new with some questions

[caseyjessa]

Hi, I've been looking to start a seahorse tank for a couple years now, but i'm finally ready to start. I have a 29 gallon hex tank that just started the cycling process. I was wondering what a good clean up crew would be for my tank, I was thinking some snails and shrimp for sure, though i'm not settled on the type yet or how many. I plan on buying a pair of reidi, erectus, or kuda, from seahorse source. Would it be ok to put a goby of some sort in with them? Also i'm looking to buy a new filter, so any suggestions on that would be great as well.
Thanks,
Casey

[loverreef]

really depends on the goby. The tiny nano cube goby that will not get bigger then a noodle (sorry I forget their name) should be ok. Seahorses are not aggressive so if you put something in the tank that darts around for food they might not be able to eat and will die.

I would have your lfs order you some and make sure they are eating before you take them home. mysis shrimp is a great food for them.

[namxas]

due to the glut of cheap, pen-raised kuda (also poor quality) over the past few years, you'll have a hard time finding any from most of the reputable breeders. that being said, SH Source has great SH. Dan and his crew are top-notch, as are his stock. i own erectus, reidi, and barouri from them. your new SH will come to you eating frozen mysis, so no training is required.

i wouldn't get SH from an LFS unless they can tell you what breeder they came from and the name of the species ("black SH", "yellow SH", etc. is not indicative of species).

to be honest, other than a engineer gobies or bullet/banded "sleeper" gobies , i can't think of a readily-available goby that will stress your SH. even firefish/dartfish are regularly kept as SH tankmates. just to name a popular fish lots of folks keep clown/citron gobies w/their SH.

i would, however, be certain that the SH are the first fish in the tank, assure that they're well-established, and that you get a handle on SH-keeping before adding piscine tankmates.

the best two pieces of advice i can give is to keep the temp below 74*F (to reduce the liklihood of bacterial infection) and think "this is a SEAHORSE tank" and build/stock around that.

[caseyjessa]

Thanks so much for the advice. You are completely right, I wont even consider adding a fish until my seahorses are happily established in their tank.
As far as a cleanup crew is concerned though how many snails, shrimp should I get for my 29 gallon tank? I have read a lot about protein skimmers being beneficial in a seahorse tank and I was wondering which one I should get, and if I got one I would need an air hose in the tank is that correct? Thanks.

[namxas]

i'm not sure i get why you'd need an airline in the tank with a skimmer. skimmers do require an air intake, but it's connected to the skimmer itself. i use a skimmer in the sump of one of our SH setups, but the smaller setup doesn't have one.

depending on your filtration and water movement, an airline might be a good idea. i use a piece of rigid airline dropped into the tanks (if i use an air pump). they're easier to keep in place. if you use an airstone, use a coarse or medium bubble stone.

for your CUC, start off light on the stocking. i'd add 2 or 3 peppermint shrimp, 3 Nassarius, then a mix of Nerite, Astrea, and Ceriths at the rate of 1 per 3 gals for starters. once your tank has a "personality", you'll know how to adjust the numbers/species.

personally, i don't use hermits or crabs of any type in SH setups. i've had even scarlets grab resting SH's tails.

HTH

[caseyjessa]

ok, thank you so much you've been very helpful. I don't plan on putting any crabs in the tank at all because I just dont fully trust them. But definitely the shrimp and snails and see where to go from there.