Sharing my Seahorse tank with you all

[finding nemo]

Hello everyone. Just thought I would drop in to share my horse tank with everyone.
It is a 45 gallon tank with a coralife fixture over it.
Aquaclear filter.
All live rock and feather caulerpa.
The tank has been set up for over a year with nothing in it but the live rock ,live sand seeded from my other tanks and some xenia and a few frags of zoos and some large purple mushrooms have been added to make it look pretty.
A pair of mandrins and 3 young Hippocampus Mohnikei .
The tank is full of pods and I keep a pile of rubble in the front of the tank and the back corners for a hiding/breeding place safe from all of those hungry mouths.
They eat out of my homemade butter tub feeder and are doing well.
I am just getting back into seahorses after a few years of not having them around and am enjoying them a lot.
Here is the tank.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/6-10-06-1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/5-21-06-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/mandrineyesbest.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/eating6-28-06.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/newhead.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

[lfduty]

Im in LOVE with your tank

[finding nemo]

Thanks Lf.

[hawkfish21]

Very nice!

[sloshesv]

That's a little bit of seahorse heaven right there.

[Jordan55]

Karen, I love the tank. I like how the rock work is actually in the sandbed and the macro is all over the rock. It looks like their natural habitat.

Keep it up!

[finding nemo]

Thanks everyone, I have always strived to have the natural habitat in all of my tanks, it is a bit more work to clean out the caulerpa and thin things but it keeps everything stable and natural and the horses are happy. Constantly in the rocks looking for those elusive pods:)
Hi Jordan.

[finding nemo]

Also wanted to point out, I have one 4 pound rock right in the center of the tank, then I bought some live rock rubble on ebay and just poured it in the front of the rock. It is full of bugs and stuff and it gives the pods a place to breed away from the horses and mandrins.
Tanks don't have to be messed with in the way of rock, just pour it in and let it set where it lands and let nature take it's course.
That is just how I do it anyway.
I don't like the set up look, like someone spent days fixing each rock in a certain place.
Think how boring the oceans would be if everything was stacked up nice and neat. :)

[mr_miagi32]

Thats a beautiful tank finding nemo. I love the planted SW tanks! Have your mandarins bred or spawneD?

[pledosophy]

Miagi Aye!

Good to see you over here. I'm Pleder on Fish Forums. ;)

[finding nemo]

HI Mr. no they are new to the tank and young, but are a pair from what RM says.
I to love the planted tanks. All of mine are planted.

[mr_miagi32]

Wicked finding nemo! As soon as I catch and sell my macro eating hermits, im going to try macro in my display.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7662621#post7662621 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
Miagi Aye!

Good to see you over here. I'm Pleder on Fish Forums. ;)

Hey Pleder! :p

[Shiva1]

Nice set-up!

Can you tell us a little about maintenance/filtering/equipment?

[finding nemo]

Good morning Shiva. Happy to.
I do little maintance on all of my tanks, I have them as close to the ocean as I can get.
I do not drip, drop nor add anything to the water. Water changes are every month or so when I get around to it.
I do top offs with tap water as dont have my RO system set up yet.
I use aquaclear 500 on all of my tanks, none have fuges or sumps.
I do use powerheads, in the seahorse tank I have one small waterfall pump, the table top kind to move a bit of the water but one half of the tank barely moves with the low flow, one half gets the flow from the filter which I run a small bag of carbon and a filter pad in, changed every week or so.
Light is a coralife 96 watt times 2 bulbs. 1/2 actinic and the other sun light.
Thats all I do.
And I do have to pull the caulerpa several times a month or it would take over the tank.

[finding nemo]

Oh and it is a 45 gallon

[Shiva1]

Sounds like you know what your talking about :D!!

What's the quality of the tapwater in Texas?

[finding nemo]

I try to learn all I can and do a lot of experimenting with my tanks.
Don't know about the water quality. It is well water however and only Chlorine is added. I let the water sit for 2 days before adding it for top offs tho.

