new to hobby

[shootist]

I am attempting to set up a new tank for seahorses. My husband has an elaborate setup and is experienced in reef care but not seahorse care. I am starting small just to see if I am able to keep them alive and thriving. I am starting with a 10 gallon hex tank, standard hood and light that was included. my husband bought the heater and hand on the back filter, I trust he knew what he was doing. My question is....I put black sand in it and my husband said I could take some sand from his tank that has been set up for over a year now. How long do I need to wait to put his and in to my tank. He put 5 gallons of water from his tank and 5 gallons fresh saltwater in there. We did it this morning. Can I go ahead and add his live sand to the tank or should I wait a few days. We haven't tested the water or anything yet. He said to wait a few days but I am impatient... I have been reading over the forum but any and all advice is welcome. I haven't read much about success rate in such a small tank though. I am planning on a larger tank if I am successful but probably only a 20 gallon or so.

[shootist]

P.S. I am only planning on two seahorses, clean up crew and maybe two pipefish although my husband thinks the pipefish are a bad idea

[hydroid]

I'll be honest. seahorses are a very poor choice for starting out. They require an elevated level of care and can have a number of issues that require experienced response.

Experienced reef keepers are near the top of home aquarists in terms of knowledge, imo. Unfortuneatly, their reef knowledge can work against them when it comes to seahorses. A perfect reef setup is almost always a very poor seahorse environment. You are lucky to have his basic marine experience in house though.

The 10G isn't an appropriate tank for any species of seahorse, except for a few that require a chiller, and those are hard to come by. The 20G is marginal at very best. Unless you want a heartache from failure, please start with a more hardy species, and graduate into seahorses in a more appropriate setup.

Learn how to cycle a tank and maintain high water quality (hubby can help here) ... then research seahorse keeping ... read all you can on requirements, feeding, diseases, tankmates, etc. Then setup a seahorse tank and teach hubby a few things.

HTH

[seacraze]

He is so right on with that answer - they need and deserve exceptional water conditions and ample space to survive.

There are some really good post explaining some perfect set ups amongst these threads, read them they will help so much...

good luck

[shootist]

Thanks for the advice. I was worried that a 10 gallon would be too small. I guess I am not ready for seahorses. I have been doing tons of reading and research though. I will put something different in the 10 gallon until I can get a bigger hex for the sh. I don't want them to suffer because I don't have the right setup. What about pipefish in the current tank I have?? Is it too small for them? Maybe just a pair or two with some nonstinging corals. I would of course change my lighting system.

[ann83]

pipefish need more horizontal swimming room and a 10 gallon hex is really narrow. I am not sure that there are any pipefish that would be comfortable with that small of a length for swimming. It is much easier to care for a larger tank than it is a smaller tank, and it is easier to keep all parameters stable in a larger tank, so you may want to upgrade to a larger water volume (say 30 gallons or more) as your first try. There will be much less heartache if you start large.