Caring for Dwarf Seahorses

I have done a bit of research, but I will continue.

I have been thinking about setting up a 7.5g tank - 12" X 12" X 12". I thought it would be neat to have dwarf seahorses. They grow to be about 1", so how many would I have for 7g?
What lighting should I use? Seahorses don't like a lot of light. What about using pc lighting?

I have sugar-fine sand(unopened) for my reef tank - I will use the extra from that for this tank.

How much water flow should I have? I would imagine, not very much, because dwarf seahorses are so small.

What should I use for filtration? I just a HOB filter, as long as I have a sponge over the intake. Is there another way to do it?

 

They will be fed twice daily and I am thinking the tank will be in my bedroom or in our foyer.

 

Seahorses also need "hitches" to hang onto. What should I use for this? I want live plants, preferably. I want to make this as natural as possible.

 

Aha... So many Questions.

Im not familiar with the searhorses that are considered dwarfs. I guess Persoanlly even though they are small, I would setup a 15-20G for them at least.

Hob filter and HOb skimmer are sufficient. Mine do like a tad flow. but once again not dwarfs.

Any kind of macro will provide foraging for them to eat, and hitches. They do like zipties too! and they can come in fun colors. Mangroves work best for my ponies, not sure about the dwarfs might have a better hold on the macro.

I would assume the movement of water the Skimmer and HOB will put out would be enough for them.

Be careful choosing your CUC... they can be hazardous to a small pony.

 

Their natural environment is in lagoons and sea grass beds. Do some stores sell eel grass?

I am uncertain on what to add for the cuc, at this point.

AS far as flow, I a worried about pushing the horses around too much. Maybe I should just use a small maxi-jet pump?

 

these guys are harder to care for then reg seahorses. They require multiple feedings of live 2-3 day old brine shrimp. For filtration you only want to have an airstone with a sponge filter. You could actually add upto 5 pairs in a 10g tank.......however they will breed in the tank so you may not want to start with that many. But when I was looking at doing it they actually recommended that many because they are social animals but also because many will die. I decided I was not dedicated enough to raise these guys, esp fry, so decided not to do it.

Here is a good site that has an article but also a board discussion on these guys
seahorse.org - Tankmates

 

H. Zosterae are a ton of work. As schackmel said they require multiple feedings of live BBS. 3 times a day at least. The baby brine need to come from decapsulated cysts or you will get hydroids and as I found out the hard way, a single sting can be fatal to a Dwarf. Forget about getting them to eat anything but live food. Even ORA gave up on that idea.
The brine shrimp need to be in constant supply. 4 for pairs of ponies I had 3 artemia hatching dishes. 2 were hatching cysts, the 3rd was being sterilized to be added to the rotation as soon as being needed. I had 8 one gallon pickle jars that were used to raise the BBS to feeding. 6 jars going all the time and 2 being sterilized to added in the rotation. The jars were filtered with air sponges on a manifold. I had 2 extra of those as well.
The jar cycle went:
BBS in water with an sg of 1.019 for 24 hours then phyto was added to begin gut loading for another 24 hours. Finally the last 24 they were gut loaded with a mix of phyto and Super Selco. This went on and as a jar emptied it was replaced with a sterile one which was about 1 per day.

HOB filtration is fine as long as they can't be sucked into or against the intake. They are very weak swimmers and wouldn't be able to remove themselves.

Hitches can be anything they can get a grip on. My set up had fake shoal grass.

Water quality is a must. One slip up and little lives are lost. I also found this out the hard way.

 

I see now, that this does sound challenging. I should reap up a lot more before I decide whether or not thee guys are for me.

I had read that link, schackmel, but thanks. I joined seahorse.org yesterday to learn more about them, but can't find where to introduce myself.

 

i kept two pairs in a 3 gallon aquarium, if you had a 20 gallon tank you would need at least 20 pairs because it is so much volume they will get lost. you do not need an aquarium that large to house these tiny guys. also i would reccomend using a darker substrate or black because with sand it is hard to see them. if you have black sand you can always tell where they are. also unless your planning on growing some coral in the tank i would do normal output fluorescent. they need 1-3 day old brine shrimp and the filter for the tank should be more than enough flow for the tank. also do not use live rock as even the tiniest crab or shrimp on there will feast on these little guys. dont put coral skeletons in the tank as they will scratch the seahorse. you can use caulerpa or some fake plants for it to latch onto of get some small gorgonians. also they will breed like crazy so make sure you have the means to raise the hatchlings.

 

They are very social animals, which means you should have them in "close quartets" in a way..but I certainly would NOT put 20 pairs in a 20g tank. You can still overstock these guys...

I've read about the rock and hitch-hikers -- how they can pretty much be fatal to seahorses. If use rock, I will use dry rock only. I haven't decided whether I want corals...as of now hat would be a no go until I decide what the environment in the tank will be.

I haven't decided on sand yet.

I am looking for a challenge. I wanted a pico tank, and think a 7.5 - 10g would be great for my bedroom.