Is my tank too big?

[heedicus]

Ok so i am ready for a new challenge. I have a 55 gallon that I am keeping around and am looking into stocking it. So I looked at seahorses. But is my tank too big? I have read that they cant live in that big of a tank becuase of the whole eating thing. Any one ever kept em in this size tank (48x12x16) i believe.
I am looking for any and all info any of youall may have about tank setup, best livestock dealers, any other sugguestoins on anything while i continue my research.
Thanks,
Tren

[ranaman]

I would think a 55 would be fine for most large horses. Seahorses are good at seeing food and CB horses really have the people=food thing down good. Abig tank also would allow you to keep a nice group.

[heedicus]

ok have some patience with me...
So I checked out the stocking levels over on the seahorse.org and am going to go with the the larger specie and have a smaller herd.
but know i need more info! anyone know of a good faq?
filtration? I heard lr can be bad cause there is something on the rock they can eat and die? how much lr per gallon?
dsb?
how do i figure out how much water movement?
I have read that some fish can be kept with horses is that so?
tips sugguestions???
thanks
tren

[ranaman]

Well the best FAQ is to check the boards at seahorse.org . There are people with more experience than me with these fish.
About live rock the thing most people worry about is hydroids these are mainly a pest with dwarf seahorse and babies because of their competion for food and secondly their stinging. The populations explode due to frequent feeding of baby brine shrimp. Big seahorses don't have major issues with hydroids but can be bothered by Aiptasia anemones and other stinging critters. You might look at branch rock since it might give more hitching space. Remember you might want to give more open hunting areas for the horses and areas for macro algae to grow. DSB are fine if have the wattage you can grow seagrass. With less light you can grow Caulerpa prolifera which is a good imitation. Current it seems some seahorses like current others hate it. Some will seek out current to find food , this is not aspecies thing but an individual horse personality thing.
about other fish see the sticky at seahorse.org message board on tankmates. you want to avoid fish that may peck at the horses. Dragonets,( scooters and mandarins) firefish,and cardinals come to mind. HTH

[DgenR8]

I've been poking around this forum lately as I'm thinking of adding my now empty 75 gal to my existing system, adding a DSB, some caulerpa, some live rock and a dozen or so Sea Horses. I'm thinking that 2 Pinictus Batfish might round the tank off well. I'm thinking of the Bats not only because of their beauty, but because they are slow to feed, like ponies. I know that a tank as big as a 75 will make feeding tougher, but since I plan on making it more or less a 'fuge with ponies, I think it'll work out. There should be lots of live food in the form of copepods, and since the tank will be run on a common 200 gal sump/'fuge, I expect a never ending pod supply.
So, in short, heedicus I don't think a 55 is a bad idea at all.

[123456]

Obviously just make sure that everyone is getting food. Most people with tanks that size spot feed their horses in the same location every day so that they know where the food is coming from. I think they'd be quite happy with that much space, considering how big the males territory is in the wild. LR is fine with the bigger horses for filtration reasons, but the horses dont care for it much. Most of my tank contains caulerpa and they are much happier with that because every inch of my tank has some sort of hitching post so they swim all over hunting every day.

Amanda