How many OR Mustangs in a 37 gallon?

[moviegeek]

Hi all. I've read most everything at seahorses.org. This weekend I got my tank just about setup. I plan on adding seahorses in 2-4 months though. I want to get all the macro algae growing and the pod population up beforehand.

I was planning on 2 pairs of Mustangs. The 37 shares a sump with a 50 gallon FOWLR that has a porcupine puffer and a spiney boxfish. I want to keep the bioload reasonable to give the fish some growing room. Could I go with 6 Mustangs instead of 4?

One other question: should I get equal number of males and females, only 1 male, or what?

I have a Remora Pro skimmer with Mag 3 pump, live rock only for bio filtration, a 4" sandbed in the 50 gallon, and a 5" sandbed in the 37 gallon.

Thanks!

[Airel]

Hi,
You can easily keep up to 8 horses (4 pair) in your 37gal tank. The ratio of males/females is simply your personal preference. I like to keep even numbers of sexes. If you keep odd numbers, remember it is better to have more females than males. I think 1 male for 2 females would be a nice ratio. I have found that the Ocean Rider horses do not form "mated" pairs. I didn't realize this fact until I acquired a pair of wild caught H. reidi from a seahorse friend. This pair is truly a mated pair. They do all of the rituals I had only read about and not witnessed as I only had OR's in my tank. They greet every morning without fail and are obviously crazy in love with each other!!!

Best of Luck with your new tank and HTH,
DeAnne :cool: