New Seahorse Tank

johnmaloney · 06-13-2008, 10:41 PM

So me and my brother were diving today, and we saw a bunch of seahorses as it is the time of year they come in to the shallow grass flats, (they love halimeda monile by the way, and hitch to it everywhere). When the tide started to drop, (the water becomes murky) we were leaving as, and we noticed a few seahorses stranded in a large tide pool. We set one free, and decided to take the other two and give them a new home. So we setup a tank with 1 inch mud bottom, and 2 inches of fine live sand, and a bunch of macros. Put an established filter on the tank, (the sand was also established in from some of our holding tanks), and presto we got a new seahorse tank. Now I know better than to come here without photos, so here is the larger of the two horses:

johnmaloney · 06-13-2008, 10:45 PM

Some tank shots are on the way, but the water was still a bit cloudy, to take good shots. Although it wasn't as cloudy as the water they are used to in the wild, so my brother thinks we should keep the water cloudy with sand. I am going to have to veto this idea.

**JF2381** · 06-13-2008, 10:52 PM

Very nice.
Now we need FTS.

johnmaloney · 06-13-2008, 11:05 PM

Okay, but it will need to clear up, but still looks good for day 1 of this tank.

Here we are:

psychographic · 06-13-2008, 11:06 PM

Nice John, do you know what species they are?

More importantly do you have a food source for them? WC SH's are notoriuos for not converting to frozen foods.

**Deepwater** · 06-13-2008, 11:11 PM

awesome john , Good luck and keep us posted

johnmaloney · 06-13-2008, 11:17 PM

I got brine, and a bunch of pods in the tank. Any other suggestions on what they might eat would be greatly appreciated. They didn't touch the brine today, but it was the first day. I am hoping the will start mowing done the pods. I am thinking about adding the larger amphipods soon too.

Still working on the species. Would like help there too, I was told it was H. reidi, but not so sure.

psychographic · 06-13-2008, 11:53 PM

Adult Brine Shrimp are basically useless, you can gut load them, but most people find it too much trouble and never do it. You could Raise baby BS as these have a much better nutitional value and are extremly easy to hatch.

Your best bet is try try to get them to eat Frozen Mysis,but don't get your hopes up, as many WC Ponies never adapt to them and starve.

I would be making some Pod Piles and hope they multiply faster than the sH's can devour them. I also think the SW Mysis would be a good introduction to your tank.

These might not actually be Mysis, but are commonly called that in this hobby.

Some reading for you, the third link down is a good ID source.

Seahorse.org (Powered by Invision Power Board)

Aquarium Design, Marine Aquariums and Coral Reef Aquarium Tank, Stand, Canopy, and Aquarium Filter System

Project Seahorse | News

seahorses - keeping and breeding

Seahorses, Pipefishes and Their Relatives

Chong · 06-14-2008, 09:22 AM

NICE!!!!!

johnmaloney · 06-14-2008, 09:35 AM

Thanks Dave, I have been checking it out, and if they don't eat brine they are going on to ghost shrimp, as they are pretty big. Oh, they are hippocampus erectus I was told. None of the pictures I saw really look like them, but I am going to go with that.

psychographic · 06-14-2008, 08:23 PM

I did'nt even think of Ghost Shrimp. I must be slipping.

To be honest John, I would'nt even try BS other than a last resort, you don't want them aquiring a taste for BS when you want them to eat something with a more nutritional value.

johnmaloney · 06-17-2008, 09:30 PM

Oh so here is the update. They hunt down ghost shrimp like it is going out of style. We only fed them brine the first day, and then noticed the next night that the shore shrimp we put in there were gone. Knew they would go for ghost shrimp then. Now when I throw them in I see them lurk over there sneaking up on their prey and then POP, (you can here them hit in the next room) another ghost shrimp down. With all the macros I got in the tank, you can really see them try to blend in and hunt like they are still in the wild. The smaller one is more aggressive, chasing the shrimp down, but the adult just waits until the shrimp make the mistake of getting too close. I think I like keeping seahorses. Too bad they don't do much when they aren't eating.

