Seahorses have fused jaws. They have no teeth. Fused Jaw = english translation of the family name Syngnathidae.
Some of you may ask why I didn't start this thread earlier. Well I honestly was fearful that this challenge would not be something I could overcome. So I wanted to wait until I had kept the sea horses for at least 3 months before posting anything.
Why seahorses? Well to be honest I was looking to do something with my bc29. I continue to run a 120 display but no longer breed clowns. So of course I had this old bc29 laying around...
Inspired by jim roth's foray into raising Seahorses, and also thanks to the huge body of knowledge panmanmatt has, I thought i would give it a try.
First off- people have asked me since I run a 120, why I didn't plumb my seahorse tank with that. Another question is why the seahorses aren't in the main display with my other fish/corals.
To answer that, I learned that seahorses require more temperate temps, this provides the best environment for them. Second of all I learned that they eat very slowly, and would not have any food left if I tried placing them in the main display.
Equipment:
BC29, no cover. The tank is light by a normal 10 gallon light you might find at any LFS.
Steve-T In-tank for bc29 / chemipure and purigen and some mechanical filter
Tunze 9002 nano skimmer (roger customized this so that the magnet was removed, when the original purchase fell thru i was able to get a pretty good deal on this)
Return pump
Tunze Osmolator for auto-top off
5 gallon rodi top off tank
Koralia nano for additional flow (mechanical filter covers the grate to protect the seahorses)
Livestock:
2 seahorses courtesy of Aquatic Obsessions. Purchased around June 2012. It was right after Father's day
13 nassarius snails (almost all courtesy of Dr. Mac)
I started the entire process back in January 2012. I sent several email inquiries, first to Ocean Rider in Hawaii and then later to seahorsesource in Florida.
Ocean Rider has a self-paced program to educate newbies in the keeping of seahorses. Thru this program, I was able to be set up with Pete Giwojna of Ocean Rider who sent tutorials every week or two for me to digest and understand. I think the program is noble and tries to guide those who may want a cute seahorse without full knowledge of their requirements. He accelerated the program for me as I explained I already kept a 120 and had bred clownfish in the past.
The program was:
1a Selecting & Equipping a suitable tank
1b Decorating & Aquascaping the tank
2 Cycling and cleanup crew
3 Recommended Reading
4 Water Chemistry and Maintenance
5 Feeding
6 Compatible Tankmates
7 Courtship and Breeding
8 Raising babies
9 Disease Prevention and Control
10a H. Erectus Fact Sheet
10b Acclimation instructions
My certification below (can't read it but underneath was a blurb with my name date etc, which i cropped out):
Ocean Rider had some amazing looking specimens but the cost is high and I was a little concerned about the long trip from Hawaii to the east coast. In addition, many people had strongly suggested seahorsesource.com in FL. I reached out to Abbie around March of 2012 and was told that due to a family illness and low inventory they could not supply the product I wanted. So then my thoughts were back to OR...except again the summer heat was making me think not a good idea.
Long story short one day after lunch we walked into Aquatic Obsessions and I was surprised to see two seahorses in stock. Wil of course fed them for me to see and they were eating like pigs (well, seahorses aren't the fastest fish, so maybe like slow, high tea time gentlemanly fast eating). The fact that the horses had been at Aq Ob for several weeks already sealed the deal for me.
I know some people will be disappointed in my next decision - but I felt that I had my hands full with the 120 display, and I wanted to focus solely on the health of the seahorses, and not any other item in the tank. So my decision was to keep the seahorses in a FO set up. No liverock, no photosynthetic corals. Just some fake corals for them to hitch and black sand.
Anyways - pics to follow.
Some of you may ask why I didn't start this thread earlier. Well I honestly was fearful that this challenge would not be something I could overcome. So I wanted to wait until I had kept the sea horses for at least 3 months before posting anything.
Why seahorses? Well to be honest I was looking to do something with my bc29. I continue to run a 120 display but no longer breed clowns. So of course I had this old bc29 laying around...
Inspired by jim roth's foray into raising Seahorses, and also thanks to the huge body of knowledge panmanmatt has, I thought i would give it a try.
First off- people have asked me since I run a 120, why I didn't plumb my seahorse tank with that. Another question is why the seahorses aren't in the main display with my other fish/corals.
To answer that, I learned that seahorses require more temperate temps, this provides the best environment for them. Second of all I learned that they eat very slowly, and would not have any food left if I tried placing them in the main display.
Equipment:
BC29, no cover. The tank is light by a normal 10 gallon light you might find at any LFS.
Steve-T In-tank for bc29 / chemipure and purigen and some mechanical filter
Tunze 9002 nano skimmer (roger customized this so that the magnet was removed, when the original purchase fell thru i was able to get a pretty good deal on this)
Return pump
Tunze Osmolator for auto-top off
5 gallon rodi top off tank
Koralia nano for additional flow (mechanical filter covers the grate to protect the seahorses)
Livestock:
2 seahorses courtesy of Aquatic Obsessions. Purchased around June 2012. It was right after Father's day
13 nassarius snails (almost all courtesy of Dr. Mac)
I started the entire process back in January 2012. I sent several email inquiries, first to Ocean Rider in Hawaii and then later to seahorsesource in Florida.
Ocean Rider has a self-paced program to educate newbies in the keeping of seahorses. Thru this program, I was able to be set up with Pete Giwojna of Ocean Rider who sent tutorials every week or two for me to digest and understand. I think the program is noble and tries to guide those who may want a cute seahorse without full knowledge of their requirements. He accelerated the program for me as I explained I already kept a 120 and had bred clownfish in the past.
The program was:
1a Selecting & Equipping a suitable tank
1b Decorating & Aquascaping the tank
2 Cycling and cleanup crew
3 Recommended Reading
4 Water Chemistry and Maintenance
5 Feeding
6 Compatible Tankmates
7 Courtship and Breeding
8 Raising babies
9 Disease Prevention and Control
10a H. Erectus Fact Sheet
10b Acclimation instructions
My certification below (can't read it but underneath was a blurb with my name date etc, which i cropped out):
Ocean Rider had some amazing looking specimens but the cost is high and I was a little concerned about the long trip from Hawaii to the east coast. In addition, many people had strongly suggested seahorsesource.com in FL. I reached out to Abbie around March of 2012 and was told that due to a family illness and low inventory they could not supply the product I wanted. So then my thoughts were back to OR...except again the summer heat was making me think not a good idea.
Long story short one day after lunch we walked into Aquatic Obsessions and I was surprised to see two seahorses in stock. Wil of course fed them for me to see and they were eating like pigs (well, seahorses aren't the fastest fish, so maybe like slow, high tea time gentlemanly fast eating). The fact that the horses had been at Aq Ob for several weeks already sealed the deal for me.
I know some people will be disappointed in my next decision - but I felt that I had my hands full with the 120 display, and I wanted to focus solely on the health of the seahorses, and not any other item in the tank. So my decision was to keep the seahorses in a FO set up. No liverock, no photosynthetic corals. Just some fake corals for them to hitch and black sand.
Anyways - pics to follow.
