I am starting a second tank a "species only" tank to be stocked with a couple of seahorses. The tank has been set up with 25lbs. of cured Pohnpei Live Rock and Live reef sand. I also added a bottle of Bio-Spira the next day after setup. It has been up and running a little over 4 weeks now and 3 weeks now with 2 small starter fish. When it is time to add the seahorses I will be removing the two fish. Along with the seahorses I am wanting to stock the tank with different types of coral. Today I checked all my numbers and they are PERFECT!!! My question is, when should I be able to start adding my corals or should I add the seahorses first? When would be a good time I can add the seahorses too?
Seahorse Tank
- Thread starter Chris DeLaro
- Start date
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melypr1985
totally addicted
@SeahorseKeeper and @vlangel can help you with your seahorse questions! Good luck with your future ponies 
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Hi Chris, my name is Dawn and i am excited to hear about your seahorse tank. You will get more responses from seahorse keepers if you post your thread under the seahorse/pipefish section which is under the fish topics.
Seahorses have some specific needs and it sounds like you have already done some research since you know that they are best in a specie dedicated tank. What sort of seahorses are you thinking of and what size tank do you have?
I haven't narrowed down witch species of seahorses I am wanting. I am trying to read up on a couple types. Basically I am wanting ones that are the easiest to keep and take care of, being fairly new to the hobby. I am open For ANY suggestions. I am trying to get expert suggestions from my new REEF2REEF friends, and steer me in the RIGHT directions on when to add my coral and seahorses. I give up on the local fish stores. They have already steered me wrong on a couple of occasions that almost cost me all my fish.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I have h erectus seahorses as they are probably the hardiest. If I were you I would spend the extra money to get captive bred, (which means they have been raised in aquariums with synthetic salts or seawater that has been processed and filtered for multiple generations). Captive bred are adapted to aquarium life and also eat frozen mysis.
For a pair of seahorses the common accepted size tank is 30 gallons.
A free comprehensive online seahorse training course is offered by Ocean Rider, (seahorse.com). It is an excellant source of information on every aspect of seahorse keeping and is done by a long time expert, Pete Giwonja. It is implied that you should buy your seahorses from them but not mandated. I bought mine there but they are pricey. You can get just as healthy captive bred seahorses from Dan at Seahorse Source for a better price. Dan gives excellant customer service too.
In regards to your tank, I would stock it with non stinging coral first, along with pods. That way the pod population can build up without predation and get established. When aquascaping be mindful of keeping all the glass walls accessible to clean so nuisance algae does not become a problem. Also make sure there are no dead spots where detritus can build up and fuel dangerous bacteria, (which is the seahorse's #1 enemy).
What sort of coral are you thinking of keeping?
For a pair of seahorses the common accepted size tank is 30 gallons.
A free comprehensive online seahorse training course is offered by Ocean Rider, (seahorse.com). It is an excellant source of information on every aspect of seahorse keeping and is done by a long time expert, Pete Giwonja. It is implied that you should buy your seahorses from them but not mandated. I bought mine there but they are pricey. You can get just as healthy captive bred seahorses from Dan at Seahorse Source for a better price. Dan gives excellant customer service too.
In regards to your tank, I would stock it with non stinging coral first, along with pods. That way the pod population can build up without predation and get established. When aquascaping be mindful of keeping all the glass walls accessible to clean so nuisance algae does not become a problem. Also make sure there are no dead spots where detritus can build up and fuel dangerous bacteria, (which is the seahorse's #1 enemy).
What sort of coral are you thinking of keeping?
That was going to be my next step in this process was researching what corals would be seahorse friendly but also having the bright, beautiful colors we are wanting. Any suggestions of the type of coral would GREATLY appreciated. Also, what color of seahorses are the H Erectus? I was only going to buy captive bred, that was the only thing I knew. Should I get my corals up and running before I add my horses or horses first? That's the big question.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Here is a pic of my 36g seahorse tank to show some of the coral and macro algae you can consider. I have mushrooms, zoas, palys, monticaps for color, along with dragon's breath and red grape caulerpa macro algae. I have gorgs, kenya tree and colt coral for hitches al so along with the macro algae. Macro algae when you harvest (prune) it is a great way to export nutrients from the system too. It does not matter whether you have the coral in first or the seahorses as long as they have hitches in high, medium and low flow areas to choose from.
Erectus can vary in color from dark grayish or brownish to yellows and oranges. All seahorses can change colors and do. Having colorful corals, (real or fake) in reds, oranges and yellows help those colors come out but there are never any guarentees. A lot of erectus have spots or striping which can be very attractive. My female has spots (saddles and blazes) and my male has stripes, but my ponies are shades of reddish brown. My stallion will color up like a siamese cat when he is trying to impress his mate, which is cool to see.
