Seahorse Question

[leilani908]

Hello!
I hope this isn't a dumb question, but I'm interested in seahorses and have been doing my research. I saw that they can be kept with specific fish, and I was wondering if Seahorses would be okay to be kept with Black Snowflake/Phantom Clownfish? Or if they're too aggressive of eaters to do that. Thank you! :)

 

[Old Fritz]

Hi I've kept seahorses in a tank with black photon clowns and a blue sleeper goby without issue. If they are being too aggressive I'll feed on the opposite side of the tank, and the seahorse will eat right out of a turkey baster

 

[leilani908]

Hi I've kept seahorses in a tank with black photon clowns and a blue sleeper goby without issue. If they are being too aggressive I'll feed on the opposite side of the tank, and the seahorse will eat right out of a turkey baster

Okay Awesome! That really helps me out, thank you! How big is your tank?

 

[Old Fritz]

29 gallon

 

[mort]

The biggest impact other fish have on seahorses is competition for food. A friend kept clowns with their seahorses and they caused no issues at all (4x2x2ft tank though). Seahorses are slow methodical feeders so you don't want fish that are stealing the food before they can slowly get their fill. This is why very few recommend mixing them with other fish apart from equally slow feeders such as pipefish or dragonets.

The one downside to clowns is if they begin to breed. This is where more space will help but if you get young clowns to begin with you shouldn't have any problems for a couple of years at least.

 

[leilani908]

29 gallon

Okay cool! Thank you!

 

[leilani908]

The biggest impact other fish have on seahorses is competition for food. A friend kept clowns with their seahorses and they caused no issues at all (4x2x2ft tank though). Seahorses are slow methodical feeders so you don't want fish that are stealing the food before they can slowly get their fill. This is why very few recommend mixing them with other fish apart from equally slow feeders such as pipefish or dragonets.

The one downside to clowns is if they begin to breed. This is where more space will help but if you get young clowns to begin with you shouldn't have any problems for a couple of years at least.

Okay! Thank you so much! How do I know if my clownfish are young or not? Just by size? What minimum tank size is recommended? Atm I have a 15 gal which at some point I'll upgrade, so I want to know what I should upgrade to. Thank you

 

[Bob Weigant]

I was also thinking the same thing as I want to convert one of my tanks to a seahorse tank.

 

[mort]

Okay! Thank you so much! How do I know if my clownfish are young or not? Just by size? What minimum tank size is recommended? Atm I have a 15 gal which at some point I'll upgrade, so I want to know what I should upgrade to. Thank you ☺

Basically if the clowns are roughly the same size then you are unlikely to see breeding behaviour. When they sort out the dominance and who will be female, you tend to see a growth spurt in the female who becomes bigger (the male slowly catches her up but remains smaller).

As to size of tank it's hard to say really as the shape can be more important than the volume. Seahorses need at least 2ft height because of their mating dance but tall skinny tanks make adding clowns harder, simply because if the clowns breed they will protect an area (sometimes up to 2ft across).
As I'm in the uk I don't understand us 40breeders, 20 longs or what the actual dimensions are, so I'd suggest something in the 2ft cube size as a minimum with more space beneficial. A 3x2x2ft would be great and allow you more scope to keep some nice pipefish as well.

 

[rayjay]

While many keepers DO have clowns in the SH tanks, there are a LOT more that have done so and experienced bad results. It can be as simple as the individual personality of an individual clown, or a mix of things including tank size and placement of rock/decor in the tank.
In addition to that, there IS a chance too that the seahorses may succumb to pathogens they haven't grown up with and are introduced by the addition of other fish, sometimes even other seahorses that come from a different source.

 

[leilani908]

Basically if the clowns are roughly the same size then you are unlikely to see breeding behaviour. When they sort out the dominance and who will be female, you tend to see a growth spurt in the female who becomes bigger (the male slowly catches her up but remains smaller).

As to size of tank it's hard to say really as the shape can be more important than the volume. Seahorses need at least 2ft height because of their mating dance but tall skinny tanks make adding clowns harder, simply because if the clowns breed they will protect an area (sometimes up to 2ft across).
As I'm in the uk I don't understand us 40breeders, 20 longs or what the actual dimensions are, so I'd suggest something in the 2ft cube size as a minimum with more space beneficial. A 3x2x2ft would be great and allow you more scope to keep some nice pipefish as well.

Okay. That gives me a good idea of what I'll need size wise. Thank you! I appreciate that more than just a gallon size. I have a 15 gallon right now and I don't know the dimensions of it. But I'll keep those dimensions in mind when looking to upgrade for the Seahorses. Thank you!

 

[leilani908]

While many keepers DO have clowns in the SH tanks, there are a LOT more that have done so and experienced bad results. It can be as simple as the individual personality of an individual clown, or a mix of things including tank size and placement of rock/decor in the tank.
In addition to that, there IS a chance too that the seahorses may succumb to pathogens they haven't grown up with and are introduced by the addition of other fish, sometimes even other seahorses that come from a different source.

Okay. That's fair. My LFS has a seahorse with fish, so that was one I had my eye on as it was already around fish. But if I do end up putting a SH with clownfish I'll keep my eye on them to make sure there's no serious complications. I appreciate the advice and warnings to make sure about.