Seahorse and Garden Eel?

jfjt7 · Oct 17, 2020

I have a seahorse tank right now (35 gallons) I have 2 seahorses and a pipefish and since seahorses are pretty finicky and garden eels are too i was wondering of they could be housed in the same tank. I could add some more sand gradually before i get the garden eels if they can live together, this is just something that crossed my mind.

Jay Hemdal · Oct 17, 2020

Yes, they get along fine, so do shrimp fish. The only thing is to keep the seahorse attachment structures all off to one side, leaving more open sand area for the eels. The sand layer is going to need to be really deep, 8”+. Hass’s eels are hardier than preclara.
Jay

mort · Oct 17, 2020

I agree they should be fine. I kept a group of gardens eels with shrimpfish, seahorses and some pipefish and they did well together. I actually think the other fish helped the garden eels feel more secure.
The one thing I felt was the most important for their care was a laminar flow over their burrows that caused the food to slowly drift over their heads. This is because they were pretty shy feeders, don't move far for food and won't compete well.

andrewkw · Oct 17, 2020

I've never kept seahorses, but I had garden eels for many years. What temp do you keep the seahorses at? That might be a concern. The other issue is the garden eels may be afraid of the seahorses since they were there first. I kept mine with various fish, but only after 6+ months of being alone and getting comfortable. At the start they are VERY skittish, afraid of everything including their own shadow, the food they need to eat to live ect.

I think it can be done, and seahorses assuming the temp is high enough may be ideal tankmates since garden eels do produce a lot of waste in the sense the food they eat has to float by them or they won't get it, this usually means some is left to rot in other parts of the tank.

zzyz · Dec 8, 2020

I once had a garden eel and sea horses kept together in my 10 gallon quarantining tank and they got along. Please see below pic FYI.

After proper acclimation, I moved the garden eel to the main tank which was fully stocked with corals and fish. I made a video about the husbandry of garden eels in a mixed reef environment. Feel free to check it out if you are interested.