Anyother Ranchers out there ??

[Volitan]

Heres a couple of pics of the inmates of My very first pico this is what got me started with the 5g and under set
these are great fun and they essentially live in little Fuges ! 8)

 

[Phyl]

That is so cute! How big are they? What are the pompom trees you have in there?

 

[JohnS_323]

You've given me hope for a new direction for my 12g nano in my office. I'm tired of it the way it is and was thinking about becoming a "rancher". That looks really cool and I may try to do something similar.

Thanks!

 

[Volitan]

The little pom-pom trees LOL are mermans brush a macro, the horses start out about 1/2" grow to about 3" max.Heres a Ref. pic. the little guy is about 2 weeks old and hes hanging on to a $1.49 floating therm.If You get the water param.s right they reproduce like crazy ! They can be alot of fun !! Al

 

[malulu]

cool!

i like John's idea...
let's use those un-wanted small size aquarium for this...

a Sea-Horse related group buy... any one???
;D

 

[Treadingwater]

That is very cool!!

What equipment does your litte system consist of? My wife wants a seahorse tank badly and this may be perfect for her.

 

[Volitan]

It's a very basic system a zoo med 501 canister filter, a very small internal filter, 50w heater, and a standard
aga flo. light with 15w power-glo.It has 7lb of LS & 7lb LR and
a forrest of macro. It's basicly a Fuge !!

Hope that helps !!
Al

 

[Treadingwater]

Yes, that helps greatly. Thank you very much!!

 

[fishyman]

what species of seahorses do you have there? Unless they are dwarves they need to be in a much bigger tank. And if they are dwarves then you should have a stocking ratio around 5 pairs in that size tank. Do like the macros just hope you know what your doing with those horses.

 

[fishyman]

wont let me edit. appears that they are dwarfs, just so you know they will not grow to 3 inches. Dwarfs dont get much bigger than an inch at full size, also they are not easy to care for. They require live brine shrimp and special care needs to be taken with their tank to make sure they are safe.

 

[saltwater4life]

Looks very cool!
Yeah i used to want seahorses until i found out how hard they are to take care of...

 

[Volitan]

Yes they are dwarf and I've been keeping them for over 5yrs now I feed them live pods only brine as a treat.The largest 1 I've raised reach just under 3" and lived 22 months !They are not that hard to care for if You set up the system first and get a good population of pods going they do just fine. If You don't have a consant food supply thats when You run into trouble. I've also found that once You have things running well if You leave the system alone You have alot less problems. If You are always messing with the tank, thats when the problems show up, just sit back and enjoy them !!! Al

 

[fishyman]

what species? Hippocampus zosterae? if so 3 inches wow haven't seen any that big.

 

[Volitan]

Yes zosterae,they are the reason I started with nanos & picos so i've spent alot of time playing with mini systems and unlike You guys with the super high tech coral set ups I'm more into inverts and creatures my corals are all low light stuff I don't even own a MH light debating the purchase of one now. I have shrimp, crabs,octopus,limpets, star fish,etc.
and You can never get enough macro ! So I have no problem keeping them healthy. The key is macro and of course no stress
environment. Al

 

[GregW]

Volitan,
What size tank is the octopus in and what kind is it?

 

[Volitan]

1 pacific mud flats in a 29g
1 Blue ring 20gxh
1 caribbean Dwarf 51/2g

 

[panmanmatt]

I would love to see a picture of a 3 inch H. zosterae. I too have kept them for more than 3 years and never had any of that size, even the collectors and breeders I know have not gotten them to that size. The largest ones I have seen are just barely over an inch in size with the tail uncurled.

The longest I kept mine for was about 2 1/2 years, and they were wild collected so know telling how old they were when I got them.
I took a break from them for about the last year but am just getting set back up to keep them again.

I also keep the larger species and have been for the last 4 years.

 

[Volitan]

never had any live that long, he lived about 22 months was about 2 5/8". I got 2 batchs of wild caught when I started they constantly reproduce. So now are all tank raised. Have actually had to feed fry to other tanks. No digital pics will
try To find a scanner at work to post pics. I'm new to this forum thing don't have alot of my old pics on digital. Don't have any larger ones but I have a customer that keeps hippo erectus and pipe fish. Had a 15g hex abandoned on my door step
was thinking about setting it up for young h. erectus or red octopus !! Not sure what to do with it, anyway I will try to post pics. Show me some pics if You do set it up again. Al

 

[panmanmatt]

Right now I am keeping H. erectus, but have kept kuda, barbouri and reidi in the past along with multiple pipefish species.

I'll definitely share some pics when I get the zosterae going again.