[sunfishh]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7661113#post7661113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by finding nemo
Also wanted to point out, I have one 4 pound rock right in the center of the tank, then I bought some live rock rubble on ebay and just poured it in the front of the rock. It is full of bugs and stuff and it gives the pods a place to breed away from the horses and mandrins.
Tanks don't have to be messed with in the way of rock, just pour it in and let it set where it lands and let nature take it's course.
That is just how I do it anyway.
I don't like the set up look, like someone spent days fixing each rock in a certain place.
Think how boring the oceans would be if everything was stacked up nice and neat. :)

I love your low maintance philosophy and it seems to be working because your tank is awesome. I suspect that part of it is the macroalgae you have. It tends to do the work for the aquarist.

[finding nemo]

Morning sunfish, yes your absolutly right on the maintance.
I do not believe you need sumps, fuges and such to have a well balanced tank.
They do seem to take care of themselves when you get as close to mother nature as you can.
I do have to harvest the caulerpa often or it will take over everything.
I have a few zoo frags in there on top of the big rock that get over run fast so I have to keep up with pulling it often.
I also have cucumber in there, and loads of bugs and bristleworms.
At the end of the day before lights out I take my turkey baster and blast any uneated food out of the feeder so that the bristleworms can clean it up before it spoils, it is all gone withing an hour.
Yesterday I changed the filter to an aquaclear 300 for the tank as needed the 500 for my large tank.
I need very little filtration on the tank and I have a problem now with the smaller filter creating bubbles in the water as it falls in, so need to figure out how to elliminate that today.
All in all, natural is the way to go and much less maintance.
The closer you can get to there natural habitat the healhtier they will stay.
I also have two pink clams in the tank, the small ones that lay on there sides.
They are not the red flasher kind and I cant think of the name of them but they are very cool, great filter feeders but stay hidden in the caulerpa most of the time. I have a few pictures of them someplace if you would like to see them.

[luvabunny]

Hi Nemo,
I used to live near Canton - can't say I really miss it much tho =)

I'm now in Okla and have never seen Mohnekei offered. Where did you find yours? Do you have a positive ID on them? They certainly are a little different than most I'm used to seeing around here.

BTW, beautiful tank. I, too, try to use the KISS method as much as possible. No sumps, fuges or additives for me, and I also use tap water, only I use it straight from the tap with chlorine neutralizer and PH buffer. If it's not in the salt, then except for DT's, it doesn't get in the tank.

The club I'm a part of tried to tell me for 2 yrs you couldn't keep a SW tank that way, then I held one of the monthly meetings at my home. They've never questioned it again..........

It looks like you have both male and female horses. Are you going to try to raise some? Just interested, since you don't hear much of this species.

Very, very pretty. Thanks for the pics!

[finding nemo]

Hi bunny, thanks so much, I bought them from Reefermadness.
They only had 4 when I bought them 2 months ago, I lost 2 of them right off as were very small. Then I lost another when it went up the feed tube, now I don't leave it in the tank, then they got three more in and I bought them.
I know I have a male and female so far, not sure about the smaller ones.
The largest is only 4" or so long, not sure how big they will get, but I hope they don't get much bigger as I like the smaller ones.
I like your way of thinking on keeping tanks. So many people go way overboard on there tanks, but then I do not keep any hard corals to speak of that would need all of that stuff.
I keep all softies. You can see my 125 tank under large tanks section titles "Sharing my 125 with you"
It to is all natural, no sumps, I also have a 75g and a 15 tall.
So I guess I am addicted

[LFS_worker]

very cool! one of the better ones Ive seen :)

[kpc01]

Looks good...any details on how you made, and how you feed using the butter container. I am wanting to make something similar for our tank. Any help would be appreciated!

