seahorseS?

Question

can i put a seahorse with 2 clowns, yellow goby ,and purple dottyback? or do the seahorses have to be by them selves in the tank?

Answer 1

Seahorses are quite shy and very touchy to keep generally speaking and really do best when kept alone. That said, they also need a really well cycled tank, so if you don't have a very well cycled tank you can give them alone I would take in with other fish over the new tank situation.

MM

Answer 2

Sea Horses are best kept by themselves. They require slow
water movement and live brine shrimp to live. If you keep them in a fish system the fish will eat all of their food and they will starve to death.Since most saltwater tank have a power head for circulation it can blow the seahorses up agiainst the glass and harm them. a 15 gallon tank would make a nice sea horse corral in conjuction with a hang on the back type filter.You asked the question .I gave an answer but I do agree with some of the things that danielle said in her answer above.

Answer 3

First of all, if you are asking this question, sea horses aren't for you since you know very little about them (Just stating a fact here). You shouldn't keep sea horses nor trust any fish store that would sell them. Most are endangered. With that being said, a little more info.

The life expectancy of a sea horse is only two years. Don't expect to get more than a year out of yours even under ultimate conditions since you do not know how old they are now. If you are not an expert with salt water already, you may run into problems.

First of all, what size is your tank? and are you using live rock? Do you have any plant life artificial or live? If you don't have secure plants you need to get some. Or at least decorations that a seahorse can attach itself to.

As far as the compatability with your current fish, yes your sea horse can tank with them, but you may or may not have to feed your sea horses outside the tank (problem) Sea horses are very slow eaters and will watch brine shrimp swim by 20-30 times before they decide they want to eat it. Other fish can quickly starve them out if you are not careful. Which is why most places will tell you to keep them apart. If you have the patience and time, they are good community fish. They are delicate and do not manage ph or temperature flux's well.

Honestly, if you do not know about these magnificent fish, don't buy them. Do more research from good sites not forums, or sales web pages. 80% of all live caught seahorses die in transit. Their numbers are being depleted due to over harvesting, mostly by the oriental countries. Reputable fish stores and suppliers won't even carry these fish due to their unhearty tank capability as well as due to being endangered. Please, if you are not 100% knowledgable about these fish, don't get them.

Answer 4

Cited from the website source:

Q. I'm considering starting a saltwater aquarium with seahorses. What type of set-up is best for the seahorses and what is the best food to feed them?

A. Seahorses require an aquarium with a low water flow and many places for them to wrap their tails around. Ideally, live rock should be provided for a natural food source with many different types of gorgonians and sponges to hang on to. To make feeding easier, the seahorses should be housed in an aquarium of 50 gallons or less, and should be housed with other seahorses. If other species of fish are to be housed in the same aquarium, they should be slow moving and non-aggressive. Mandarin gobies and pipefish are examples of acceptable tank mates. Seahorses do not require special lighting systems, but they do benefit from proper filtration. Wet/dry filters and canister filters are ideal for seahorse aquariums. Please note: seahorses, mandarin gobies, and pipefish require meticulous care and are recommended for expert aquarium hobbyists.

Feeding the seahorses can be difficult at the beginning, and live foods should be available. Offer live freshwater ghost shrimp, live brine shrimp enriched with a vitamin such as Selcon, and feeder guppies. Immediately after feeding live food, it is best to offer frozen mysid shrimp that have been thawed. To do this, draw a mysid shrimp into a pipette so part of the shrimp is hanging out, and dangle the shrimp in front of the seahorse. It may take a few feedings to get the seahorses accustomed to the new food, but in time, they will readily take the frozen mysid shrimp and will hunt them down as they are moved about the aquarium by the current.

Seahorses should be introduced into a mature, cycled aquarium. Numerous filtration methods and tank set-ups can result in a healthy, stable seahorse aquarium. A seahorse tank must have gentle to moderate currents. Be sure there is adequate biological filtration and do regular, partial water changes of 5-20 percent per week as you would with any fish-only aquarium, to keep water parameters as listed below. Water parameters should be stable before animals are added:

pH - 8.0 to 8.3
Specific gravity - 1.021 to 1.024
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - <20 ppm

Optimum temperature is dependent on whether the seahorse species being kept are tropical, subtropical or temperate.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but most seahorse aquarists use taller tanks. Seahorses need height (2.5 to 3 times the UNCURLED length of the animals) in their tanks to court and mate. At a minimum, the depth of the tank, excluding the substrate, should be at least 2x the uncurled length of the animal. Further, leave a path along the substrate as some seahorses courting rituals require them to scoot along the bottom of the tank in tandem. Several pairs of pygmy seahorses can be maintained in a 5-10 gallon tank (a 10G is recommended because of the difficulties of keeping water parameters stable in a small capacity aquarium. Two to three pairs of medium sized seahorses can be maintained in a 24-gallon tank although a larger tank is preferable to keep water parameters more stable.


The following hardy invertebrates are generally regarded as safe tank mates for medium to large seahorses and do not require special lighting, as do corals.

Use caution when adding animals to the tank; seahorses are not strong swimmers, are not competitive feeders, and have very few defenses against aggression.

With the exception of these clean-up crew animals it is generally advisable to establish seahorses first, then add other animals. Remove a tank mate at the first sign of aggression.

Fan worms including Feather Dusters
Astrea Snail
Turbo Snail
Nassarius Snail
Trochus Snail
Cerith Snail
Nerite Snail
Fighting Conch
Blue-legged Hermit Crab
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Scarlet/Blood Shrimp
Rockpool Shrimp
Grass Shrimp
(Shrimp are not considered safe around seahorse fry or H.zosterae (dwarf seahorse).

Notable groups that should be avoided:

Tangs, Triggerfish, Groupers, Eels, Nudibranchs, Filter-feeding Sea Cucumbers, Sea Urchins with sharp spines, Fireworms, Spanish Dancer Flatworms, Fire Corals, Lace Corals, Anemones, Tube Anemones, all Cephalopods (Squids, Octopuses, Cuttlefish, and Nautilus-), Mantis Shrimp, Lobsters, Heliofungia spp. Corals, Cataphyllia spp. Corals, Euphyllia spp. Corals, Goniopora/Alveopora spp. Corals, Galaxea spp. Corals, and Hydnophora spp. Corals.

Answer 5

wow you have a sea hose I LOVE SEAHORSES! omg! I heard they are very hard to take care of I wish you the best of luck!please dont let it die they are an endangered species

Answer 6

I don't think that you would have a problem the clown fish usually keep to themselves anyway. I would put them together and watch them for a few hours you will know if there will be a problem by then.