20 gallon long for paired Brazillian seahorses

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by ghost, Jun 7, 2006.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. ghost

    ghost Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    May 19, 2005
    Messages:
    47
    Location:
    CT
    Here is my setup...

    20 gallon long tank
    330 bio wheel filter
    over the tank skimmer
    live rocks
    some corals
    hard corals.

    Can you think of anythinkg else? Or will I need a bigger tank? Please advise
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 4, 2004
    Messages:
    9,219
    Location:
    CT
    I wouldn't put corals in with seahorses at all. Also, a breeding pair of horses would do better in a 20 gallon high than a 20 gallon long as they need to swim high up in the water column to feel comfortable enough to breed. You'll also need to provide the horses with hitching posts (of the non-coral variety) so look into adding some plastic plants which you can use forever or until you have a chance to grow macro algae in the tank for them to hitch on. When you consider a sea horses feeding requirements, your filtration choices will not be enough to keep up with the bio-load that their feeding can produce. If by over the tank skimmer, the only one that I know if is the Prizm which is not a good skimmer at all so keep that in mind when you're out shopping for a hang on skimmer.
     
  4. Black_Raven

    Black_Raven Scooter Blennie

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Messages:
    1,220
    Location:
    Woodbury, MN,Minnesota
    I agree with everything amcarrig says. I used to keep sea horses and they need a tall tank to be happy. A 29g is a perfect tank for them. They also need to be feed 3 times daily as they have no stomach to speak of.
    Live corals can also injure them. I used to use dead branching coral and plastic plants.
    They also prefer slowly moving water. The 330 penguin may be too much flow for a 20g. I would go with a penguin 200 and a good HOT skimmer like the remora or bak pak.
    Good luck!