lf Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Hi all, I'm a newbie Seahorse lover. Did a bit of lurking about this site yesterday and found some fascinating information on tanks etc etc... Beautiful photos of reef setups. Envious, but have to start somewhere. We have recently acquired some seahorses and they are doing great. Our live rock however is making bubbles, I assume it is a chemicle exchange of some type, but dont know if this is a problem. some of the rock is quite dark in some places. We did do a bit of an overfeed when we first got them, all the excitement i guess. skimmer and filter working well, chiller set on 18, everything else just tikityboo. We would love to have a few other live items in the tank as well but being coldwater I'm not sure what to add. The kids managed to find some large rockpool shrimp that are too big for the seahorse to eat, so they help with the cleanup, but some live plant or fish would be great, any suggestions would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krama Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 how long has your tank been in cycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lf Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Set up just before christmas, has had one water change - quater of the volume. All rocks etc came with the setup, all from the same supplier. Dark parks on the rocks are a bit 'fluffy' 1 mm or 2 mm of growth. Seahorse are healthy and thriving so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Read this thread that's being discussed at the moment, you have cyanobacteria... not a bad thing, just one of those things that typically happens on a new tank... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt18300.html?start=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Hey just wondering did you get these off richard at the pet store in town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lf Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 yes, whole set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorsemad Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 HI If Can you tell me if richard is selling the pot bellied seahorses or Kuda seahorses? In relation to your question, plants are hard to keep with seahorses as the seahorses like low light but seaweed and plants generally like a large amount of light. Depending on the size of your tank you can have a fish or two caught from the local rockpools and hermit crabs also do well with seahorses. Most things that you find at your local rockpools will do okay in the tank with your seahorses, the only thing to remember is that seahorses are slow eaters. If you introduce lots of fast moving fish or other sealife you will run the risk of starving your horses. Good luck with your seahorses, i would love to see a picture of your set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lf Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Hi Seahorsemad, I'm pretty sure that I have two potbellied (Pair) and one Kuda girl. The girls look completely different from each other. They were the last ones he had in the shop. I'm pretty happy with my set up, my kids are keen to add some hermit crabs, but I was worried they would scavange too much food to quickly. I guess if I add one or two wee ones we could always take them back to the beach if they were a problem. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. As soon as I find my battery charger I will post a photo for you. Still in it's infancy but I spend hours watching them dance around. I'm sure the male Potbellie is trying to lure his partner with his antics. Will have to watch and wait. Not sure what to do if we have some wee ones appear. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goby1 Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 In my experince you would be very lucky to rear baby seahorses much past a week as there is certin food they feed at certain times if you find out what good luck. As far as the shrimps go catch small ones as if your seahorses get hungry enough and decide to take on a large shrimp. This can get stuck in there mouth and result in death. So my experince is catch the smaller ones which they will eat as well it just means more trips to the rock pools. But they are cool . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lf Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Definately going rockpool hunting. Have been a few times since getting my new horses, but didn't lok much past the little shrimp. Any good places around Whangarei? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Dunno about Whangarei, I would have thought that out Parua Bay way would be a chance. Have posted on your other thread re rockpools too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorsemad Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 If, hopefully you havent got two different kinds of horses cause the kuda horses require different temperatures. They need a temp of about 26 degrees and the pot bellies like a temp of 18. Pot bellied seahorses can come in lots of different colours and shapes so it might be that the other female looks a little different, but if you send me a photo of them im sure that we can figure out whats what. We are in prime breeding season at the moment so it could be that your male is trying to court your female potbelly. If you are lucky enough to get babies then you would need a seperate tank set up for them as the adults will eat the babies and lots of baby brine shrimp. It is very hard to raise the young and generally you only get a 20% survival rate but nothing beats keeping a seahorse that you have watched come into the world and now look after. Hermit crabs are fine in the tank and wont eat all of the food in the tank so you should be fine with them. I feed my horses glass shrimp as a special treat, they are neat to watch and generally if the shrimp is too big for them they snap it in half Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lf Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Thanks for that, I'll watch them carefully and see what happens, will try and get a photo for you soon so we can see whats what. Most appreciative for all the information Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 HI richard helped me out heaps with my tank i recomend going in and bugging him when you feel the need. I had a few hermit crabs in my tank they were great once the food gets on the ground my seahorses were pretty dopey when it comes to finding it so the hermits were good for clean up. I added tropical type shells for the hermits that were coulurfull to look at and revmoved the old shells as they grew looking quite cool. Dont add fish though I tryed a gobie type fish (i think) from a rock pool he would activally push the seahorses out of the way for food they cant compete with fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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