seahorse questions

We may not have many horse keepers here but some of us do know the basics so feel free to share your knowledge on the subject as often as you can. I'll see if we can accomodate an additional forum specifically for seahorses. I'm more than happy to send folks to seahorse.org if they want more info on horses and I'm also more than happy to send folks to tonmo.com if they want more info on cephalopods. You can't compare any "general" hobby related forum to a forum that specializes in one particular animal/species but I think we do a pretty good job here

 

Thank you for offering but I certainly don't want any form of payment for any comments I should make.
I'm passionate about the hobby and have a lot to learn and am not anywhere near qualified to answer questions like they can be answered by so many others.
Actually, the list of meds I work with originates at another site, and I tried to find the ones from that list that I find used most often on the org.
syngnathid.org... A Description of Common Medications and Their Use
Diamox is one used a lot but needs a prescription here and even in the US I think.
More commonly found and more often used meds are furan 2, neomycin, prazi pro, methylene blue, tri sulfa.

 

That is basically my point. We don't have enough people here with needed knowledge to be able to have timely replies for seahorse hobbyists with problems.
A quick reply can mean the difference between life and death for a seahorse.
Even if we had a seahorse forum here, we still would need to have good numbers of knowledgeable people frequently viewing the forum in order to give those timely replies.
RC, as big as it is, does not have that capability although some posters are common to the org. and RC.
I have 15 years of reefing experience, but dealing with reef fish is not anything like dealing with seahorses, IMO.
Of the 13 reefing forums I go to, 3reef.com is one of only four that I think enough of to check out pretty well daily as I respect the knowledge and how that knowledge is dispensed on this forum.
I steer people to this forum when I feel they can benefit from it, but I feel that to be as informed as possible, a seahorse keeper needs to be aware of the help available at the org.

 

What is RC?

 

reef corals, its another forum

 

i know that there are others, but to ask on as many as i can, i get the knoledge of many,
I thought i had a decent knowledge and would be able to cope, but even after the words on here i KNOW i am no where near!!

 

Sorry, I haven't even heard of that one, but it's not what I was referring to.
I didn't spell it out as it is not a forum that will help a great deal when it comes to seahorses, the topic at hand.

 

I spent a long time frequenting the seahorse forums before getting into it, and the basic problem was as I mentioned, "can't happen to me" syndrome.
If I had paid attention to what I was learning, I probably would have been OK.
There are some hobbyists who get into it and have no knowledge and just plain luck in. No problems. But judging by the posts I read, bacterial borne infections (as in vibrio for instance) are very common in this seahorse hobby so be prepared as it is very likely anyone getting into the hobby will experience it at some time.

 

just a quickie, how much lighting?? can they take lots or is a little as possible needed??

many thanks

 

Like the reefing hobby itself, that is a debatable topic.
Whenever I post, I post based on my personal experiences and from information I have gleaned from others I have come to believe and trust, as well as papers like those posted on the fisheries articles. It doesn't make me right or wrong, or make my ways the only ways, just that they are how things are working for me.
When I first started I kept some basic corals, all non stinging.
After my losses, and I started listening to advice, I lowered my tank temperatures to 70-72°F, and my corals faded away due to the cooler temperatures.
While there are hobbyists keeping seahorses in reef situations, most bacterial outbreaks seem to happen at temperatures about 74°F so I made a personal decision not to put corals in unless I find ones that will work in the cooler temperature range. At this point I haven't pursued that further.
I've been told that strong lighting is hard on the seahorses eyes but for me, the stronger the lighting, the more heat created, the more I have to cool the seahorse tanks. I can't afford chillers so I go with just 2 twenty watt NO's over a 40g tank and one over the 20g tank.
The 65g tank that I will someday use for seahorses will have 6 40w NO's over it, but even at elevated heights it is supporting softies and some LPS corals right now so I still need to find ones that handle the lower temperature.