[finding nemo]

Hi Kpc, happy to tell you how it is made, quite simple actually.
You can use any flat back container that will fit up against the glass.
I used a butter dish. plastic. Took my ice pick, metal and heated it on the stove for a few seconds to make the tip red hot, then I burned a hole in it for a suction cup I had from an old shower caddy.
Then while it was still hot I made a hole on each end big enough for an average size straw to to thru, then I ran a straw thru one end, into the cup and out the other. That is there hitching post to eat and they use it when ever they are eating, they just hook on and swing hanging upside down in the cup to eat.
When the food gets over a few hours old I take my turkey baster and blast it out for the bristleworms and bugs to eat.

For the mysis shrimp I bought a 1" round corner tube that comes in 3 feet sections.
I cut a 12" piece of it and use a heater hook with a suction cup on it to anchor it onto the glass hanging into the dish. I take a frozen piece of mysis shrimp, drop it in the tub, as it thaws it falls slowly into there dish where they are always watching it fall and waiting for it to come down into the dish.:)
Here are some pictures I took for someone else that wanted to know how it is made.
Hope it helps. I kind of like the butter label on it so I left it on:) But you can remove it of course;)

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/feederdirections.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

Tank with it in. Always remove the feeding tube after feeding as I lost a horse that went up in the tube and couldnt get out.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/6-10-06-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

One of the horses hitched to the straw eating.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/eating6-28-06.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

[finding nemo]

Forgot to mention, you can replace the straw when it gets dirty or do like I do and just put the whole thing up on the top shelve in my dishwasher and let it wash it all up then replace it back in the tank.

[kpc01]

Looks great! Thanks for the help, I didn't realize how well that would work but it looks awesome! I will try to get mine done soon.

[finding nemo]

Your welcome

[sarah14]

Hi Finding Nemo,
What a beautiful tank, i am very interested in having seahorses.
I would like to keep them in as natural a tank as possible.
Being in the uk i don't know if it would be the same.
I would prefer not to have a sump etc.
Im not planing on breeding as im new to saltwater keeping, so just want two single sex horses plus clean up crew no other fish.
My tank is about 27 uk gallons, i will have live rock, live sand and macro, do you think this would be ok for your natural way of keeping seahorses.
Sorry if this is a silly question:)
I have had a lot of very helpful advice, everyone has been so kind and patient with me as im a total newbie.
Look forward to hearing from you.

[finding nemo]

Hello Sarah, There are no silly questions so ask away. RC is the best place to learn anything you need to know about SW things.
As for keeping seahorses you really should have an established tank with lots of pods and bugs as that is what they eat in the wild.
But if you want to set one up you can do it.
Try to aquire live sand from someone that has a SW tank and also live rock.
Get some macro algae growing for water filtration.
The deaper the tank the better I have found, the lenght is not as important as the height of it.
I am not sure how many gallons 27UK gallons is but anything over a 30 gallon US would work great. Mine is a 45 gallon.
When you buy your horses get some that were tank raised, not wild caught as they will then be eating mysis shrimp usually and you can aquire that at most SW fish stores.
If you need any more help just post a note here or start a thread under the seahorse forum here at RC, there are many people here that have way more expierience then I have and have been raising them for many years, they will be a big help to you also to get you started.
I have had them on and off for about 5 years and have raised a few colts in my time but not near as many as some of the people here.
So best of luck to you and feel free to ask any questions you might have,
karen

[simoneau]

i am thinkin of starting a sea horse tank ( i wrote a thread on here called sea horse questions under simoneau) and i would like your advice because you like to do your tanks as natural as possible and thats the way i prefer to go also.so any advice you might have for me would be great!

[finding nemo]

Hi Somoneau, I am happy to answer any questions you might have, but my biggest suggestion is to have an established tank that has loads of pods growing in it, it is food for them and mine pick around the rock all day long looking for them.
They never go hungry that way.
Read the other threads under seahorses hear, there is so much advice and if you have questions, ask away, we are all here to help each other.
But I am happy to answer any questions you might have if I know the answer;)

[simoneau]

thank you so much!i am going to wait untill i know plenty about sea horses and my tank if fully established.what kind of sea horses do you have/had?will any of them eat frozen?

