Mixing Species in a tank

[bluekoi]

Hi there,
New to the forum! New to seahorses as well. Started with two Kudas from the LFS who says they get them from a local breeder. Honestly, until a few minutes ago the difference between tank-raised vs captive-raised had not really sunk in. I lost one of the original two fairly quickly. The fella just would not eat. The LFS said they had just previously sold his mate. So, I got another and this one has grown like crazy. The two seem to do fine together although I did notice a little head butting at the feeding shell. Doesn't seem to be an issue anymore. I believe they are both females. I've been doing my best to do all the best practices I've read about. Been keeping them below 75 degrees (usually at 73) and have gotten a 60 gallon cube for them to move into so they will have plenty of room to grow. I certainly want to get a few more, as the two of them in this huge tank would look a little lonely. My question is, can I mix species? If I have two kuda, could I get a couple of Erectus, or Reidi?
thx so much!

[rayjay]

The odds are that when mixing species, you will loose one or both species.
It does succeed sometimes but if you try it, it would be a lot better to get different species from the same breeding source. (not same LFS)
As you already have two of these kuda, I'd suggest just getting more of them from the same place rather than taking the risk.

[bluekoi]

Thanx so much for your reply! Looks like I will be getting a couple more kudas. I am somewhat aggravated with the LFS because they had kudas and an erectus in the same tank. Unfortunately, I got one of both and it was the erectus that died.
I have this IMO huge tank now and had wanted to put some zoas in with them. They were gorgonians in with them at the store, so I bought a couple of those and they hitch nicely. If I stick to zoas, am I good? How about getting a UV sterilizer?
Looks like I will be setting up more tanks as I do want more species.
thx!

[rayjay]

The sixty gallon tank will be good for 6 kuda.
I can't advise on the corals as I don't put them in my seahorse tanks.
A UV is not needed IMO as it will only work on the pathogens that go through the UV unit.
The greater majority of pathogens will remain on rocks, sand, glass, decor,etc and will not go through the UV.
A much better choice would be an oversized protein skimmer to remove dissolved organics before they feed nuisance algae.
Be sure to check out seahorsesource.com when you set up new tanks for other species.
There are NO bad comments on Dan and Abbie that you could find anywhere.

[MandarinGirl]

You can stick with zoas as long as they are close to the rock and do not stick up like yellow polps do. I would also look into some macro algae. You do not find them alot but leafy grass like plants can be VERY cool in my opinion,as well as gorgonians.