Are sea horses difficult to keep?

[Monster00101]

I have had a reef tank for over 2 years and was thinking of starting a seahorse tank. Are they hard to take care of? Do they eat well if in a tank all by there selves? Also how many can u put in a 30g nano?

[spluchino82]

If I can add a question..... If you have sea horses in a tank does it gave ti be ONLY sea horses?

[Monster00101]

From what I have heard its best not to keep fish with them cause they r very slow eaters. I've also been told u can keep pipe fish with them

[Bretts05jeep]

I have had a reef tank for over 2 years and was thinking of starting a seahorse tank. Are they hard to take care of? Do they eat well if in a tank all by there selves? Also how many can u put in a 30g nano?

Not an expert but had them for about a year. I had ORA and they eat frozen food but any wild caught usually do not. The reasion I found them hard to keep is that they need feed several times a day and that results in the need to do alot of water changes.

I I started to slack for a short time and that was all it took.

[Bretts05jeep]

If I can add a question..... If you have sea horses in a tank does it gave ti be ONLY sea horses?

You can get away with shy slow moving fish. I had a two spot goby in there and it did not seem to try to out compete for food.

They actually recomend not keeping sea horses and pipe fish together. Check out the sea horse and pipe fish fourm there is some very good expert advice you will find there.

[shayna123]

You really need to do a species tank. They need cooler temps than your typical reef tank, in the 70-72 range. They also should not be in a high flow tank, they can take some if there are plenty of low flow spots to rest in. You can keep small gobies, slow moving, peaceful fish that wont compete for food. Lots of water changes, they are messy. Most important, wait for the right ponies to come along. I had the tank ready for almost a year before the right guys came along. I bought a few skinny weak ones thinking I could fatten them up, it didnt work. If you buy them nice and plump and eating frozen its much easier. It helps to watch the personalities too. My first 2 are real shy and stay in the same little spot in the back of the tank for hours. The next 4 I got were all over the tanks constantly moving and interacting with each other. They are still like that in my tank and a lot more fun to watch. A 30g would be perfect for a pair of seahorses. They really arent hard to keep as long as you have the right set up and start with healthy ponies. Check out the seahorse forum, there is a lot of info and some beautiful inspiration pics. They are worth the little extra care. Good luck!

[eatbreakfast]

Try to get tank bred as they are much easier to get eating, than their wild counterparts. As far as keeping them with other fish, as long as they wont outcompete the seahorses for food tankmates should be fine, i.e. firefish, mandarins, pipefish, shrimpfish, garden eels, and so on.

[MARINECRITTERS]

Yes, You need a "quiet" aquarium with the perfect amount of light and flow.
Plus it would need to be an sea horse only tank.