I Bought 4 seahorses. what species?

[Octopussie]

i bought 4 seahorses today. 2 of one kind and 2 of another. does anybody know what kind they are? my tank temp is 72.8 degrees is that right?

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee250/anthonyb989/sea002.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee250/anthonyb989/sea001.jpg

[rcmike]

I'm not an expert on seahorse ID but I'd say that one in the corner is in trouble if it is laying on the bottom. Were the captive bred horses? I definately would have done some more research before starting. Like finding out where they came from and what kind they are.

[Octopussie]

no thats just how the pic turned out. you see in the first pic hes standing up lol.

[bugjuice90]

I'm no good at ID but wow! they are beauties. My erectus female lies on th sand and curls up like the one in your pic. She only does this when she is stressed. She did it when I got her out of the shipping bag and put her in QT. She did it again when she went into her home tank. I keep 2 H. Erectus in a 75 gal at 70 -72 degrees F. And a lonley female H. Kuda in a 30 gal at the same temp. They have been very healthy for a year. So I guess your temp is ok.Where did you get the horses?

[rcmike]

Was he thrashing around or something? It isn't normal for one to do that. They may be the same species, just different colors. Are they eating frozen?

Edit, I guess if they were just put in that could be the reason for it being on the bottom. I wasn't thinking about that.

[ann83]

They all look like Kuda to me. What makes you think that you got two different species? What were they labelled as?
I also don't think it is normal the way she looks rolling on the substrate like that in the pic, even if it was temporary. What are your parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)?

[Octopussie]

ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate .2, pH 8.3. they were labeled as yellow seahorse and orange seahorse lol hahahahha. i just put them in 5 min before i took the pictures. they are all exploring the tank now. i put some frozen brine in there and they just fallow it around. one ate some tho, i didnt see the other 3 eat yet. maybe ill try mysis shrimp.
but my tank temps ok?

[Octopussie]

OMG i just went to check on them and one was stuck to the filter in take.... my filter is a penguin 350 biowheel and it had 2 intakes a botton one and a mid level intake. he got stuck to the mid level intake.
i closed it now but ill keep an eye on him.

[ann83]

That doesn't sound good; they should be stronger than that. How long did you acclimate them?

Don't feed brine shrimp. It has no nutritional value to them. Feed frozen mysis.
The temperature is fine.
Your parameters seem fine. From the behavior you are describing, I was expecting readable ammonia or a low pH. They are definately reacting to something.

I would have put these seahorses in a bare bottom QT tank first, watched their poo and their eating habits, and de-wormed them prior to adding them to the display. You will need to set up a bare bottom QT tank to deworm these seahorses, since no one in the US is selling true CB Kuda, so they were more than likely pen-raised in the ocean and have come in with parasites. You cannot treat in the display tank because the meds will kill your biofiltration and any inverts in the display.

[acrodave]

Nice horses and nice picks.But I think that buying something that you don't know the name is bad reefing.Not bashing you but you should have done some more research on them before buying

[Octopussie]

well its been 2 years since my lfs has had seahorses. so i jumped all over it.

[rcmike]

Did you ask them what the were?

[Octopussie]

they are doing great!!!!! i narrowed it down to two species. hippocampus reidi or hippocampus kuda.
i think its a reidi not a kuda how about you????????????

[ann83]

Not Reidi, the coronet is wrong. They are Kuda. Kuda have a coronet that slants backwards; Reidi have a rounded coronet.