Anyone keep Seahorses?

We are debating on setting up another tank specifically for seahorses and were wondering of anyone on here has experience with them. Any special tips or must know info on keeping them? We have searched around but havent been able to dig up much info on them.

 

ok here we go
cold water no higher thank 74 degrees for them to thrive
fed three times a day- 2 minimum small amounts
they need pristine water quality so you should look into a refugium and a protein skimmer
30 gal minimum except for some dwarf species
no anemones or corals that sting
no other fish that will out compete it for food
they will eat frozen mysis shrimp
you will need some copepods so they can graze all day
tank bred is a must
very low flow or a flow that doesnt change
reef params are good. no ammonia or nitrite. some nitrates (less that 20 ppm)
turn off filter until done eating
selcon soak for added nutrition
and electric feeder may be helpful
good luck!

 

gexx know's wat he is talking about. i also keep sea horses and they are very fun and mine arereally hardy.

 

they interest me for some reason. i usually like the predatory big fish like triggers and lionfish. but these guys get me everytime i look at them. they are something special.

 

Cool so they arent to diffucult to care for, we've got most of the stuff for a really nice system we just didnt know if anyone had any luck keeping them (only one local store within 100 miles of us carries them). We've already got a 40 gallon reef with lots of inverts and coral that require extensive care so the commitment part wont be an issue. Is there anything you can keep with them that wont be an issue? A clean up crew would be ok from what we have read. Would any coral or other tank mates be a good idea or should they be the only creatures in the tank? Also how many can you have and can you have multiple breeds/species in the same tank? It says online they like stuff to cling to so would some tree coral, birdsnest or a gorgonian be a good idea?

 

pipefish are something that you can succesfully keep with seahorses, i dont see the gorgonians being a problem for the seahorses just that the flow required for a gorgonian is usually to much for a seahorse. fake plants work, as a lot of seahorses live in or around seagrass beds, so the ffake plants give it a natural look and a place for them to grab hold of

 

There are a lot of things you can do in keeping seahorses, but the more you add to their system, the worse the odds of success become.
Occasionally hobbyists have succeeded in putting seahorses in reef type situations, but many many more have died in the attempt to do so by others. Luck of the draw favours failure.
Gexx already posted a lot of guidlines that I would agree with. However in my experience you can have a variety of flows in a tank, low, medium, and high, with hitches available in each of these flows and the seahorses will pick what they want at any given time.
Temps 68° to 74°F are because nasty bacteria multiply exponentially the higher you go over this, and while the seahorses are normally found in warmer water, the water they normally experience is constantly changing.
The more other fish you have in the tank, even different species of seahorses, or same species seahorses from a different source, the lower your odds of success might be.
As a seahorse grows, it's system becomes tolerant of the parasites it experiences growing up, but when introduced to different parasites carried by other fish/seahorses, they succumb to that new exposure. Sometimes each is wiped out by what the other brings to the tank.
For a more complete dossier on seahorse keeping, check out the ".org" which has the most information available on the internet for seahorse keepers.
Most stores selling captive bred or tank raised seahorses, are selling mass produced seahorses as in Asia, where they can be net pen raised, or grown in cement tanks, but using ocean water. As such, they are subject to the same pathogens that wild caught are with the only added benefit being that they will usually eat frozen mysis.
For MUCH better odds of success, buy from a true captive bred sourse as in seahorsesource.com, or seahorsecorral.com. You could also locate a local hobbyist breeding seahorses.
Occasionally, one can find an Australian captive bred horse sold through stores and they are excellent choices also.
Dwarf seahorses work well in a five gallon tank but need to be continually fed live BBS.
As Gexx mentioned, a pair can be kept in a 30g tank and for each additional pair you should have another 15g.
Excellent tank husbandry is critical, and until you've kept seahorses in your system for a long time, it's wise to check for ammonia presence in the tank due to their messy eating habits leaving decaying food trapped where you might not be able to vacuum it out.

 

I have seen a lot of blade cualerpa kept with them and a few other slower growing macro algae. It harbors a lot of insects for them to eat

 

Check out this site:
seahorse.org - Library