Want to start a tank.

[fishstick3]

Hi there. I have never posted to this yet. I have 2 nano salt water aquariums and a 10 gallon hospital tank, and now All I can think about is starting a seahorse tank. I have been in the hobby for close to 7 years, always with nanos. If I do a seahorse tank I want it to be as amazing and comfortable for the seahorse a as possible while still being beautiful. A few questions:

1. I have limited space and am still renting for probably another year so a small tank would work best, what is a food size tank especially if I want to dwarves?
2. What is the best seahorse to start with?
3. What are some of the best vendors for seahorse? From what I h e read tank bred is the way to go, but from where should they be purchased?
4. I have read they like to be in multiple pairs, so I assume fry will be a part of the deal, how difficult are they to keep alive?
5. What are the average time commitments for a smaller tank with smaller horses? The reason I ask is not because I don't want to spend time on my tank, it my favorite thing to do, but as I have stated I only want to do this tank if I can keep them happy and healthy.


Thank you for any advice you can give.

[rayjay]

For standard seahorses, the recommended minimum tank size is 29g for one pair, and an extra 15g for each additional pair.
A five gallon tank however can house a LOT of dwarfs. I've had up to fifty in my 5g.
Seahorse keeping of any species can be labour intensive IMO, especially dwarfs due to the live feeding that also needs enrichment before using.
IMO, no one thread is going to give you all the information you should have before proceeding into seahorse keeping no matter what species you buy.
You would be best to locate seahorse forums and go over the past threads for information and differing opinions.
It's hard to state what the time commitments are because that depends on the set up and size of what you end up with for a seahorse system.
IMO, seahorse tanks should have better filtration and better husbandry with larger more frequent water changes than a reef tank. Seahorses by their feeding habits, create "dirty" water that you can't see or test for that often can cause damage or death of them.
Many have personal preferences for various breeders but my first recommendation is always seahorsesource.com.
You can get some starting information from the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping (http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/seahorsekeeping.html)" written by experienced seahorse keepers and a prominent breeder.

[fishstick3]

Thank you so much for the information. It's something I want to be very sure I do right. I am certainly going to wait until I finish graduate school in December so that I have the time to give these delicate creatures

[myfavoritereef]

Keeping seahorses is a pretty big time commitment but totally worth it! They have great personalities and are truly majestic.

I would highly recommend purchasing seahorses that are eating frozen Mysis like the ones from SeahorseSource.com. They would be the easiest to keep and a 29 gallon aquarium would be fine for a pair. My understanding is that H. Erectus are the easiest to keep and I have had great success keeping this species. I personally would stay away from the Dwarf Seahorses since they require live brine and hatching brine is quite a project in itself.

Again, keeping the tank clean is a must because seahorses need to eat several times per day and are messy eaters. You will find that you need to do more frequent water changes (I do a water change every 10-14 days) to keep the water in the best condition.

Fry will definitely be part of the deal if you decide to keep one or more pairs. Raising the fry is very difficult and challenging. I have been raising H. Erectus for over a year now and I still have questions. It is not an easy thing. Dan at Seahorse Source is an excellent resource but I would also recommend any threads you can find on rearing seahorses for more info.

Best of Luck!

[fishstick3]

Is it possible to get dwarfs to eat frozen or prepared foods? Raising brine, is it smelly it unsightly because it seems like something that would be interesting to do? Also I have heard they have to be decapsulated. Also what about having live rock with lots of copepods?

[vlangel]

Is it possible to get dwarfs to eat frozen or prepared foods? Raising brine, is it smelly it unsightly because it seems like something that would be interesting to do? Also I have heard they have to be decapsulated. Also what about having live rock with lots of copepods?

From what I know dwarf seahorse's primary and perhaps only food is live. Those who have them say it is not possible to create an environment where there are enough copepods to sustain them so culturing baby brine is pretty much a must. Its not hard and I culture mine in my kitchen with one of those kits that uses a 2 liter bottle and I don't notice them smelling. (I feed them to my pipefish and coral). The hard part is the rigors of doing it daily for dwarf SH. That has to be a consideration when you go away and leave your little charges in someone else's care? Will they be willing to hatch bb? Also 3 meals of dense amounts of bb daily make for dirty water and since dwarfs can't handle too aggressive filtration, (they can be sucked in or up against a lot of filters)frequent water changes are employed to keep up water quality. Those were the 2 main considerations that made me decide that dwarf SH were not for me.

[rayjay]

Some dwarfs may eat SOME frozen food but not enough to sustain themselves.
Copepod production would have to be done in a separate system as they don't repopulate enough to depend on what is in the tank, even starting out with a high density.
IMO, while it's a lot of work, the hatching and enriching of brine is the easier way to go, but it's still IMO, the number one cause of getting out of the dwarf hobby.