Seahorse

haigyfish · Sep 23, 2022

Hello y’all just asking for some advice or tips regarding sea horses. I understand these creatures need pristine water conditions and so forth so I am starting my first saltwater tank 30 gallons. Eventually in a year or so I want to introduce a seahorse, I want to put fish in the tank now that will not cause problems down the road. Currently I have 2 chromis and a clownfish pair. Any ideas or considerations for a fish or 2 addition that would pair fine with seahorses in the near future?
thank you all comments are appreciated

ISpeakForTheSeas · Sep 23, 2022

haigyfish said:
Hello y’all just asking for some advice or tips regarding sea horses. I understand these creatures need pristine water conditions and so forth so I am starting my first saltwater tank 30 gallons. Eventually in a year or so I want to introduce a seahorse, I want to put fish in the tank now that will not cause problems down the road. Currently I have 2 chromis and a clownfish pair. Any ideas or considerations for a fish or 2 addition that would pair fine with seahorses in the near future?
thank you all comments are appreciated

Just for clarification here, you're planning on keeping the seahorse, chromis, clownfish, and another fish or two in the same 30 gallon tank, correct?

Before getting into seahorse husbandry, I'd recommend reading through at least the following links (the "Seahorse/Pipefish" forum here on R2R has some other great stickies at the top that I'd recommend reading through too, but I'd suggest these as a bare minimum):

Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #1 - Introduction and Setting Up Your Seahorse Tank

Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #1 - Introduction and Setting Up Your Seahorse Tank This article is the first in a 6-part series that is designed to help those of you who already have the knowledge and ability to keep marine life in an aquarium, but want to learn the particulars of keeping...

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Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #2 - Aquascaping and Providing Excellent Water Quality

Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #2 - Aquascaping and Providing Excellent Water Quality In our first article on Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria, we looked at an introduction to seahorses and setting up a seahorse tank. In this second article of our 6-part series, we will examine the process of...

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Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #3 - Stocking Your Seahorse Tank: What to Add Other Than the Ponies

Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria #3 - Stocking Your Seahorse Tank: What to Add Other Than the Ponies Photo by @FishRForMe In our previous article on Keeping Seahorses in Aquaria, we examined the process of aquascaping and achieving the excellent water quality. In this third article of our 6-part...

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Seahorse Tankmates Guide - Part I: Fish

* this is for "regular-sized" seahorses only and cannot be used in determining tankmates for Dwarf Seahorses. 0 Risk Rating no aggressive tendencies no food competition (*) mostly benthic/cryptic and keep to themselves 1 Risk Rating no aggressive tendencies minimal food competition mostly...

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Fish Inhabitants with Large Seahorses

Fish that go well with large seahorses A lot people want to keep other fish in their seahorse tanks to complement their seahorses. The fish also help with consuming excess food that the seahorses do not eat as well as adding another dimension to the tank. It is important to take certain...

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Some final thoughts from a recent, related post I made:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
I’m definitely not a seahorse expert, so hopefully you’ll get some more experienced responses (read: here’s a bump) but a couple things come to mind for me:

First, with the tank being plumbed into your 300, what is the water temperature? It's generally recommended to keep seahorse tanks at 70-74F*, as they are prone to bacterial issues and the cooler temp drastically reduces the reproduction of pathogenic bacteria.

Second, clownfish are generally considered to poor to downright bad tankmates for seahorses**, so - peaceful or not - it may be a good idea to remove them (and anything else that may cause the problems for the seahorses - crabs, stinging corals or nems, etc.).

Third, I know a lot of different species can be enticed to eat using live feed, so you might want to try adding some live mysis, amphipods, brine shrimp, or - if the horses are big enough - even live ghost shrimp. Of course, you would want to gut-load these before adding them to the tank (i.e. you would want to feed them a bunch of phyto before adding them).

Fourth, I'm not sure how you're spot feeding, but the method I've seen recommended uses a turkey baster to basically just squeeze the mysis out in front of the seahorses face***.