Seahorses In Reef

[SeahorseKeeper]

I'll start off by wishing you luck. I'll be following your progress. I am a believer that seahorses can be kept in a tank with corals, but I feel they need to be seahorse friendly. Seahorses are scaleless, which makes them more susceptible to injury from stinging corals.

Also, I do have some questions and concerns about you doing this. Do you run GFO? Long term exposure to GFO can irritate the gills of the seahorses and lead to complications.

Do you plan on keeping the temp at 77? This can create a breeding ground for bacteria such as vibrosis, especially if you feed the tank heavily. This is not a risk that I would be willing to take.

As far as the power heads, do you plan on covering them? That is a seahorse hitching post disaster waiting to happen. I would highly recommend adding a cover to the power heads and any other equipment that they can hitch on and be injured.

 

[theguy67]

I have tried this in my 55 with 2 kuda. Only issue I had was getting them to eat, and they eventually died. I also made the mistake of decreasing flow, causing issues in the tank. I think its totally possible, but it will help greatly to have the basic experience just keeping them in general.

What is the flow in there???

 

[Liquid360]

Ill start off by thanking you for the luck! Like I said, I'm not entering into this blindly by any stretch of the imagination. I'm hyperaware of the potential issues. First off I don't dose anything at all, just good salt and water changes. Temp is maintained at 77f during the day and 73f at night. I do this because shallow reefs I believe are cooler at night. I've got a 1/2hp probe chiller and digital thermostat system which keeps these temps quite accurately. As far as the powerhead goes you'll just have to trust me. If god forbid I'm wrong ill be the first say so. The design of the powerhead doesn't allow for them to get stuck. This wouldn't be true had I smaller horses, but they are too large to fit into the intakes and are strong enough swimmers not to get stuck. I have tested this all afternoon. Ill be updating this thread regularly. I understand and share your concern for their safety. All current is turned off at night and during daytime I'm here watching. Trust me when I say that I've done my research and I'm not going into this blind by any stretch of the imagination. I'm schooled.

I'll start off by wishing you luck. I'll be following your progress. I am a believer that seahorses can be kept in a tank with corals, but I feel they need to be seahorse friendly. Seahorses are scaleless, which makes them more susceptible to injury from stinging corals.

Also, I do have some questions and concerns about you doing this. Do you run GFO? Long term exposure to GFO can irritate the gills of the seahorses and lead to complications.

Do you plan on keeping the temp at 77? This can create a breeding ground for bacteria such as vibrosis, especially if you feed the tank heavily. This is not a risk that I would be willing to take.

As far as the power heads, do you plan on covering them? That is a seahorse hitching post disaster waiting to happen. I would highly recommend adding a cover to the power heads and any other equipment that they can hitch on and be injured.

 

[Liquid360]

Yeah feeding was my first concern. The tank has the right amount of flow and whatever isn't consumed by the tank ends up in one very specific location behind the yellow gorgonians. They quickly found this location and have eaten plenty and have returned to that spot waiting for food. I had believed this to be the greatest hurdle but I was wrong. We'll see what happens... Here are photos of my tank from other sides.

 

[redtop03]

my only concern was seeing it hitched to that powerhead, I kinda felt queezy just seeing that...

back when I had mine, I was alway worried that they would venture into a propeller type powerhead so I didn't use 'em, just several MJ900s....

as long as they can eat without some of the more aggressive eaters taking it from 'em and you don't have any stinging coral, they should be OK in there, sounds like you have pretty good control over the water temp...

the biggest issue I ever seen with horses in a reef was keeping enough water flow for the coral but not so much that the horses couldn't swim in it, that and usually the temperature for coral is a bit warmer than where the horses naturally came from....

I hope you the best of luck, same with anybody keeping horses, those are some of the most incredible creatures on the planet...and your's looks great in there with all the coral

 

[Liquid360]

Thanks so much!! And i couldn't agree more! They are AMAZING animals! They eat out of my hand and they actually pay attention to everything... even when I pass by the tank they watch. Such prehistoric marvels of evolution!

I hope you the best of luck, same with anybody keeping horses, those are some of the most incredible creatures on the planet...and your's looks great in there with all the coral

 

[Liquid360]

Lol so awesome! Just watched a fascinating interaction between a somewhat hesitant seahorse and a cleaner shrimp looking for work...

 

[elimav]

That is really cool! I hope it works out. I'll be following along to see how it goes.

 

[reefsandrotts]

This is a great find fo me......
I setup a db 80 frag as a display reef for seahorses and a pair of ORA mandarins,I will also be adding dragon pipes and multi band pipes when they finish qt in 90 days

 

[Liquid360]

Day Two
Uneventful. They fed this morning. The female seems far more confident than the male (hannibal) who's remained among the gorgonians near the food station while the female (clarice) explored. I was happy to see the clown get aggressive when clarice swam past the carpet. I was counting on that big time.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Good news and love the interaction photo!

 

[AquaticallyDistracted22]

Those photos of the cleaner and the seahorse are awesome. I love when my cleaner shrimp go to work, always fun to watch.

I know seahorses are usually delicate and everyone is a little worried, but I have a friend who has a display refugium with a seahorse tied into his display tank. He's told me his seahorse has gone through the overflow 3 times now, ending up in the sump and is still alive and doing well (after being moved back to the refugium obviously). Point being, those buggers are tougher than they look.

 

[Liquid360]

Some more photos today. They are both getting more confident in their new surroundings. As their confidence grows mine decreases.

 

[Liquid360]

Based solely upon their activity level they seems soooo much happier, playful even.

 

[barbianj]

I had a pair of Kudas in my 125 reef for a while. I'd probably still have them, but each lost their snick at separate times, and slowly starved. Never found out why this happened.

I would agree with you that they seemed to be more active in a reef setting. The impression that I had from researching them was completely different than my experience.

 

[Liquid360]

Day Three: Got a photo of them eating. Getting them to eat hasn't been an issue at all. They easily locate their food (mysis) and eat. No problems thus far.

Also the female continues her accurate representations of her surroundings, specks and all!

 

[Liquid360]

 

[reefsandrotts]

Awesome........

 

[strange_reefer13]

Love the pics! Definitely will be following your progress

 

[Liquid360]

The gorgonian forest has proven the perfect solution. The flowering gorgonians provide the perfect hitching posts as well as providing the perfect feeding zone as pieces of mysis get caught on them. Having explored the tank they now seem quite content to hang around in what I'll refer to as The Gorgonian Forest adjacent to the Scoly Garden. Please address any comments or concerns to:
The Scoly Gardens
ATTN: Hannibal & Clarice Seahorse
100 Gorgonian Forest Way
B'ham, AL 46773