Planning a Seahorse Tank

[orkspace]

So I'm planning on adding seahorses to my existing reef tank. Here are the stats:

29 Glass Tank
CPR BakPak II Skimmer
2 x 36w Power Compact Lighting
25lbs of Manono Live Rock
30lbs or so of mostly oolithic live sand
Stable temperature running between 79.3 and 79.5 F

The tank has been up for nine months or so hosting the following life (in addition to the usual cleanup crew suspects):

1 Tridacna maxima
1 green open brain coral
lots of shrooms
lots of green star polyps
1 dime-sized unidentifiable anemone, possibly E. quadricolor.
Lots of feather caulpera and a smattering of pods.

I'm planning on adding several different species of macroalgae, hopefully causing a boost in the pod population. I don't think I'd be able to keep enough pods to sustain a seahorse, and I'm loathe to culture any other live food. I'd be hoping to use frozen mysid shrimp as the main seahorse food.

I'd like to add two Oceanrider sunbursts ... does anyone see any problem with this? How many seahorses could the tank ultimately support? Would a large pod population destroy the seahorses' feeding response to frozen mysid shrimp? I notice that the oceanrider page discourages feeding their horses live food, except as a very occasional treat. I guess I could summarize my question this way: would I be better off starting a dedicated 10g seahorse tank (lots of vertical space and few pods), or converting my current reef (with lots of pods and only 18" of vertical space) to a seahorse tank?

Thanks for reading!

[Airel]

Hi Orkspace,
The 29gal you spoke about will be fine for seahorses. Vertical space is essential. OceanRider says a min. of 30" in height. Mine is 24" with a 1.5" substrate and I've had no problems. My horse tank is 13mos old. I don't believe the pods would discourage the horses from eating the mysis. I have tons of pods and regular peppermint and cleaner shrimp fry for the horses to snack on and I have no problems with them eating the mysis. You will need to find a new home for the anemone. Horses are not picky about where they hitch and would easily be consummed by the anemone. You can keep up to 8 horses (4 prs) in your 29 gal. The small to med size. When they get larger (6" or begger) I think they would need a taller tank. OceanRider suggest 3X the adult length of the horse for tank height. So an 8" horse would need at least a 24" high tank. Make sense? This would give you an excuse to set up a new tank!! That's all we need is an excuse!!

HTH,
DeAnne :)

[Fishwife]

Hi Orkspace - And remember, not too much current in there. I have a 37 gal. and my circulation is provided by the output from my Remora skimmer and from a Penguin filter. It moves the surface of the water and there is some movement down lower but not too much for the horses. Load up on caulerpa and turtle grass if you can find it. Move out anything that can sting.

Also, see if you can get a bright orange or red sponge in there. Sunbursts tend to lose their color but when they only have green caulerpa and coraline covered rocks in with them. If something bright orange or red is in the tank, they are more likely to keep their vivid coloration.

Laurie

[SeaNemesis]

I made a backround using black paper and painted bright yellow and orange onto it. I just dabbed the brush to give it a sponge appearance. I have a firered sponge and some lavender sponges and 2 blue sponges. They are neat and the seahorses love to hitch on them.

[whatnot45]

your tank would be just fine except for the anemone you will want to remove that. Also I dissagree about the hight thing. Your tank will be just fine. I too have a 29 gallon tank with a pair of hippocampus erectus from OR mine are mustangs. I have had a HUGE increase in the number of pods lately, and my male horse eats the mysis, but my femal wont touch it any more she will ONLY eat live stuff EG volcano shrimp or pods. Every now and then she will come over and eat some mysis but that is only occasionaly ( once every few days ). She Isnt skinny however she is fatter than the male and She is just fine. I know that OR discourages live food, but its not that bad. I have fed my horses Volcano shrimp once a week for 2 months and pods all the time and they are doing wonderfully my male is even Pregnent. I also feed vibrance enriched frozen mysis every day in the morning and at night in a home made feeding station. As for the current. I keep 1 strong powerhead on half the tank on durring the day. It is hooked up to my lighting timer so it goes off when the light does it seems to work very well. you should be more worried about to little current than to much. Granet dont put in 5 powerheads. Seahorses can hold their own in strong currents, but need a place to go were there is relativly no current so as to rest. For me the turning off of the power head at night acomplishes that very well. I also turn all the filters off and powerheads off except my slow refugium pump when I feed them. This way the mysis stays in the feeding station and dosnt escape and pollute my tank. I learned this lesson the hard way and had a big amonia spike because I was loosing so much mysis. any ways good luck with your seahorses

[pledosophy]

Newby pulled up a 4 and a half year old thread because of conern for the tank. :)