[finding nemo]

Good morning Simoneau. I have three Hippocampus Mohnikei horses.
They are young so not sure of the sex yet.
They eat frozen mysis that I drop into the tube and settles into there feed dish when it thaws.
I used to breed them and am just getting back into them again.

[simoneau]

what do you think is a good breed to keep in my 7g?and do you think they would eat frozen also?

[finding nemo]

Morning Simoneau, I think that you would only be able to keep the dwarfs in a tank that small and they require live baby brine shrimp,
I wouldnt put anything in the way of seahorses in a tank under 15 gallon myself.

[looser]

finding nemo - I'm in a bit of bind and it sounds like you might be willing and able to help.

I have a relative that just got back from Hawaii and thought he would buy me a cool gift for my tank and had a pair of live seahorses shipped to me. Without being judgmental (he just didn’t know any better), any tips on trying to keep them alive?

Here’s what I’ve done so far.

I have a 75 gal refugium on my 225 gal tank. (well established) I took a small plastic trash can (like you might have under your desk), drilled a lot of holes in it so that water and pods can get into it, but the seahorses can’t get out, put it in my refugium, and acclimated the seahorses into it. That way I’m hoping they get enough to eat without wiping out my pod population. Then I put a couple of hands full of algae in the can so they have a place to hide and something to hang onto. Other than that I really don’t know what else to do.

Obviously is not the way I would have like to be introduced to raising sea horses, but that’s the situation I’m in. I’m doing what research I can to get up to speed on seahorses, but in the mean time any suggestions or other advice?

Any chance I could put them in my display tank? Any compatibility issues? Anything I should watch for or be careful of?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[finding nemo]

Hi Looser, gosh sakes, what a great gift but not good if you did'nt expect it.
Tell me what you have in your display tank? Fish and anemone wise.
There are many people that keep seahorses in there display but they have few if any fish and no anemones that would eat them.
The big problem with seahorses in a fish tank is that they are slow eaters (mysis) and the fish get to it all before the horses get to eat.
Anemones will also eat them as they are slow moving and could not break loose.
One thing you can do is keep them in your fuge, add loads of live rock and caulerpa and let them loose. (the horses) they will never clean out all of your pods if you give them plenty of places to hide and reproduce.
And if you feed mysis to them via a hitching post then they won't clean them out.
Best of luck to you.
If I can help any further please let me know or send a pm, always happy to help.

[looser]

Finding nemo - Thanks very much for the fast response and your willingness to help, and sorry about taking your thread off topic. You just seemed so willing to help that I thought I would ask.

Ya. . . it was a very nice thought for a gift....and I have thought in the past that it would be cool to try and keep some seahorses, but as you say.... not when I wasn't expecting it. But thankfully it sounds like I might not be in too bad a shape. I thought about just letting them go in the fuge, but wasn't sure how much they eat. I kind of depend on the fuge as a source of food for the display tank so I didn't want to chance it. I don't have any anemones in the display tank, just live coral (all differant types) For fish I have a tang, a pair of clowns, a small wrass, and a I think its called a Dotty Back? I also have a couple of bandit shrimp, and a couple of large bristle stars. I have about 150lbs of live rock in it. If you thought they would be ok maybe I'd give it a try after a few weeks if they seem to be doing well in my make shift home for them. I would just hate to see them starve to death. The thing with keeping them in my fuge is that its under my display tank and not condusive at all to viewing.

Hey...maybe if they do well it will be a good reason for me to start my own seahorse tank. :-)

[Lacrosseboss18]

Very nice tank

[finding nemo]

Looser, give them a try in your main tank. Fix a feeder for them and see if you can train them to eat out of it. If you can, great. If not, you may have trouble with them getting enough. But if you have a lot of pods then maybe they would be ok.
But why not set up a seahorse tank. A 29 tall would be terrific for them.
Best of luck whatever you decide, they are fascinating animals.
Thanks Lacross.

