Pictures Seahorses

[mstomcat65]

Seahorses are so cool! I currently have 3 tanks, all are freshwater and the closest things I have to seahorses are my mystery snails that lay more eggs than I'd like and eat food like it's going out of style

i have had 3 saltwater tanks going at once before ..... a 46 bow front, a 75 gallon and a 120 gallon seahorse/live rock tank. I wish i had my 120 right now but in the apt i'm in thats off limitis for me... someday i may have one again

 

[Just-passn-thru]

freshwater tanks is what got me thinking about learning saltwater tanks lol... from there is went into a seahorse only tank

I was researching seahorse aquaculture seems they thrive in colony's or pairs , "herds" keeping pairs seem to be ideal for overall balance of wellbeing. But what about the offspring ? that could be problematic, what does one do? cull the fry? Can a pair of the same sex be kept instead to avoid reproduction ? I stumbled on the site a lot of knowledgebase on seahorse keeping , they even have a certification course on them. It's perked my interest ! but from what I am discovering a lot goes into this. I have a very large Koi pond, I've had tropical freshwater tanks. Saltwater never ventured into . Seems Seahorse keeping takes it to another level.

 

[mstomcat65]

i'm guessing you are getting getting your information from the place i got mine from. Yes i think they do better in pairs and i had about 6 pairs. They did pretty much stay with their "mate" but males sometimes had a wondering eye and would "show off" to other females. They never did mate with another males mate but it was interesting how they "flirted" with the other ladies lol. Seahorse babies are another level of frustration for me. i had a older male that would give birth to 120 -150 babies. Most of them died because i didn't get the filter turned off in time or the babies would gulp air and that isn't good. I did have a nursery tank set up and got about 6 babies to where they were almost ready to start training to eat frozen food but hydroids (?) were in the tank and they stung them.

yes keeping 2 females would keep each other company so no you really don't need to get a male. Males can also get air bubbles in their pouch and many ppl choose to not get males for that reason.

 

[mstomcat65]

this is my pair as of yesterday

 

[Just-passn-thru]

yes keeping 2 females would keep each other company so no you really don't need to get a male. Males can also get air bubbles in their pouch and many ppl choose to not get males for that reason.

Well here we go ! I'm off on a seahorse quest From what I have learned so far , need to get my tank going stabilized and beneficial bacteria colonies established , they prefer saturated levels of oxygenated water in the form of a bubbler instead of an air stone the latter produces tiny bubbles to small for seahorses . Good to know I can pair 2 females . What about the eggs they produce, would that be a issue without a male to deposit them ?

 

[Just-passn-thru]

this is my pair as of yesterday View attachment 258892

Beautiful Yes the living coral and rocks are stunning also. I 'm thinking a 75 gal. depth seem to be more important than length with seahorses, at least a foot 30cm

 

[Just-passn-thru]

this is my pair as of yesterday View attachment 258892

What species do you have

 

[mstomcat65]

I have fake corals and plants in the tank. I do have live rock and recently have discovered bristle worms! grrr today I pulled around 10 or so of those nasty things out. I've never had to deal with them before in my other tanks so I'm a little frustrated. Coral banded shrimps are good for eating them but not really recommended with the horses.

My pair are erectus. They were black and light brown when I got them and as you can see they are yellow now

I'm not sure how to answer your question about the female's eggs. I've always had males so I have one experience with that one, sorry.

I have a hexagon tank and it's 21" tall, 24 inches is recommended for the bigger horses. When they are courting and doing the "mating dance" they need the height. I've watched the dance before and yes the height is needed. It's awesome to watch!

 

[Just-passn-thru]

I have a hexagon tank and it's 21" tall, 24 inches is recommended for the bigger horses. When they are courting and doing the "mating dance" they need the height. I've watched the dance before and yes the height is needed. It's awesome to watch

Thanks I'll do some research on keeping only females.

 

[Aubrey]

What type of filter do you have? Power heads? Protein skimmer?

I'd love to keep seahorses too but think they are too fussy for me. But i love them! Your pair is gorgeous

 

[mstomcat65]

I have a 20 gallon tall hexagon tank. I have a fluval 206 canister filter. I don't have a a skimmer at the moment but that is something i may do in the future. The reading of done on them is basically 50/50 on using them on a smaller tank. Doing more frequent water changes will mostly do the same thing as a skimmer. So far i've had no problems/deaths for not having one. On my bigger tank i did have one but i don't think it did the best job .... possibly just not a good skimmer. I don't have any power heads. I don't have any corals or anything that needs them and i think they are to powerful for the horses. My fluval puts a strong enough current in the water to keep it moving.

 

[mstomcat65]

it's been awhile since i've been on here.... i have pics to share



the first pic is my female from the first pair i got. the second pic is the newest pair i got yesterday. my male is above the smaller pair. i can't believe how much the first pair have grown and changed. They pretty much looked like the 2 i just got and about that size. the second pair are starting to change color already so i'm excited to see what color they decide on lol

 

[DQTimnehs]

What colours can they be?

 

[mstomcat65]

after the tank lights came on this morning the male seems to be changing to maybe possibly orange and the female is a lighter brown to tan. I think they haven't decided yet being so new to their surroundings.

 

[rockoko]

Oh my goodness they're pretty!

 

[Aubrey]

wow! They are stunning! Are they eating frozen well?

 

[mstomcat65]

Oh my goodness they're pretty!

thank you

 

[mstomcat65]

wow! They are stunning! Are they eating frozen well?

yes my bigger female was pretty shy when i got her and she is still shy.... she doesn't like to be watched when she's eating lol. My new pair are much smaller so i was kinda concerned the mysis would be to big for them....i was wrong! lol they were going after the frozen last night with no thought about it. I've trained the first pair to eat from a shell on the bottom of the tank so the new pair were pretty hungry after their journey and didn't even think twice