Next project!! Sweet home 4 2 dwarf seahorses!!

[zeroblake07]

Well , reefers same as always good night !!

Tonight i got my delivery of my second small aquarium!! Another ecopico , but this time i want to do something different and probably not easy, because i want to make happy to my wife!! She will like to have in home a couple of this beauty species of seahorses, i've been reading a lot about it!! And is going to be a challenge !! But i want to try it also! I'm going to build another pico !! It could be cheap because i have stones and more stuff than i changed from my main pico, so, i make a couple of types set up of rock to see which one looks better and i found it!! I'll leave the pics to show you guys!! Well i hope to everything runs ok , make my wife dreams come true !!

Thank you very much reefers and have a great night !!

Any ideas or opinions feel free to tell me !! Thanks

 

[NYreefNoob]

what size tank is that ? as someone who kept seahorse 5-6 years, that tank looks like it is going to be to small, also they tend to do better in lower temps, what do you plan for filtration ? temp control ? lighting ? any other live stock going to be in there ?

 

[zeroblake07]

what size tank is that ? as someone who kept seahorse 5-6 years, that tank l

Hello, well i just want 1 or 2 corals for them, some live plants to make a good environment, and just 2 little seahorses nothing else. As i know this is a small tank just 5.5 gallons from ecoxotic , i have a 5 gallons canister filter, and a heather also, i know than this new proyect will be a challenge, also i've been reading than seahorses doesn't like to much water flow , to lighting i going to use 2 led arms with 9w each, 18w total, to water i'm going to use Ro/Di water !! I'm going to try make it simple
But healthy environment!! If you can recommend something please i will appreciate !! Thank you

 

[Geraud]

I am keeping a herd in a tank like that. Some pieces of advice:

- get more than two, like 4-6. If possible ask for couples. Soon you will get 20 though. But just in case you lose one...

- your canister filter might be too much flow. Personally I am using a small hang-on back pump from Red Sea, plus an air-pump driven skimmer. Works perfectly like that.

As for corals, be VERY VERY careful. Anything a bit aggressive might eat them. It is better to just leave them by themselves. Especially since adding corals could mean adding hydroids.

Same with live algae, you need to put them first, and check for hydroids. After that, if you do get hydroids, you need to wipe them all using a dog de-wormer.

Otherwise they are quite easy to care for as long as you keep your brine shrimp culture in check.

 

[zeroblake07]

I am keeping a herd in a tank like that. Some pieces of advice:

- get more than two, like 4-6. If possible ask for couples. Soon you will get 20 though. But just in case you lose one...

- your canister filter might be too much flow. Personally I am using a small hang-on back pump from Red Sea, plus an air-pump driven skimmer. Works perfectly like that.

As for corals, be VERY VERY careful. Anything a bit aggressive might eat them. It is better to just leave them by themselves. Especially since adding corals could mean adding hydroids.

Same with live algae, you need to put them first, and check for hydroids. After that, if you do get hydroids, you need to wipe them all using a dog de-wormer.

Otherwise they are quite easy to care for as long as you keep your brine shrimp culture in check.

Thank you for your comments.

Well i wanto keep it as simple as i could keep it! About this filter , it doesn't make to much flow. When i had it in my other aquarium i had to changed because i was needing more flow and i put anoter one, i'll try how strong will be the flow with this filter, and i will like if you could show me a pic from yours to see how you work with it!! Today i'm going to start the cycle i will put pictures after it's running !! And will keep in mind your comment , thank you so much for the info !! Have a good day

 

[Geraud]

You can see a little video I made of they favorite activity (those are horny little buggers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYhN-llRpI

As you can see I was using the pump sold with the tank back then. Albeit with some mesh net glued inside it to avoid babies getting sucked in. Now the HOB filter with a sponge on the intake provides the filtration. I will try and post pictures later.

 

[NYreefNoob]

geraud those are dwarfs arent they

 

[Geraud]

Yep, you can see how big they are compared to the sexy shrimps! Tiny!

 

[zeroblake07]

You can see a little video I made of they favorite activity (those are horny little buggers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeYhN-llRpI

As you can see I was using the pump sold with the tank back then. Albeit with some mesh net glued inside it to avoid babies getting sucked in. Now the HOB filter with a sponge on the intake provides the filtration. I will try and post pictures later.

Wow!! That was amazing!! I hope to could get a few of them as soon my cycle has finished . I will like to see you HOB filter to have an idea in what i will looking for!! And also why type of live plants will you recommend to me! I never have live plants in my aquarium!! And also what type of skimmer, will be good for this small thank and where i could buy it !! Thank you again!! Have a good day

 

[Geraud]

I am using this HOB filter: "Red Sea Nano filter"

And my skimmer is a "Oceanic Biocube skimmer".

