jetskisteve Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Hi me again, yes Chris they hatch but get swept around the tank pretty quickly,not that i've ever seen this, if i had the time to raise them i would have to be patient and syphon them into another tank. Alisha "Nicks " used to keep seahorses maybe he could help with some advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 http://www.trademe.co.nz/mcat-0106%2D04 ... 854656.htm Check this cheap skimmer out on trademe although be warned you get what you pay for............. beats making one yourself tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Chris, i have a four foot tank, i keep 8 seahorses and a variety of rock pool things. I am most likely at my limit with the amount of seahorses i have. The only thing i would take into consideration with your tank is that is has to be atleast 30cm high for the seahorses to breed and be happy. Are you considering breeding the seahorses? the reason i ask is that the female seahorses are very picky and will only mate with the male seahorse once and then move on to the next male. If you are considering breeding you may need more than a couple of seahorses. I have used coral sand like you would normally in a marine tank and have a whole lot of plastic plants and marine rope for them to hang onto. I feed them once to twice a day with frozen mysis shrimp and when possible those clear shrimp you can get from rock pools, but that is a never ending job as it takes half an hour for me to catch 60 shrimps and seahorses 5 minutes to eat them. Jetskisteve i picked up this weekend a protein skimmer from jansens on sale. It was supposed to be $137.00 but i got it for the bargain price of $6.00 (yes that is right). I am holding off buying a good quality skimmer as my partner is one of those people who like to build things and find out how it all works. He is really keen to make one and being in the construction business has the right contacts to make it cheaply, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Chris, i have a four foot tank, i keep 8 seahorses and a variety of rock pool things. I am most likely at my limit with the amount of seahorses i have. The only thing i would take into consideration with your tank is that is has to be atleast 30cm high for the seahorses to breed and be happy. Are you considering breeding the seahorses? the reason i ask is that the female seahorses are very picky and will only mate with the male seahorse once and then move on to the next male. If you are considering breeding you may need more than a couple of seahorses. I have used coral sand like you would normally in a marine tank and have a whole lot of plastic plants and marine rope for them to hang onto. I feed them once to twice a day with frozen mysis shrimp and when possible those clear shrimp you can get from rock pools, but that is a never ending job as it takes half an hour for me to catch 60 shrimps and seahorses 5 minutes to eat them. Jetskisteve i picked up this weekend a protein skimmer from jansens on sale. It was supposed to be $137.00 but i got it for the bargain price of $6.00 (yes that is right). I am holding off buying a good quality skimmer as my partner is one of those people who like to build things and find out how it all works. He is really keen to make one and being in the construction business has the right contacts to make it cheaply, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction $6.00 for a skimmer?!!? Cheers for the info. I think I will get a bigger tank and try then. Maybe a 4-5ft tank. I have seen coral sand for sale at jansens. I think it's about $18. When you order the seahorses, can you choose females/males or is it random? How do you tell the difference in the gender? Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 yeah the skimmer was a good bargain, but as jetskisteve said you pay for what you get so im not expecting much. Yeah you can choose which seahorses you want, i have four of each sex. I got my coral sand from hollywoods but shop around for the best deal as the prices can vary and if you are getting a four or five foot tank it take alot of sand it all starts to add up. But as i said before you are more than welcome to come and check out my tank and see it all in action, i could even give you a bit of sand to seed your tank and get the nitrate cycle happening when you set up your tank. You can tell the difference between the male and female cause the male seahorse has a pouch below his tummy and the females dont. It is really noticeable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 I got my seahorses on special for $25.00 each plus P & P which was $15.00. It is the same place that jansens used to get there cold water seahorses (sorry letting out trade secrets) No worries on the 'trade secrets' from where I am sitting. Any information on how to buy anything for this hobby cheaper and avoid paying the OBSCENE margins that pet stores get away with is always welcome. I was talking to a guy last week who brought 500grams of 'kalkwasser' powder from a pet store for $65.00. I have been lucky that good people like JetSkiSteve and Reef on this board have given me so much 'kalkwasser' powder I have had enough to give what I had to 3 other people I belive its about $90 per 25kg sack... Nice tidy profit. Maybee we should start a 'trade secret' thread? Here is another one since you got me started... You know how expensive salt mix is? Did you know that the ocean is full of it, salt water that is Ohhh and its free and it comes 'pre mixed'. You may get into some drama from the local tribe collecting it, but unless things change (go Don Brash!) you should be all right Pieman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Ah that was my other question For water changes and first filling up the tank, do you take it from the sea or make salt water yourself? I think I read on the seahorse farm site that they can supply the stuff that makes seawater. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Hi Chris I use the salt you buy from the pet shop. The reason i do this is that the closest beach i have is titirangi beach which has signs all over the place saying not to swim there. Figure if i dont want to swim there my seahorses wouldnt like to either. If i was collecting seawater i would be doing it from somewhere like muriwai and most likely half way up the beach. Since that really is to far away it is easier to use the pet shop salt mix. In saying all this as Pies said if you have got easy access to the sea use it, it would be far more healthier and beneificial for the seahorses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briank Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 wow, this thread had really speed up.. I had a full weekend and did not go online. Guess what!! we bought a big 4x2x2 tank. But unfortunately its intended for my silver arowana, its at least 20 inch now. Maybe later I can convert it to marine!! :lol: Alisha, thanks for the tip on where to buy seahorses!! I currently have a very small shallow marine tank. I think I will hold off on collecting the purple anenome, my tank now has 6 green anenomes!! Don't want them stinging each other, the green ones has killed off one of my brown anenome just because it was next to it. jetskisteve, Thanks for the offer, I am sure the tropical marine is fantastic. At the mean time I am not ready for it yet.. but plans are in motion. For now, I am visiting all the stores, and enjoying the tropical they have for sale!! I think the guys at Jansens and hollywood is sick of me going there every week looking at their fishes and not buying anything!! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 How would you cycle the tank? I was thinking of maybe getting the filter, saltwalter from the sea and coral sand from jansens, placing it in the tank and putting in some shrimps / things from rockpools. Would this work? I would be using tap water + salt for water changes after this so would this effect the bacteria? How did you cycle your tank alisha? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 Hi Chris I cycled my tank with a whole lot of patience and a small piece of mussel. It took a good month and a half and i did get some live rock from jansens but i think that was a waste of money, could have just got rock that had not been cycled yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 sorry didnt really answer your questions I think if you used natural seawater to set it up it would be ok. natural seawater would possibly come with all types of organisms in it so that could start your nitrate cycle. If you are thinking about putting a few rock things in while cycling remember to feed them as most of the rock pool things are scavengers Also if you want you are more than welcome to take some sand from my tank. It will speed up the nitrate cycle heaps as it already has bacteria growing on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 Sounds good, just have to wait till we move (not long now!). Looking forward to setting it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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