Best Seahorse to keep

[pledosophy]

Here is my take

1. Spins, are not readily avaiblae as CB speciments.
2. Barbouri, are nice CB are available, prone to snout infections
3. Caps, good seahorses, are nedangered species, require a chiller and temps in the 60to 67F range
4. Comes, not availbale as CB.
5. Erectus, good starter horse, CB available, hae benthnic fry, fry easier then others to keep, still had, but slightly easier for the first 3 weeks.
6. Histix, CB not common on the market
7. Reidi, loved mine, best horse ever, pelagic fry are hard to raise, CB available
8. Pygmy, not availbale in any market I know of. OR's are actually zots
9. Dwarfs are cool, but will not work with your tank plans. Most do not want to bother hatching livefood daily which makes them less sought after. They do require special setup needs, not hard, just different
10. Fuscus, if you find them let me know. Been looking for years.
11. Kuda's are a great starter horse.
12. Ingens, would be to large for your tank
13 Pots will be to large for your tank and need a chiller.

Hope it helps.

IMO any horse from a good aquaculture facility is going to be healthy and relatvly easy to care for compared to other seahorses. Just my take.

[VWD]

This is pretty igood post and good info .

Originally Posted by pledosophy

Here is my take

1. Spins, are not readily avaiblae as CB speciments.
2. Barbouri, are nice CB are available, prone to snout infections
3. Caps, good seahorses, are nedangered species, require a chiller and temps in the 60to 67F range
4. Comes, not availbale as CB.
5. Erectus, good starter horse, CB available, hae benthnic fry, fry easier then others to keep, still had, but slightly easier for the first 3 weeks.
6. Histix, CB not common on the market
7. Reidi, loved mine, best horse ever, pelagic fry are hard to raise, CB available
8. Pygmy, not availbale in any market I know of. OR's are actually zots
9. Dwarfs are cool, but will not work with your tank plans. Most do not want to bother hatching livefood daily which makes them less sought after. They do require special setup needs, not hard, just different
10. Fuscus, if you find them let me know. Been looking for years.
11. Kuda's are a great starter horse.
12. Ingens, would be to large for your tank
13 Pots will be to large for your tank and need a chiller.

Hope it helps.

IMO any horse from a good aquaculture facility is going to be healthy and relatvly easy to care for compared to other seahorses. Just my take.

[Sara7814]

yes very good. that has helped me narrow it down very very much. thanks again

[Twitterbait]

Very nice list Pledosophy.

I personaly don't agree with you GB because IME most fry and many of the dwarf species have mouths that are too small for even baby brine so rotifers are needed. the other problem is that brine have very little nutrition in them so you have to suppliment vitamins. the size of their mouths also knocks out most pods unless they are super tiny and even then the babies don't have sufficient hunting skills to nab them.
...
Just my thoughts...

[Twitterbait]

You can use it on some but the dwarf fry are so miniscule that they usually can't eat BBS.

[pledosophy]

Twitter, curious as to what you are talking about.

There is only one species of dwarf seahorses, (zostarea) available in the United States, and for that matter commonly traded in the hobby. Dwarf Seahorse is usually used has a common name for zostarea much as a Brazillian is a common name for a reidi, or a Lined seahorse is a name for an erectus.

Zots, take bbs with no problem. IME even species like Reidi will take bbs if it is less then 4 hours old. During this first four hours the bbs has not fully consumed it's egg sac and is still nutritious and a viable size for the fry. As the fry get older ou need to enrcih the brine, but not in the beginning stages. Many people do start some species like reidi, and kuda on rotifers, but others are succsessful with just bbs. Some species like erectus will take bbs from day one with out any issues. JME

What species have you worked with? There are several different rearing methods, would like to know what worked for you.

No matter what species you are dealing with raising seahorses is a challenging task. IMO if you plan to get seahorses, that does not mean you have to be ready to raise the fry. I know that sounds cold, but it's just how I am. Personally I had my kitchen full of nurseries, and cultures for quite some time.

[AHarringa]

Is it possible to get a seahorse in a 24 gallon aquapod?

[Sara7814]

pledosophy - just curious- how old are you? and how long have you been into SW tanks?

AHarringa - from what i have read and learned, seahorses like tall tanks. they also do courting which they need taller tanks. im sure one of the very expereinced ppl on here will give you more of an idea.. is there a certain species your looking for?? size??

[Twitterbait]

yes you can keep a horse or 2 in a 24g aquapod... but i would not breed them in one.

[pledosophy]

I see no problem with keeping a pair of horses in an Aquapod providing you do some modifications to help lower the temperature. Aquapods without modifications run to hot for seahorses IMO.

Sara, I have been researching seahorses since 00, I have been keeping since 01. My experience until 04 was just with seahorses and seahorse safe corals and tankmates. Since then I have started branching out. In July of this year I lost my WC reidi I had kept since Jan of 01. I currently have no seahorses and plan on waiting a few more months before setting up there tank. My current tank is a 20g long nano and working on my 65g wrasse/lps tank. My next seahorse tank will be a 37g tall. We are planning a move next summer, hope to setup a few seahorse displays and my nursery system in the new place. Kinda tight on room here.

Much of what I know I had to learn on my own since in 00 seahorses were not that popular in the hobby with few people showing longterm succsess. I found visits to Scripts, and the Aquarium of the Pacific very helpful in the begining. I also read some of Palletta's and Giownja's writings. Since joining various forums in 03 I have begun to find more avenues of research and spend at least an hour a day on different forums, most in relation to seahorse care.

[Sara7814]

oh thats cool. i thought i read somewhere that you were 15 but you seems to have a lot of knowledge..so i was just curious

[pledosophy]

Where did you read that? I'm not 15, I am married.

[Twitterbait]

Hey man... you know in some states...

[Sara7814]

im serious.. i read somewhere and i was like 99% that you said you were 15...lol
thats why i was like man this guys is very smart and has a lot of expereince...lol

ill see if i can find it again

[pledosophy]

We live in the same town Twitter I waited until I was 24 to get married.