Seahorses and Long weekends

[GoodKat]

Hi everyone,

I am in the final stages of research and leaning towards getting a pair of ponies (either Hippocampus comes or erectus) for a 20 gallon tank. I know 20 is a little small but the smaller size will allow me to keep up on a water changes frequently so the water quality is pristine.

I decided a chiller is an absolute must. It seems like the biggest pit fall for new owners is wrong temperature and bacteria out breaks.

My one reservation, is I live in Colorado and love to camp and ski. This means I am sometimes gone a Friday and Saturday night without much notice to find a sitter. I know fasting days are important for ponies, but how would they fair for two full days without feeding?

Any additional input on the below would be appreciated as well.

1. I would like to add two tank mates for the ponies that I believe are compatible. A jawfish and a filefish.

2. I plan on keeping lots of macro algae and may a few leather corals or gorgonians. What corals do you suggest for a cooler tank like this?

 

[Old Fritz]

I was going to vote that they should be fine but the voting thing wouldn't work. Key word should however it isnt a guarantee. I've only kept them once and one died two days without food. However one time I was in the hospital and one lived without eating for four days. If they are in good health they probably will make it. I wouldn't try to exceed even two days and three is pushing it. I would only let them go without food for two days anymore is too much of a risk to me.

 

[GoodKat]

Thank you for the input Old Fritz. I think if I was going to be gone and couldn't find a sitter I would try adding newly hatched baby brine shrimp. However my concern is I have heard hydriods can hitchhike on the outer shells of the shirmp. I have also hear hydroids are dangerous to small ponies.

 

[Old Fritz]

Thank you for the input Old Fritz. I think if I was going to be gone and couldn't find a sitter I would try adding newly hatched baby brine shrimp. However my concern is I have heard hydriods can hitchhike on the outer shells of the shirmp. I have also hear hydroids are dangerous to small ponies.

I wouldnt worry about that so much as ive never heard of it happening and brine are the most common live shrimp fed to seahorses. However if you buy them from a store ask if they are enriched or fed anything. Most shipped brine shrimp are starving and have no nutritional value .Ones that are enriched are ones that have been filter feeding on proper nutrients in their tank. If they are enriched then it would be a great thing to throw in and they are great for fasting days

 

[GoodKat]

I think in the end I am siding against getting ponies at this time. The deciding factor was the complexity of the diseases they contract and the stress it comes with treating them. It seems almost inevitable that at some point, ponies in captivity will get gas bubble disease or some type of snout infection.

 

[Old Fritz]

Seahorses arent anymore prone to disease than any other fish. The best way to avoid gas bubble disease is to have no air bubbles going into the tank from your filter or airstone. So a quietflow filter would be an amazing filter for them. Dont be discouraged from what you read online if anything it adds a bit of a challenge and makes things more fun. When i first got into saltwater i kept hearing how difficult sea anemones were and i felt so accomplished when my first one lived, until i started reading forums on how they actually aren't that hard.

I think in the end I am siding against getting ponies at this time. The deciding factor was the complexity of the diseases they contract and the stress it comes with treating them. It seems almost inevitable that at some point, ponies in captivity will get gas bubble disease or some type of snout infection.

 

[vlangel]

I think in the end I am siding against getting ponies at this time. The deciding factor was the complexity of the diseases they contract and the stress it comes with treating them. It seems almost inevitable that at some point, ponies in captivity will get gas bubble disease or some type of snout infection.

Treating seahorses happens for most of us, at least until we get our husbandry and water change protocol adequate. I actually have 2 in treatment right now and I have been keeping seahorses for 4 years.

Also it was definitely going to be harder in a 20 gallon tank. You would be doing WCs every other day with a tank that small, which is what I would worry about even more than than feeding with going skiing. For 2 days you can dump 15-20 gut loaded ghost shrimp in a bigger tank with really good filtration. They will lose nutrition toward the 2nd day but at least the ponies would feel satisfied and their digestive systems would still be working. I would not do that in a 20 gallon tank however because the shrimp would add to the bioload in a tank with no margin for error.

I applaud your wisdom for waiting on seahorses until you are in a better position to give them what they need. It can be heart wrenching and draining dealing with sick ponies.

 

[rayjay]

While a smaller tank CAN be done for seahorses, the problem is that people tend to get a bit lazy at times, and just skipping a water change/tank cleaning here or there will have a cumulative effect that usually will end with a bacterial disease. With your lifestyle you wish to keep up, coupled with the tank size (and the wish to add more fish) I would agree with your thoughts that it's best NOT to pursue the seahorse keeping hobby under those conditions.
Anyone who tells you seahorses are NOT more susceptible than other marine fish, has insufficient experience to make such a statement IMO or they wouldn't be making it, and, is doing you a GREAT disservice. Please listen more to experienced keepers/breeders who have already experienced the dreaded bacterial influences.
That doesn't mean that occasionally some seahorses defy the odds and live in non-optimal conditions, but the numbers are VERY low compared to the ones that perish in the attempts to do so.
I like to use the comparison to people, where some people seem to NEVER get sick or have problems, while others are continually fighting health battles, with the majority of people spread out somewhere in between those extremes. You DON'T know when you purchase your seahorses, what end of the spectrum they will fall into, and the odds of getting one or more that are at the BEST end of the scale are slim, so basically one would most likely be dooming the seahorses to at best, bacterial infections and at worst, death.
Other than for seahorse fry or for dwarfs, newborn or very young brine shrimp nauplii are useless for most seahorses. First of all, most don't even pursue them due to size, and second. it would take an inordinate amount of them to be of any value. Even small copepods would not supply enough nutrition. Amphipods, or enriched ADULT brine shrimp will work. Buying "enriched" adult artemia is a waste because the "enriched" levels deplete SO quickly they will be no better than those that haven't been enriched.
Artemia have excellent protein levels but lack sufficient fatty acids, especially for DHA which the seahorses have need of.
Now as for gas bubble disease, it was a long time ago, blames on bubbles in the display tank, but present accepted knowledge is that water quality deterioration causes chemical imbalances that result in internal organ problems/failure, and, internal bacterial issues that one CAN'T see like when external bacterial issues develop.
While we CAN do a lot of tests with kits sold, there are NO TEST KITS available to the hobbyist that can tell us WHEN that water quality deterioration is happening. For THAT reason, we have to find the degree of husbandry and water changes that will work sufficiently for each of our systems, with overdoing it obviously better than the opposite.