hi guys, need advice

[rendeyxu]

first timer here in this forum

i got several question i wanna ask.

since i plan to add some seahorses or pipefishes to my refugium, i know they will eat up cops though. but this tank is basically for macro algae, and i feed live rotifer everyday


1. can pipefish and seahorse coexist? what's the ideal number of them for a 55 gallon tank.

2. i know it's better to get farm raised seahorse. but what's the percent luck you get with wild caught ones?

3. could you recommend some good place to shop farm raised ones? and also what kind of seahorses i should start with.

i got a 200 gallon sps tank, and consider myself as middle level reefer.

thanks

[aRieLsWiMs]

first, i dont know if its best to keep seahorses in a refugium.....and if you do get them, be sure to feed them properly 2 times a day. seahorses require a lot of time. seahorses and pipe fish can be kept together. you will need some sort of plants or dead coral for the seahorse to hitch onto.

1.) 55 gallons is quite a big tank for the smaller seahorses. you might have better luck with h. ingens in a big tank like that. but you'd need a smaller tank for it to grow in, so it won't have a hard time finding food, and so that you can find it in the tank. h. erectus is one of the hardiest species of seahorses.

2.) the difference in keeping wild caught and captive bred seahorses is that wild caught will need to be fed live ghost shrimp and you will have to train them to eat frozen PE mysis. also, wild caughts can be brought in with parasites or diseases. captive bred horses are already trained to eat frozen food, and are WAYYYYY less likely to have any sort of parasite or disease.

3.) www.marinedepotlive.com is a GREAT place to buy CB seahorses.

HTH

[mendelec]

Hey rendeyxu,

To quickly address your questions (might not be best to characterize them as answers)....

Yes, seahorses and pipefish can co-exist.

How many in a 55? Some. There are simply too many variables to give a more meaningful answer.

Success with WC seahorses without previous seahorse experience can only be described as dismal. Your reef experience would probably improve that all the way up to extremely poor. In addition to having greater survival rates, CB are actually much cheaper in a very short timeframe. Go price out live food and you'll see what I mean. You'll see anectodal reports of WC taking readily to frozen, but you should realize that it's the exception.

Pipes are necessarily going to be WC. Mixing WC and CB can be problematic. Wouldn't suggest it because of disease issues and sick pipes are hard to spot/diagnose/treat. Also, feeding WC pipes in a refugium is going to be difficult. They'll strip the food supply in no time flat. Best to leave pipes for when keeping seahorses has become routine for you.

Another issue to consider is your tank temperature. If this is the refugium for your 200g sps tank, the temp is probably too high for SH's. Check the temp. ranges on the species.

As far as an easier/beginning SH species, I'd suggest H. erectus. No such thing for pipes. I'll point you to seahorse.org or syngnathid.org for more specific reading.

[rendeyxu]

Thanks guys for the input.

what's the ideal temp for seahorse? mendelec?

[ozadars]

actually in a refugium if you have loads of pods i would recommend a pipe instead of seahorse because pod eater seahorses like dwarfs are way too small for a 55 gal tank, bigger seahorses need to be feed daily (2 times a day) and if you cant do that pipefish are both big, suitable for a 55 gal tank and pods will provide enough nutrient/food for them. I used to have one in my reef tank w/o stinging animals and i had lots of pods but one day i saw a wound behind its eyes, probably a hermit crab or another invert did it, then i lost it

I am not thinking of buying one more pipefish for my reef tank but i can think when i will have a refugium

[kanastasi]

a few comments..

first, what can of current do you have going through the fuge? generally, they can be pretty turbulent, which is not seahorse friendly.. seahorses and their pipefish cousins are very deliberate, slow eaters and need areas of low to no current.

second, temperature may be a major issue for some seahorse species. i have a seahorse only tank and elected to get species that liked the temp around 76. some of the larger ones prefer a cooler temp, say 74.


personally, i used marine depot live for a pair of CB barbs, (smaller guys), and was pleased with the experience. i may try ocean rider next, as i hear they have extremely colorful specimens. i would never recommend live caught, unless you need breeding stock. i've had 3 die already in the last 2 months.
(i just can't help myself when my lfs gets them in, but they never do as well as the CB's.)

and just food for thought, i've been in the reef hobby for about 5-6 years and just recently began keeping seahorses. they are the neatest looking thing i've ever kept and would guess that if your fuge is not "displayed" you'll wind up setting up a separate system to display the cool-looking buggers..

[dapet]

Hi Guy;s:

Have had two wc horses for a month know. I put them in quartine with Mel Flex. I hope that I can get them to live, as I did my male george. Have had two CB order for george, but they haven't arrived as yet. My local fish store has my order, no one was shipping until after the first. Hope to have them real soon know. Good Luck to all on these beatiful one's.