I have an extra tank that I used to use for freshwater and recently cleared out. (its 30 gallons) How hard are seahorses to care for and how much maintenance do they require?
Seahorses care level and tank size.
- Thread starter YoungReefer10g
- Start date
I got into the hobby with intentions to set up a coral and seahorse tank. This is not an easy task, hence I moved away from that idea at least initially. If you attend the mini MACNA event later this month, you can join the Seahorses and Pipefish subgroup and learn so much. One of the attendees and likely presenter will be the Seahorse Whisperer. Find her stuff on YouTube.
Quick and dirty, the bigger seahorses are easier than the Pygmy seahorses. If you can grow, raise, and successfully breed big seahorse babies, then you can have Pygmy seahorses. All require very good water quality and daily siphoning of uneaten food and waste products.
Captive bred seahorses have best survival rate because they are trained to eat certain foods. They require a constant source of food, such as freshly hatched brine shrimp. They don’t move fast and won’t fight for food, so you can have very limited if any other fish in the system. If they go without a meal, they digest their stomachs and will eventually starve to death. There is no going back.
They prefer low flow water with a bubbler system and need things they can hang on such as gorgonians. Many use plastic items, so they can be removed and cleaned frequently. Tanks that are tall are better than wide based on how the seahorses move around in nature.
I’ve probably got more in my mind than what I’ve written already, so plan to research through the Seahorse Whisperer and consider joining the mini MACNA conference later this month. With a $20 annual fee, I got free admission to this virtual conference and chance to win prizes. MACNA is also hosted in Atlanta this year, so you’ll get another opportunity in the fall.
Enjoy and let me know what you end up doing. Seahorses are still in my future wishlist!
Quick and dirty, the bigger seahorses are easier than the Pygmy seahorses. If you can grow, raise, and successfully breed big seahorse babies, then you can have Pygmy seahorses. All require very good water quality and daily siphoning of uneaten food and waste products.
Captive bred seahorses have best survival rate because they are trained to eat certain foods. They require a constant source of food, such as freshly hatched brine shrimp. They don’t move fast and won’t fight for food, so you can have very limited if any other fish in the system. If they go without a meal, they digest their stomachs and will eventually starve to death. There is no going back.
They prefer low flow water with a bubbler system and need things they can hang on such as gorgonians. Many use plastic items, so they can be removed and cleaned frequently. Tanks that are tall are better than wide based on how the seahorses move around in nature.
I’ve probably got more in my mind than what I’ve written already, so plan to research through the Seahorse Whisperer and consider joining the mini MACNA conference later this month. With a $20 annual fee, I got free admission to this virtual conference and chance to win prizes. MACNA is also hosted in Atlanta this year, so you’ll get another opportunity in the fall.
Enjoy and let me know what you end up doing. Seahorses are still in my future wishlist!
This was really informative! Is there any way to adjust seahorses to pellets? Live feeding might be a pain.I know the dwarfs you have to breed your own brine shrimp.
Buy from a breeder that trained the big hippo seahorses from practically birth on pellets and try your best to keep all other live food sources out of your tank, otherwise their instincts will revert back to nature and go to live brine shrimp and copapods. Don’t quote me 100%, but do your research and only buy from a trusted breeder. It’s risky to buy from a pet store because you don’t know if they were fed properly and if stomachs are still in tact.
