Mantis shrimp or Sea horse

So, after i move home, and take my fish out of their current ten gallon home, and transfer them into my seventy five gallon tank, im going to have an empty cycled tank. Is a ten gallon big enough to keep either a sea horse or a mantis shrimp? Does anybody know about the different types that can be kept successfully in captivity? can i keep a sea horse in my seventy five with other fish, or are these animals best kept alone?

 

mantis shrimp just my 2 cents ;D

 

I do not know much about sea horses, but I am pretty sure most seahorses require a bigger tank than 10g, unless it is a dwarf seahorse. Someone will correct me if I am wrong

For stomatopods (mantis shrimp), there are quite a few that can be kept successfully in a 10g. Commonly available ones such as N. wennerae, O. havanensis, G. chiragra, and G. smithii come to mind. You may also find G. ternatensis (orange spotted mantis shrimp) commonly available. I highly encourage you to not purchase that one because destructive collection methods are often employed to acquire them.

Here is a more comprehensive list:
Roy's List of Stomatopods for the Aquarium

 

Your asking the right questions, so that is a good start.

No typically you can not keep sea horses in the average system with fish. Too much flow and competition.

Sea horse require a lower temperature as well.

Keeping Sea horses is a big commitment, and a lot of devotion.

I would go with one of the smaller types of mantis.

If I had a 10 gallon tank freed up I would with a macro algae tank and a small colorful goby with a candy cane pistol.

 

Does anybody have any cool ideas for a ten gal Nano tank? I want to make it a customized set up for a particular species. i use a 40 gal HOB filter, and have t five lighting. No protein skimmer, but i run extra media in the filter.

 

Having owned several seahorses, I think it's better to keep them by themselves. They stress easily and they eat much slower than all other fishes, so they will starve if you keep them with other fishes. They are also very delicate with their parameters so you should be extra careful with their special needs (i.e. the different levels and temp). In your case, a mantis would be a cooler choice, except, you would also want these guys alone - they might eat your inhabitants if you're not careful!

 

If you are really set on seahorses, the only ones that can be kept in a 10g tank are H. zosterae, the dwarf seahorse.
You have to really be committed to them though as they only eat live food so you need to be continually hatching, enriching and feeding newly hatched enriched brine shrimp.
seahorse.org has a dwarf specific forum where you can learn a lot about their keeping.

 

arite, so il go visit the sea horses at the aquarium. sounds like to much work for one animal. thanks for all the input guys

 

i agree with Corailline, a Goby/Pistol shrimp specific tank could possibly be one of the most fascinating biotope specific nano tanks you could create.

 

Those things look pretty sweet. YouTube - Yasha Goby/Pistol Shrimp
i found this vid on youtube. If you get a goby and a piston shrimp do they often become symbiotic like this?