Thanks for the info. My experience has been that captive bred seahorses seem to be the healthiest specimens with the highest survival rates. If coming from a reputable breeder they are also usually trained to eat frozen mysis before they allow them to be sold. The h. erectus is one of the more common and easiest to care for. The most reputable breeders I have found are Seahorse Source, Southwatch Seahorse Farm, and Ocean Rider. The individuals at each of these farms will speak with you personally to make the best selection for your particular situation, will often send advance photos of the specimen(s) in which you express interest, and are always there to answer questions or help resolve problems with horses you have purchased from them.
I keep two pair of erectus in a 55 gallon softie reef with green star polyps, mushrooms, pulsating xenia, leather coral, gorgonia, feather dusters, and a few zoanthids. For tankmates one of the first I recommend is a pair of either skunk cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp (avoid camel shrimp at all cost as they present a danger to your horses). In my case I have a pair of fire shrimp. They normally stay within the rocks, but at night they come out to clean my horses and other fish of parasites or other debris, and the horses and fish willingly bank alongside them to accommodate the process. The cleaner shrimp will also eat leftover debris from feeding. Additionally, they produce clutches of eggs/larvae which serve as a secondary food source for my horses, whom I've observed picking them out from the rocks. My neon goby serves the same cleaning purpose and, unlike cleaner wrasse, will survive on flake food or frozen mysis if their hosts don't provide all they need. Other tank mates which have been successful for me are a pair of oscellaris clowns (who use my leather coral as a host), a mandarin goby, a watchman goby and pistol shrimp (it's great to witness their synbiotic relationship), a clown goby, a purple firefish, a royal gramma, a bengai cardinal, and a hectors goby and bicolor blenny to control unwanted algae growth.
Maintaining proper water quality and good filtration are a key element to keeping seahorses. I have found that they prefer a spraybar to the traditional water outlet from my canister filter (Eheim Ecco 80)...in fact they often wrap their tails around the spraybar then let go to play in the gentle current it creates. I also use a protein skimmer, UV sterilizer, and Eheim surface skimmer. The surface skimmer isn't really necessary, but I find it helpful in cleaning surface film that results from frozen food over time. A trick I learned from one of the seahorse breeders is to use a section of plastic chain from Home Depot to give them a safe "hitching post"...it needs to be anchored with a rock or suction cup as it floats, but they use it as their safe haven and it is easy to remove and clean periodically.
Last, I recommend that anyone interested in keeping seahorses take the free 10 chapter online seahorse keeping course available through Pete Giwojna at Ocean Rider (you can email him at
[email protected] to inquire about the course). This would be best BEFORE purchasing your first horses as it covers all aspects including setting up a seahorse friendly habitat, suitable tankmates, selecting your horses, recognizing illness/diseases and their prevention and cures, breeding, etc.
Best wishes and, although I am newer to the forum, let me know if you have any questions I can help out with!
