why mine didn't make it. Dwarf ponies are hard to keep in my experience and if i had to do it again i would try a different kind like H. Fuscus or similar, they need a larger aquarium but are easier to keep and less work in the long run from what I've read. I really did enjoy having the dwarfs but it was quite a lot of work, if you decide to go through with getting some I'd love to see the progress and i hope that you are more successful than i was so I'll be following this thread.

 

[tbrown]

I’ll look into those. Just grabbed something cheap from Amazon for the time being but will eventually upgrade down the line. Gravity seems the way to go with such a small tank.

Are you looking at the bottle that clips on the back of the tank?

 

[kitti-fish]

I’ll look into those. Just grabbed something cheap from Amazon for the time being but will eventually upgrade down the line. Gravity seems the way to go with such a small tank.

Are you looking at the bottle that clips on the back of the tank?

Yes that’s the only one I could find

 

[kitti-fish]

I'm sorry to hear all the bad news. So i recently tried a dwarf seahorse tank and i have some pointers of what didn't work. The hygger light worked good for awhile for macros and gorgonian, i just recently switched lights on the tank (kept it as a pico after the seahorses didn't make it) for a aquaknight a029 that hangs over the 3 gallon and a pico jar i like it much better. The daily or every other day of hatching baby brine shrimp wasn't much fun, my schedule didn't help though but you might find it easier. The sand looks amazing and against others advice i used sand, it was harder to do the cleaning the dwarf seahorse required. The live rock i used came from a tank with no issues and no visible pests, i still ended up with bristle worms and hydriod Medusas. Disappointing for sure, so dry rock and no sand would be your best options. There's a bunch of medications you should have on hand for your dwarfs. Another good person to talk to would be @cowfishpro. She has a YouTube channel about them and other seahorses (sadly she isn't raising them anymore) but definitely check those videos out if you haven't already. I also got my dwarf ponys wild caught from foxysaltwatertropicals, i didn't realize this till after i ordered so that's on me and could have contributed to why mine didn't make it. Dwarf ponies are hard to keep in my experience and if i had to do it again i would try a different kind like H. Fuscus or similar, they need a larger aquarium but are easier to keep and less work in the long run from what I've read. I really did enjoy having the dwarfs but it was quite a lot of work, if you decide to go through with getting some I'd love to see the progress and i hope that you are more successful than i was so I'll be following this thread.

Thanks for the heads up! I know they are notoriously difficult animals to keep but I don’t mind the challenge. It will be months down the line till I can even bring some home and I’m trying to purchase them not online. If I do change my mind, it will because big life changes. I did want to do large seahorses but my current large tank houses my clowns and I do not have more room for another 45+ tank (and my husband won’t allow it if I begged him ). For now, macro algea and CUC will be inhabiting this tank. I know everyone says bare tank bare everything but I’m willing to try my hand and some difficult animals.

 

[tbrown]

I used similar to this one. Run the tubing to the bottom of the jug and start the siphon.

 

[kitti-fish]

I used similar to this one. Run the tubing to the bottom of the jug and start the siphon.

I think I might have these parts in my box of aquarium stuff somewhere I’ll have to look but I’ll keep this one saved

 

[Fish Fan]

@kitti-fish have you looked at Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy website? I'm pretty sure all her dwarf seahorses are captive bred, and she's got great macros and other critters too, all seahorse safe:

https://seahorsesavvy.com/collections/dwarf-seahorses-and-supplies

 

[kitti-fish]

@kitti-fish have you looked at Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy website? I'm pretty sure all her dwarf seahorses are captive bred, and she's got great macros and other critters too, all seahorse safe:

https://seahorsesavvy.com/collections/dwarf-seahorses-and-supplies

I’ll check it out! It’ll be awhile till I get seahorses (maybe 6 months down the line?) I need to make sure everything acclimates that I put in it. I have some macros in my main tank. Dealing with some melting so I need to fine tune everything with the nano to make sure nothing continues to melt!

 

[kitti-fish]

Skimmer arrived! After the first used arrival I was a little scared to get a used one again but this time it was a brand new skimmer perfectly packaged. I’m not actually skimming just letting it run so it will pour back into the tank if it overflowes. First thoughts? Adorable and tiny! Very quiet so far and fits perfectly in the chamber (duh same company). I’ll see how it fairs as the months go by. Only think this tank is missing is that light and the ato!

 

[kitti-fish]

Also some mini little things. Updated the rockscape. Pretty much used up all my sump rock so I’ll need to consider what to use for my sump since it’s so empty more rock. Also some chew proof wire covers so kitten doesn’t get ideas

Naughty!

 

[kitti-fish]

Ato installed - no leaks and seems to work well

 

[Fish Fan]

This build is coming along nicely!

 

[kitti-fish]

Double post

 

[kitti-fish]

Since the tank is cycled according to testing, we are good to go. I’m dosing this nano with ammonia as it has no inhabitants. I was more than ready to move since they sucked all the nutrients out of my main display, causing alkalinity to half itself. The red macro was also not doing hot so hoping to recoup it. I’ll also be getting some chaetto grow to dose.

2 issues: we got hydroids and we got bristle worms. Two things it shouldn’t have. This is a pretty bad start and this might cause me to pivot away from dwarfes since these is pretty much a death sentence. I’ll try to mitigate the issue in the coming months but I kind of shot myself in the food with this. I think the hydroids hitched a ride on the macro and the bristle worms definitely hitched a ride since I saw 20 of them just fall off in the new tank.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hmmm, that's a tough spot with hydroids, they can be tough to beat. I think @tbrown has dealt with hydroids, let's see what he thinks when he gets off the golf course

 

[kitti-fish]

If I researched correctly, dog dewormer works for this I think I could be wrong

 

[Fish Fan]

If I researched correctly, dog dewormer works for this I think I could be wrong

I don't think you're wrong, though I have no experience with this. I believe people use things like Ivermectin, which is a dewormer used across people, livestock, and pets, and I believe sometimes aquaria. I think Tim may know, I'm sure he'll be on later today

 

[tbrown]

Hmmm, that's a tough spot with hydroids, they can be tough to beat. I think @tbrown has dealt with hydroids, let's see what he thinks when he gets off the golf course

No hydroids for me. Plenty of GHA.

Hydroids in a new tank tend to show up in big numbers and then sometimes leave as the water stabilizes. The times I've had Hydroids was very temporary and usually a few weeks after setup and gone within a couple of weeks.

Bristleworms are easy. I actually added bristleworms to my tank when setting it up. If there's too many of them, you can add an Arrow Crab or use bristleworm traps. Not sure on the safeness of an Arrow Crab with Seahorses.

 

[tbrown]

I don't think you're wrong, though I have no experience with this. I believe people use things like Ivermectin, which is a dewormer used across people, livestock, and pets, and I believe sometimes aquaria. I think Tim may know, I'm sure he'll be on later today

Golf was yesterday silly. Today I was teaching archery at my kids co-op.

 

[kitti-fish]

Not much to update. So far I’ve been doing the chaetogro along with ammonia and I’ve actually noticed some good and bad. One of my macros is melting while my fancy red one is started to produce the little bubble along the stems. Did my first small water change as well. For the next few months I’m just growing macros!