[looser]

finding nemo: thanks for the advice. its a tuff call whether to put them in the display tank or set up a seahorse tank. I'm not sure I have the time to commit to another tank and do it right and maintain it properly. If I did put them in the display tank and they don't seem to be eating or getting enough food would they be difficult to catch? What about water movement? I have a couple of tunze streams, and a wave maker in the display tank. Does that present a problem for them?

BTW... they both seem to be doing ok. They are active, but unfortunatly I can't see them well enough to know if they are eating or not.

[finding nemo]

Oh , Had not thought of those. Way to much water motion for them unless they can go deap.
As far as catching them, no problem, they are very slow movers and you can just lift them right up and into a container to move them.
If I were you I would give it a try and see how they do.
Watch them at feeding time and see if they can catch there share.
If not and the fish get it first you will have to keep them seperate.

[finding nemo]

Looser, your mailbox is full

[looser]

finding nemo: thanks...I just emptied it. I'm afraid I just have way too much water movement in my display tank for them. Although looking at your set up makes me want to set up a tank for them. I'm going to talk to my daughter and see if she is interested in helping me maintain a seahorse tank. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get started. Might not be for a few weeks though. I'm hoping they do well in my fuge till I get it set up and cycled and all that. Thanks for all your help, your tank really is a motivator.

[finding nemo]

Looser, that is terrific, they are a joy to have allbut slow, lol.
With all of the algae you have, very little flow they will be very happy, make sure they have plenty of places to hook there tails around so that they can rest.
Tall upright or laying horizontal is fine.
Post some pictures of them if you can, would love to see them.
Ask any questions you have, we are happy to help and good luck to you with your new adventure.:)

[looser]

finding nemo - thanks very much. I have yet to figure out how to post pictures, but I will make it a point to do that. BTW - My daughter loves the idea of setting up a seahorse tank in her room. In fact...she and my son where arguing about who whould get the tank. Lets see if they argue about who is going to clean it. :-)

[finding nemo]

LOL
Not much cleaning to an established tank if it is set up right.
Just occasional glass cleaning is all I do and water top offs.
I never do a water change in it. Don't find that I need to.
Send me a pm if you like and will tell you how to post pics or happy to post them for you.
Right now I am struggling with some pain issues so am not on the computer much lately but will be happy to post them if you send them to me .
Karen

[blch]

smart idea ...... so in love with your tank ....... just wany to tell you .. u have done a great job ....

[finding nemo]

Thanks so much blch. Seems that most like it. I just love the natural type tanks and did a lot of research on the natural habitat of them years ago before getting into them.
I have a great cleanup crew, mostly bristleworm and when I blast out the uneated food from there feed cup it settles to the bottom and in the caulerpa where the bristles come out in droves to clean it up, and the mandrins get there fair share also. So nothing goes to waste.
I will be pulling a bit of the caulerpa today as it taking over some of the rock with zoos on them so it needs to be thinned a bit, something I hate to do in the seahorse tank as it confuses them as to where there favorite hitching post went and seems they have to readjust to the setting all over again.
But they get it figured out and are fine in a day or two.
But natural is best for any tanks.
The more you can get it like the sea the better.
I have always found that keeping caulerpa, grape algae and the flat kind, I forget the name in all of my tanks keeps them sparkling clear and pretty to. More natural looking but a bit more work to keep it thinned out.
The pods love it as do the worms that live in it and I just like the looks also.

[finding nemo]

Thought I would share my old seahorse tank and also some pictures of some of my colts with you.
First my old 20 long seahorse tank.
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/20tank.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

Some of the 30 or so babys my daddy had
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/1-12-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

The parents at the feed trough

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Just born

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/1-12-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

Daddy teaching his offspring how to eat mysis.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/feeding2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

One day old

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/1-12-best2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

[finding nemo]

Here is another pair that I had and there offspring:)

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/seahorse1-1023.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/seahorsedaytwo17-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/babybest3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

Look closely

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/seahorsedaytwo17-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/seahorsedaytwo18.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v346/karenssaltwater/white1-15-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

[Bmpower007]

Amazing looking tank, great setup