Jake's 50+ gallon seahorse tank

Colour change is a normal process for seahorses as they acclimate themselves to their new surroundings. They change their colour to suit what they perceive to be their best chances of NOT being seen by predators.
That is why you don't pay extra for colour as some places charge, because they likely won't remain the colour they are when you receive them.
People have been trying for many years to try to influence seahorses to change to a colour they want the seahorses to be, but little progress has happened to date.
It is known that light coloured ones tend to darken when there is a lot of live rock in the tank.
Sky blue background and ends and bottom if seen, sometimes help them to maintain some of the red and orange people want, but no guarantee, and seldom with the intensity of colour that people want.

 

Tank looks sick.............and not the bad kind.

 

Thanks, good to know!

 

Not much to update, just more pics! Seahorses make excellent subjects haha.

I added a Hawaiian feather duster and a Sinularia leather a couple of days ago. I got the Sinularia for free, but it was in rough shape. It is starting to look better.

The Xenia seems to be recovering too, even though they are one of the preferred hitches for the seahorses.

I like watching the seagrass grow in straight lines. I can actually predict where the next new leaf will pop up... usually half an inch away in a straight line from the last leaf.







Who says fox corals don't eat anything!? This one managed to capture a mysis shrimp.

 

It is a fantastic tank every time I look at it.

 

yes, really cool

 

Another small update!

I purchased a sun coral last week. It has shown slow progress. The daily feedings are becoming easier.

May 3rd - no tentacles showing, even at night time. I still managed to get it to eat a few mysis shrimp that landed perfectly on top of a mouth.


May 4th - the following night it opened slightly. It ate about 5 mysis shrimp.


May 6th - gradually opening more at night. It ate 10-15 mysis shrimp last night.


It turns out I have a boy! The black seahorse has developed a pouch over the last couple of weeks.


A better picture of the pouch.



I have had some troubles lately...

- The feather duster seen in my last update died about a week after it was introduced to the tank. It dropped its crown after 3 days, and died 3-4 days after that. I'm not sure why it died quickly. I don't think it was water quality as nothing else in the tank is doing poorly. I don't think it was a lack of food either as one week just isn't long enough for a feather duster to starve. Perhaps it was already stressed when I purchased it, although I thought it looked healthy. The seahorses tended to use its feathers as tail anchors and they broke several of them, so that probably didn't help. I may try another one in the future.

- The seagrass is growing well, but I am having trouble with algae and fungus/bacterial mats growing on it. I believe this was caused by the broadcast feeding I have been doing since I received the seahorses. For the last week, I have developed a feeding station in my macro algae (Halymenia) to reduce uneaten food. I think it is helping.

 

Love the pictures! Too bad on the feather duster. My guess would be that the SH's may have bothered it too much trying to anchor to it.

 

This is a really cool build! How big do you think the seahorse will get?

 

Unfortunately I have encountered what I consider to be my first major obstacle... the male seahorse seems to have developed "pouch emphysema" (seahorse.org). The disease isn't completely understood, but it is a build up of gas in the male seahorses pouch. Since my seahorse is a "virgin" this case isn't related to mating.

Treatment involves physically capturing the seahorse and gently pressing the pouch to expel the gas. I will monitor the disease for one more day before trying this... really hoping it just goes away, but I know that is unlikely

Not a great picture, but you can see the bloated look of the pouch. The seahorse is still eating and swimming well... no buoyancy issues yet.

Thanks! I have read they can get up to 7.5 inches long, so hopefully close to that! Right now they are roughly 4 inches long. I have noticed growth, mainly girth-wise however.

Thanks, I agree that seems like the most likely explanation. Everything I read online said feather dusters were safe for seahorses... but never mentioned seahorses may not be safe for feather dusters!