Hey Dave, do you think I can just keep a large population of ghosts in there, or will they overeat, and cost me a ton of money? I had a blenny that would eat and eat and eat, and never stop. I wonder if they are like that? I put in 12 today, they ate six in the first meal, six more hiding out. I guess I will just check tomorrow, and then if there is one or 2 left I will try putting in 100 and see if they eat at the same schedule. I don't mind catching a couple hundred shrimp, I do mind catching like 50 every other day. Anyway I will keep you posted.

rbtwo4 · 06-17-2008, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnmaloney

Now I know better than to come here without photos, so here is the larger of the two horses:

psychographic · 06-17-2008, 10:27 PM

Seahorses don't have normal digestive systems, from my understanding they can't store food like a normal fish can in it's stomach, so they do have to eat quite often. I don't think they will decimate your Ghost Shrimp populations too quickly though. Don't take this as gospel, I'm not 100% positive on how quick they will go through them.

Do you have another tank you could house the GS in? You don't need to feed a lot to the SH's, probably about 6 -10 a day per Pony should suffice.

How big are the Ghost Shrimp? Do you know if the will reproduce in captivity, and if so, how quickly?

johnmaloney · 06-18-2008, 09:43 PM

Don't know if they reproduce, they are about an inch long. I will try stocking the tank with a couple hundred shrimp, and if that can last 2 weeks.

jim63dt · 06-18-2008, 11:22 PM

nice I always wanted to start a sh tank just heard they were difficult

mynd · 06-19-2008, 06:46 AM

Seahorses mate for life and there is a good chance that you either tossed the wrong one back or kept the mate. Obviously, if you get spawn in the tank you know you did the right thing. Good luck..

psychographic · 06-19-2008, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mynd

Seahorses mate for life and there is a good chance that you either tossed the wrong one back or kept the mate. Obviously, if you get spawn in the tank you know you did the right thing. Good luck..

We were talking about the Ghost shrimp reproducing, not the SH's.

gsago1979 · 06-19-2008, 10:46 AM

First off, congrats on the seahorses...

Second, they are very, very subjective to bacterial infections, I am not sure what temperature you are keeping them in but it needs to be adjusted so that it is not allowed to rise above 74 degrees...

Third, The best method to begin training them to eat frozen mysis shrimp which is what mine exclusively live on, is to start by mixing the frozen shrimps in when you add the live shrimp they will see them falling in the water and from time to time will accidentally get a mouthfull while going after the live specimens, you shuold not leave food in the tank at all times as this weill prevent them from learning to associate with feeding times thus preventing them from wanting to eat non live food...by feeding them on a regular schedule 2-3 times a day 6 days a week you will teach them to learn when food is coming into the tank, and they will begin to congregate near your feeding station at refular feeding times...This is the best way to begin tricking them into eating frozen...when you add the live shrimp add the frozen at the exact same time, they will be hungry and will only see the movement, after a while you will be able to stop adding live and just the frozen and they shuold be fine...

This is what worked for me, not to say that this will be 100% effective but it seems to be a very common practice amongs Sea Horse Keepers...

Make sure to watch the temperature on the tank..Also they do not like bright lights at all, so I would watch the length of time you have the lights on as well as the brightness of lights...

If you have any questions on keeping them or sexing them please feel free to ask me...

Good luck....

johnmaloney · 06-20-2008, 10:39 AM

Will get back to you sexing them. One is immature, (probably can be sexed anyway) the other is a full grown adult male, has the pouch and all. When we found them there was no mate nearby, probably got out of the pool. The one we released was smaller than the two we kept. I think the larger one gets to go back to the ocean soon. Cut my feeding costs down. Everything in that tank is native to the area, and there is no chance of harmful contamination.

I tried the frozen food mixed, but if they watch it for a while to see if it is live before they even think about eating it. They know right away the frozen stuff just isn't the same. The smaller one won't even touch a shrimp it has killed, if it doesn't eat it all the first time it attacks. It just leaves the rest and goes to find another live shrimp. Feeding stations haven't worked either. They wait until the shrimps have all gotten free, the they start to hunt them. The larger seahorse, won't eat until the shrimp moves in front of his face, but not if I put it there. The smaller one will float above the macros following a live shrimp for quite some time befor eit decides to eat. I will try doing the same time everyday thing though and see if anything changes.

I have noticed they changed color. The smaller one looks a little more brown, as it hangs out by some sargassum all day, and the larger one is black as it hangs out by my filter near the black backing on my tank.