Starting a seahorse tank

I was thinking of getting 3 pairs, or just six of whatever gender, and breed to get the other ones (not because I don't wanna spend the money, but because I want to be able to have them breed and not need to rehouse the babies)

I know that I'd have to culture my own brine shrimp, but I don't see that as much of an issue with my life schedule. I don't ever leave town either, so their feeding regimen would be good.

I also saw that zots are super fragile, and even the smallest of stings can be fatal. I was going to (do more research obviously, first) start with base rock that is branchy, and stock the tank with macro algae.


This post wasn't to guide me on getting everything I need for a seahorse tank.. It's to know if these tank shapes and sizes are good enough for zots to live comfortably. I'll be doing a lot of research before I decide to start.

 

I would just get like a 3 gal pico for 6 of them, seriously...5 gals at the most in terms of tank size. It's not that they're delicate, but more like they're special needs fishes, and they're not too hard to keep providing you meet those needs, if that makers sense.

As far as breeding is concerned, you zots are the one "common" SH where you can keep the fry and the adults together (they require the same food and the same conditions), so if they do breed, it's a lot less hassle.

Renee and I actually met because of keeping SH, and we used to raise them, so we have a bit of experience in the SH arena.

 

Why should 5G be the max? Can't I get a bigger tank + more SH?

 

Greg is right on with his information, and it's based on a lot of his personal experience.
I wouldn't even use a 10g for 20 dwarfs as I started with 20 in my 5g and had probably about 50 when I started selling them off.
The problem with your large dream tanks is that you will use an inordinate amount of live brine shrimp to provide the density needed for seahorses that may be at any given part of the tank. The food needs to pass by where they are hitching because for the most part, they are lazy and just wait for the food to pass close enough to be snicked without leaving their hitches.
You could put 6 of the average sized dwarfs on two silver dollars, as they seldom get larger than 1 1/2", and often not that large even IME.
H. zosterae normally only live on average about 1 1/2 yrs, and occasionally longer under ideal conditions and proper nutrition.
Just feeding newly hatched bbs is not sufficient for the longest lifespan.
(all food needs to be removed before the next feeding as it becomes nutrient poor very quickly)
Better results will be had by enrichment of the bbs starting about one day after they hatch out.
I use Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com for enrichment for dwarfs and for my standard sized seahorses.
By far, the great majority of people who attempt keeping dwarfs, tire of it in fairly short order due to the work involved.

 

Thanks, ray. I know how much work keeping seahorses is, and I'm prepared to put the work into it. So you're saying I should get a small tank, with a pair of dwarfs per gallon? What if I wanted to keep larger seahorses? Would my tank shapes work out for those?

p.s. I'm definitely going to check out your thoughts on SH-keeping when I get the chance

 

Zero,

Rayjay knows zots very well...better than me, for sure. To be honest, keeping them is like having SH fry all the time in terms of the work involved, which is why altho I've tended zots and set up tanks for them, I've never kept them myself. Cute little beggars tho...

 

Yeah, I know them well enough that after a few years I've stopped because it was more work than I wanted to keep doing, especially at my age.

 

My question was never really answered though..

 

Which question?
The "why should the 5g be the max?"
I think that has been answered fully. You can obviously go larger but you will have to put up with the inherent problems of doing so.
The "to know if these tank shapes and sizes are good enough for zots to live comfortably?"
While the tank you wish to have won't easily work for H. zosterae, it might possibly work for standards, but, could possibly present problems with only 6" front to back. It will certainly limit the size of live rock pieces you can put in the rectangle tank. The "C" shape would work a bit better, but you would probably find they stay in one end or the other.
It will also cost you an arm and a leg to have a custom tank made compared to buying a standard tank, especially the "c" shaped tank.

 

The "to know if these tank shapes and sizes are good enough for zots to live comfortably?"
While the tank you wish to have won't easily work for H. zosterae, it might possibly work for standards, but, could possibly present problems with only 6" front to back. It will certainly limit the size of live rock pieces you can put in the rectangle tank. The "C" shape would work a bit better, but you would probably find they stay in one end or the other.
It will also cost you an arm and a leg to have a custom tank made compared to buying a standard tank, especially the "c" shaped tank.

This question. If I had known I could do a seahorse tank, I most likely would have done that instead of a reef tank. I wanna start a SH tank, but don't have a lot of room. I'll find out an estimate on the two different custom tanks, and if it's terrible, I'll just do a 5g for dwarfs. I know that finding pieces to fit in a 6" front to back would be challenging, but I'm not worried about that; I'm worried that it's not enough space for the SH to not feel cramped.