seahorse question

[Ro Bow]

i saw a moderate care seahorse on live aquaria called the reidi seahorse, and it looks awesome. I would have a tank big enough for it, and am planning to have some gobies, blennies, 2 clownfish, a wrasse, and a tang. Are those good tank mates? also i will have 2000gph - is that good enough? i am planning on having only one seahorse. The tank is a 75 gallon.

My main question is how much to feed... I read that i should feed it mysis shrimp twice a day, do i target feed, or just how exactly would i feed? I want to be on top of feeding. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

[Ro Bow]

also i will have 80 pounds of live rock

 

[TCoach]

Usually seahorses need to species only tank with lowish flow.

just what I‘be always heard, so I’ll bow to any experts.

 

[Neros503]

From what I know, seahorses are very passive, and do not like flow. They need a constant supply of food and they're slow eaters, so they'd probably be best in a species tank.

 

[Ro Bow]

hmmm. you sure they wouldnt be ok with any small slow fish?

 

[nanonøkk]

they need to be fed a lot and most prefer colder water and to my knowledge the only tank mate they would be ok with is probably a jaw fish but that’s just to my knowledge and they also don’t like flow a lot

 

[Neros503]

hmmm. you sure they wouldnt be ok with any small slow fish?

I think they would be fine with other passive eaters like mandarins, as long as you can supply enough food for both. but that's about it beside maybe pipefish.
FYI I've never had seahorses, and this is just stuff I learned while researching when I used to want one, so i'm no expert. maybe someone else can chime in and help.

 

[SaltBabies]

I have a mixed tank with seahorses. The goby would probably be fine. sandsifters are actually helpful as seahorses are messy. You can also do pipefish. I also have dwarf angels. In the past I've had dragonets and coral crouchers.

I keep the temp at 73 with a chiller. So you can have more than just a species tank but think peaceful fish. I turn the pumps off to feed, I overfeed and then vacuum up any left overs.

 

[dee_es]

i saw a moderate care seahorse on live aquaria called the reidi seahorse, and it looks awesome. I would have a tank big enough for it, and am planning to have some gobies, blennies, 2 clownfish, a wrasse, and a tang. Are those good tank mates? also i will have 2000gph - is that good enough? i am planning on having only one seahorse. The tank is a 75 gallon.

My main question is how much to feed... I read that i should feed it mysis shrimp twice a day, do i target feed, or just how exactly would i feed? I want to be on top of feeding. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

[dee_es]

Hi DweltAlloy033.
We took possession of our 4 reidi seahorses just today! They are in a species only tank, along with a conch snail and nessarius snails, for clean up crew. The reason is that they are slow eaters and we've read that they could starve with faster feeders as tank mates. There is much on these forums that others have written about their own experiences - a good idea to take the time to read them. I found them ever so informative.
We have live rock and a number of critters hitched a ride in that way. A few bristle worms, little crabs, copepods, possibly other things that we don't yet know about. The crabs won't be staying longer than it takes to catch them - we've seen them go for the snails already.
We have a 3D printed (by my hubby) seahorse feeder, which we can't wait for them to start using. We feed them mysis shrimp which we got from Seahorse Australia along with them today, bought because they are already used to this food.
We have a quarantine tank and we have added copepods which we hope will flourish and become treats for our horses.
Seahorses apparently have a poor digestive system so we will be feeding them several times a day. They apparently don't eat after dark.
Soon after we added them to the tank, the one male discovered the copepods on the artificial live rock. Within a minute, one of the females made this her space and was snicking those copepods up! She stayed around that space until lights out!
I hope this has been helpful. Let us know how you go?

 

[MaxTremors]

First, sea horses need cooler water otherwise their lifespan is extremely short (1 year vs 8+), so you’ll need a chiller (some fish won’t do well at lower temps, so you need to research fish that originate from locales that have seasonally lower temps).

Second, you can only keep them with other slow, passive fish, so the clowns, wrasse, and tang (and possibly the blennies depending on the species) are definitely out. The poster here who mentioned a dwarf angel was most likely talking about pygmy angels like the cherub angel and not fish like the coral beauty or flame. Good tankmates would be pipefish, dragonets, and small passive blennies/gobies (assuming they can take the lower temps). A perfect tank mate both from temperment and temperature would be a Catalina goby.

Third, they can be difficult to get eating frozen food, and may require live food (live brine, mysis, copepods, etc), so be prepared to spend a lot of time and/or money growing or buying food for them. They also need to be fed multiple times a day, so you need to have a schedule conducive to that (or have someone who can help).

Overall, they’re fascinating fish to keep, but they are not easy fish that can be put in a community tank, they need a tank that is primarily designed specifically for them, and any tankmates need to be chosen wisely.