Which Corals Are Safe With Seahorses

jje2016 · Jul 4, 2016

I'm looking for a list of what corals are safe to add with seahorses? I'm concerned with the seahorse getting stung or hurt.

kschweer · Jul 4, 2016

@SeahorseKeeper or possibly @Lionfish Lair may be able to help. [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

Diesel · Jul 4, 2016

@melypr1985 might know that too as she works a large LFS in Dallas.

Humblefish · Jul 4, 2016

I'm not a seahorse expert, but I believe they are typically housed with gorgonians: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=597+601

melypr1985 · Jul 4, 2016

I've learned that it's not a great idea to house seahorses with gorgonians (mostly those that have to be fed regularly) mainly because they require High flow and lots of feeding which creates poor water quality and a fast current the horses can't deal with.

Now, you could do zoas, leathers and xenia, GSP, lots of macro algaes are pretty to put in a display. Things that dont sting, can stand low flow and dont require feeding.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 4, 2016

This may help some. http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml

It really needs some updating, and I'm sure a lot of those "1"s would now be "0"s. At the time that was put together, a lot of us (me) were resistant to tankmates at all. Things have changed and I have changed and there's probably 1s and 2s on that list that I wouldn't blink an eye at now.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 4, 2016

Case in point.... the first 15 years I kept seahorses you would have never seen me recommend this. Then year 16, I was throwing everyone in my pool! LOL!

(the seahorses was at zero risk)

Lionfish Lair · Jul 5, 2016

Oops, I messed up and erased a paragraph.

Seahorses don't really make great tankmates for some corals. They touch on everything, sometimes for extended periods of time. A lot of corals don't like ot be mauled and heavy pressure from a tail over niche tissue on a sharp coral skeletons, can harm some LPS. I found leathers to be especially great.

This guy had a favorite.

77.christy · Jul 5, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Case in point.... the first 15 years I kept seahorses you would have never seen me recommend this. Then year 16, I was throwing everyone in my pool! LOL!

(the seahorses was at zero risk)

Hi. I'd love to know ur secret! I've been prepping a 35 octagon tall for 8 months for seahorses. I added 3 4 weeks ago and lost my 2nd one this morning. [emoji22]. There are 3 cardinals, a sea hare, snails, a bi-colored dottyback, a mushroom coral, Kenya trees, zoas, and mushrooms on LR. The temp is low and I only turn the MP10 on for 1/2 hr or so to stir the food off the bottom. Everything else in the tank is doing great. I've been told numerous times SH are very tricky, but you're proof it can be done!

jje2016 · Jul 5, 2016

Are Chalices typically safe for Seahorses?

Lionfish Lair · Jul 5, 2016

There's no secrets, @77.christy. If you start a new thread, we'll give you all the help we can to be successful!

Lionfish Lair · Jul 5, 2016

jje2016 said:
Are Chalices typically safe for Seahorses?

I would have no problem putting a seahorse with one. If it was an expensive calice, I may be a little more hesitant.

jje2016 · Jul 6, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
I would have no problem putting a seahorse with one. If it was an expensive calice, I may be a little more hesitant.

How do you feel about a pulsing xenia?

Lionfish Lair · Jul 6, 2016

That's a good one.

TylerMoralez · Jul 6, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
There's no secrets, @77.christy. If you start a new thread, we'll give you all the help we can to be successful!

What would be the max flow a seahorse could take? I too thought about adding one.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 6, 2016

They are fine with your average flow tank. There are some tanks that are "all about the flow", that is turbulent and variable.... I'd keep horses out of that. Your regular ole tank that it set up with healthy flow, that would be cool. They need a place to get out of the higher flow and they needs areas of higher flow to go to. Mine had a routine every morning of "playing" in the heavy streams, which I'm sure was to get microfauna off of them. We used to say they need low flow and would go about being careful to create such an environment, but have moved away from that over the years. I think a lot of our tanks had stagnancy issues with being tall and "still".

There are other needs that need to be met though, and still are not thought of as the best mates for many situations/environments.

TylerMoralez · Jul 7, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
They are fine with your average flow tank. There are some tanks that are "all about the flow", that is turbulent and variable.... I'd keep horses out of that. Your regular ole tank that it set up with healthy flow, that would be cool. They need a place to get out of the higher flow and they needs areas of higher flow to go to. Mine had a routine every morning of "playing" in the heavy streams, which I'm sure was to get microfauna off of them. We used to say they need low flow and would go about be careful to create such an environment, but have moved away from that over the years. I think a lot of our tanks had stagnancy issues with being tall and "still".

There are other needs that need to be met though, and still are not thought of as the best mates for many situations/environments.

Thank you for the information!

reefwiser · Jul 7, 2016

Seahorses scream for a Biotope aquarium. Sea grasses would be a great choice of tank mates.

tropicaldreams · Jul 7, 2016

I have medium high flow in my tank with 6 seahorses. As long as they have a low flow spot they can go hide then it's not a big deal. Mine purposely swim right in front of the wave makers. For corals I have corky finger, toadstool, mushrooms, leptos, zoas, acans, rock flower anemones, and some random sps. I have never had any issues. Going on a year strong.