Dwarf sea horse question

[Damian reef boi]

So I'm planning to have a 10 gallon dwarf seahorse tank but I dont know if I should put a skimmer on it because of the baby brine shrimp (I dont want them to be sucked up into the skimmer and die) and yes I know they are a very hard seahorse to keep but I am willing to take on the challenge. ;Smilie

 

[Damian reef boi]

;Chicken

 

[ChgoGoodGirl]

I never used a skimmer on my dwarf tank and it was fine.
10 gallon tank is a bit on the big side for a dwarf seahorse tank. What kind of set up are you doing?

 

[Damian reef boi]

I'm just going to keep it simple with a 30 gallon filter heater and a cheap led.

 

[Damian reef boi]

I hope that's what you mean by set up

 

[ChgoGoodGirl]

Just curious - i loved my little ponies but keeping them feed and healthy was hard work. I might do it again some day so im always looking for new ideas. I just recently saw a thread on R2R where someone built a tank with an automatic brine shrimp hatchery and feeder - it was bananas! (in a good way)

My more in depth question of set up are things like will you have a sand bed or no sand bed? Live rock? Real or fake plants? A plain 10 gl. Aquarium or something with a built in sump? Oh and how manyare you planing on keeping?

 

[Damian reef boi]

Ooooooohhhhh so I'm planing on keeping a thin layer of sand maby like 3 pieces of live rock some fake fan coral it's so hard to find that all look so fake I would try real gorgonians but I heard they were hard to keep and I'm probably going to start with a pair and if I can keep them fat and healthy I'll probably get a new pair just keeping it simple (atleast I'm trying lol) and no sump

 

[ChgoGoodGirl]

They really are fun to keep. I strongly suggest reading through some of the seahorse threads on here for ideas and pitfalls to try to avoid. Good luck and maybe start a thread for your build so others, myself included, can watch how it goes.

 

[Damian reef boi]

Ok thank you for your help ;Pompus

 

[Damian reef boi]

I dont know why I like the emojis ;Pompus;Chicken;Smilie;Dead:mad:;Bucktooth;Blackeye;Bookworm;Bored;Brb;Cat;Chicken;Clown;Cold;Couchpotato;Cow;Dead;Cyclops;Doctor;Droid;Drool;Drowning;Dummy;Eggonface;Dummy1;Facepalm;Greedy;Happy;Headphone;Hilarious;Hurting;Inpain;Jawdrop;Joyful;Lurking;Locktopic;Mask;Meh;Muted;Nailbiting;Nurse;Oldman;Panda;Peeking;Penguin;Photogenic;Pigeon;Spiderman

 

[Damian reef boi]

Lol

 

[ChgoGoodGirl]

Cuz they're awesome. ;Woot

 

[deetu]

I started with a 2.5 gallon tank with sand. Took out the sand because it was easier to do bare bottom. Once I had too many in that tank, I moved them into a 7.5 gallon and put sand back in because I hated the look of bare bottom but again, it was easier to keep nitrates down without sand so I took it out. Also, by having bare bottom, you will see if bbs are dying and know there is a problem with your water quality.I have macro and plastic plants so it doesn't look empty.
My biological is hang on back with lava rocks (also in tank holding down macro and plastic chains) and sponge on intake and double sponge filter. Heater, no protein skimmer.

If I would start again, I would get a 10 gallon and use the Hamburg matten filter. This way you can have a small area to start (to see the ponies and to keep density of bbs) and make it larger as the herd grows.

My 7.5 gallon with 56 ponies. I started in October with 8.
Please remember to rinse your bbs with freshwater to kill any hydroids before putting into tank.

 

[Damian reef boi]

Thank you so I think I'll remove the protein skimmer because I dont want the baby brine shrimp to get sucked up;Pompus

 

[rayjay]

FWIW, unless you have scads of dwarfs, it's not practical to keep them in a ten gallon tank. First, they will be hard to find if you have any significant decor and hitching, but the main reason is that for them to feed properly, you need to maintain a high density of enriched brine nauplii because most dwarfs, most of the time, are going to sit perched waiting for the food to pass by close enough to snick up.
Remember too that the enriched brine nauplii VERY QUICKLY deplete the enrichment they contain and you should remove uneaten ones before feeding newly enriched as they have no way to know which are good for them or not.
For reference purposes, I had no problem with running ~50 dwarfs in a five gallon tank, but trying to count them I probably couldn't see more than about 25-35 at any given time as the rest would be hidden by tank contents.

 

[deetu]

FWIW, unless you have scads of dwarfs, it's not practical to keep them in a ten gallon tank. First, they will be hard to find if you have any significant decor and hitching, but the main reason is that for them to feed properly, you need to maintain a high density of enriched brine nauplii because most dwarfs, most of the time, are going to sit perched waiting for the food to pass by close enough to snick up.
Remember too that the enriched brine nauplii VERY QUICKLY deplete the enrichment they contain and you should remove uneaten ones before feeding newly enriched as they have no way to know which are good for them or not.
For reference purposes, I had no problem with running ~50 dwarfs in a five gallon tank, but trying to count them I probably couldn't see more than about 25-35 at any given time as the rest would be hidden by tank contents.

Yeah, that's why the matten filter looks so appealing

 

[Damian reef boi]

Yeah I'm going to practice hatching the baby brine shrimp before actually getting the sea horses hopefully it helps me a bit;Smilie

 

[deetu]

FWIW, unless you have scads of dwarfs, it's not practical to keep them in a ten gallon tank. First, they will be hard to find if you have any significant decor and hitching, but the main reason is that for them to feed properly, you need to maintain a high density of enriched brine nauplii because most dwarfs, most of the time, are going to sit perched waiting for the food to pass by close enough to snick up.
Remember too that the enriched brine nauplii VERY QUICKLY deplete the enrichment they contain and you should remove uneaten ones before feeding newly enriched as they have no way to know which are good for them or not.
For reference purposes, I had no problem with running ~50 dwarfs in a five gallon tank, but trying to count them I probably couldn't see more than about 25-35 at any given time as the rest would be hidden by tank contents.

I'm on a dwarf site in fb and they attack anyone who doesn't have a ten gallon tank, even when we say that having only the starting 6 ponies doesn't make sense to keep the density up. Even when I say that I got up to grew 56 ponies in a 2.5 gallon before moving to a larger tank, they were not happy because it was a 7.5 gallon and not 10 gallons. They have been putting people off without realizing it.

 

[rayjay]

everyone is entitled to their own opinion and what I wrote is my opinion.
Using common sense coupled with the knowledge that most dwarfs are NOT going to feed sufficiently by hunting down food instead of snicking what comes by them as they are perched, means high nauplii density in the tank. With just a few dwarfs and a large tank, it's such a waste of time and effort let alone the nauplii themselves. (unless you have a use for the uneaten naupii that you can remove)
Maybe my brain is screwed up in my old age, but it would make more sense to start small and as you increase the numbers of dwarfs you can go larger (if you wish)

 

[deetu]

everyone is entitled to their own opinion and what I wrote is my opinion.
Using common sense coupled with the knowledge that most dwarfs are NOT going to feed sufficiently by hunting down food instead of snicking what comes by them as they are perched, means high nauplii density in the tank. With just a few dwarfs and a large tank, it's such a waste of time and effort let alone the nauplii themselves. (unless you have a use for the uneaten naupii that you can remove)
Maybe my brain is screwed up in my old age, but it would make more sense to start small and as you increase the numbers of dwarfs you can go larger (if you wish)

Exactly! Totally agree ;Happy