I have the tank on my desk in my bedroom so I wanted something really quiet. And they actually are, including the provided air pump.

You can see both at Manhattan Aquariums, on the little counter where they package goodies. (they carry them as well).

For some time I was also running the little pump, with carbon, and to provide more surface flow (to avoid surface filter) but it is not necessary anymore. There is a little bit of Carbon in my HOB.

 

[zeroblake07]

I am using this HOB filter: "Red Sea Nano filter"

And my skimmer is a "Oceanic Biocube skimmer".

I have the tank on my desk in my bedroom so I wanted something really quiet. And they actually are, including the provided air pump.

You can see both at Manhattan Aquariums, on the little counter where they package goodies. (they carry them as well).

For some time I was also running the little pump, with carbon, and to provide more surface flow (to avoid surface filter) but it is not necessary anymore. There is a little bit of Carbon in my HOB.

Nice!! I just check the HOB filter online and a PetStore near me have it!! Actually they have both!! So i'll be ready for tonight start to set up , and begin the cycle, i'll check the dwarf seahorses in the next weeks to find a nice ones!! Thank you so much Geraud for your help!! I really appreciated !! Have a good night !!

 

[Geraud]

Two sources:

Seahorse coral (captive bred)

Cramer's Carribean Critters (wild caught)

They are about the same prices I believe. The ones at LiveAquaria are ridiculously overpriced.

 

[NYreefNoob]

dwarfs dont have a long life span, and the problem is keeping live food for them, friends who have been keeping sh's for 20 years avoid the dwarfs and have even had some really odd colored one's they didnt keep, regular size sh's are going to be too big for that tank, please dont put them in that 8g system, it isnt as much of width or length as height they need, some really good threads on reef central in reguards to them, also member george and domboski are two others that had kept them for awhile

 

[Geraud]

Feeding them is actually not that bad. Since I hated decapsulating the brine shrimp myself I went with ordering already decapsulated ones and that makes it pretty easy.

3 "batches" at all times: one to feed, one to hatch, one to grow. Every day you change the water of the one you just used and add salt and eggs. Done.

Of course that means you need to be on top of it. But they are pretty hardy. During Sandy they lived through a water at 57 and no food for a week. The only one that died was 3 days old. The others had no issues whatsoever.

 

[zeroblake07]

Ok reefers! Here is my little project!!
Tonight i put it to run , i'm gonna try to do my best to could keep the dwarf ones, but i'm reading your comments and you guys makes me think than this will be hardy to keep! But i know than to have live food for them
Will be a challenge , i saw last days in the store than a little bottle of copepods are a little expensive ! And hatch brine shrimp will be a lot of work , i might thinking to feed them with mysis shrimp , if they could eat it!! If not i will do my best to keep it healthy!!

Well , i have to use my older canister filter,because i couldn't buy a HOB filter unfortunately where i thought to buy it , was sold out, so i use my old one!! And i think looks good, not much water flow , and not too strong water suction!!

Well, same as always any comment or suggestions feel free to post!! Have a great night reefers !!

 

[Geraud]

Sadly they will eat nothing but live food. So either copepods or brine shrimp. Regarding copepods, try to get the ones that normally live in reef tanks. *not* tiger pods as apparently those can become a nuisance to them (too fast to be caught and "infest them").

I would suggest that you add copepods from your other tank (and just that!!) when the tank has some algae so that they can start developing there.

Long term requirement: brine shrimp hatching... without it I do not believe it is possible to keep them.

ps: mysis are way too big for their tiny mouths.

 

[zeroblake07]

Sadly they will eat nothing but live food. So either copepods or brine shrimp. Regarding copepods, try to get the ones that normally live in reef tanks. *not* tiger pods as apparently those can become a nuisance to them (too fast to be caught and "infest them").

I would suggest that you add copepods from your other tank (and just that!!) when the tank has some algae so that they can start developing there.

Long term requirement: brine shrimp hatching... without it I do not believe it is possible to keep them.

ps: mysis are way too big for their tiny mouths.

I know , and that will be the hard part, trying to have a good source of live food for them!! Another thing as soon as i see the algae grow up , i will add the copepods but they will live good in a new tank!! Until i add the seahorses??

 

[rookie07]

Paulb made a great brine shrimp feeder.

 

[zeroblake07]

Paulb made a great brine shrimp feeder.

How i could buy some food from him? He delivery or is local pick up!'