adding a seahorse to a reef tank

Ok, before I say anything, I am fairly certain I'll be shot down. But I figure it doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

You can look at my sig to see what I have in my 90g mixed reef tank. It has been established for about 8 months, and has lots of pods and live foods running around 110 pounds of live rock. All parameters are stable.

Here goes - can I add a single, captive-bred seahorse to this tank with any chance of success? I don't have the space for a species tank, nor do I really want more than one seahorse. I know they like low flow, and there are areas of my tank where the water is calmer.

Are there any species of seahorse that this may work for, or is this a lost cause from the get-go?

EDIT: Of course, I am talking about a tropical species of seahorse, which can exist at the 78 degrees I normally keep my tank at. Not a temperate or sub-tropical species.

 

i think there are a number of problems, for one all your fish are agressive eaters, so when it comes to feeding time they will out compete the sea horses for food, and you also have corals in there which will sting them.

 

yea iwouldnt do it man. i wanted to do the same with sea horses but i cant either. im setting up a dif tank for them though...

 

wat if you tried setting up an internal fuge kinda thing for the seahorse? like a tank inside a tank kinda thing? i have no expeeiance with this or sea horses ...just an idea lol

 

Dont do it, The flow alone would kill them.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought. Ok, I won't get them. It's just a shame though - beautiful animals. I just can't justify a whole other tank, though.

 

Thanks for inquiring first before doing.
You most likely have saved the life of a seahorse.

 

i like this idea... will some kind of division of the tank help? like adding a piece of glass in the tank, leaving about 20 gals for the sea horse. a tank within the tank... would that work??

 

to me and my complete lack of experiance i would think it would ...they would be shelterd from excessive current and attacks from coral/fish only issue i can c is temp. but im no expert on that mabe some1 alitttle more knowledgeable can chime in just my salty 2¢

 

A tank cannot do anything more than "treat" the seahorses with pod life.
Whatever you try to grow has to be large enough to entice the seahorses to eat.
Adult seahorses aren't interested in copepods like they were when they were fry, so you need something the size of mysids, and because they take so long to grow, plus you would need a lot of space with rubble/macro for the young to hide as the older ones eat the younger ones, that significant numbers just aren't practical.
You would be better off with a separate container to raise the live food and then transfer it to the seahorse tank for them to hunt down.
If you divide the tank, and let something grow on one side, you have to have something on the seahorse side to entice them to move there.
Seahorses are extremely proficient at hunting down any live life form.

I should have mentioned that temperatures need to be in the 68° to 74° F range, even though the horses may come from higher temperatures in the wild.
In our tanks, bacteria like vibrio multiply exponentially with a rise in temperature, especially at 75° and above.
Seahorses are very susceptible to these bacterial infestations and usually pay the ultimate price.