reef and seahorse pics

[kaba]

I decided that it was time to post a few pics, so here is a recent shot of my 72-gallon reef.



Fish inhabitants include:

• maroon clown pair
• mandarin
• foxface rabbitfish (looking quite yellow in the shot )
• dwarf golden angel (still shy, but you can see her munching on some macro on the right in the pic)

Inverts include:

• 2 clams (squamosa & maxima)
• BTA (smack dab in the middle of the tank, from Stan/Energy)
• frogspawn (in the upper left, started as a small frag from Scott/Harv)
• moon brain
• trumpet
• brain
• xenia
• ricordia
• misc. polyps
• various 'shrooms
• handful of hermits
• Fromia star
• tuxedo urchin

Everything's been in the tank for a year or more, except for the golden angel, foxface, star, and urchin, which were added in the last few weeks.

And, just for kicks, here's what the tank looked like as a FOWLR prior to switching it over to a reef. I had the navarchus angel for almost a year. She was a stunning fish and never missed a meal. Unfortunately, a monster turbo snail died in the tank, and I didn't realize it until it was too late. The water quality quickly degraded, and she became stressed and succumbed to velvet. Someday when I have a larger tank I'll have to get another navarchus. She was a very cool fish, and about as beautiful as they come.

[kaba]

And here are a few shots of my horses. The 1st, 2nd, and 5th are reidi, and the 3rd and 4th pics are erectus.

[JnS]

very nice

[clownfishcrazy]

Do you breed the seahorses?

[otolith]

Yes she does, IIRC. I remember just because she has to do so many water changes with the fry.

[otolith]

Great pics, btw.

[kaba]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I've raised fry in the past, but not recently. I currently don't have any breeding pairs. The yellow erectus in the middle pic is one I raised, and he turns 2 years old this month.

[manderson0805]

When you bred them, did the fry grow up accustomed to frozen food? I'd love to turn my 46 into a seahorse and pipefish tank once I get the 120 going, but I'm afraid to slowly starve the fish to death. Any ideas on how much I can get CR fish that eat frozen for? I've looked around, but really don't see much for pricing.

[WildPraire]

Karen,

Thank you for sharing the great pictures! How sad that you lost the angel, she was indeed beautiful!

What do you think of your urchin? I know they eat coraline too, but can one eat so much that it's a problem? Also does it knock things around much?

Wonderful seahorse pictures, you obviously have a lot of experience with them, I hope someday to have a tank devoted to them.

Thanks,

Sue

[kaba]

Originally Posted by manderson0805

When you bred them, did the fry grow up accustomed to frozen food? I'd love to turn my 46 into a seahorse and pipefish tank once I get the 120 going, but I'm afraid to slowly starve the fish to death. Any ideas on how much I can get CR fish that eat frozen for? I've looked around, but really don't see much for pricing.

Yes, I have raised erectus fry to adults and at about 5-6 weeks of age I was able to start the transition to frozen food. Prior to that they were on enriched BBS. It takes some patience and persistence, but pretty soon they start to snick at pieces of chopped mysis (Hikari is smaller and is a good first step towards PE mysis). By about 9-10 weeks or so they were eating 100% frozen. Virtually all available CB horses have been trained to eat frozen food. That's one of the big advantages to purchasing CB over WC.

There are a handful of places selling CB horses, but many of them are frequently out of stock. As far as cost goes, prices are going up. An average cost for the more common CB horses is around $50-80 each. Other species can be $100 or more. How easy or difficult the fry are to raise is one factor that determines price. Erectus are considered easier than reidi, and therefore are less expensive.

Regarding mixing horses and pipes, we are currently working with a pathologist over at seahorse.org, and we have learned so much recently about how susceptible horses and other syngnathids are to bacterial infections, particularly the various strains of Vibrio. What it boils down to is that mixing different species -- or even horses of the same species, but from different sources -- can be very risky. There have been many members on our boards that have had two separate tanks of the same species thriving, but when placed together the horses became ill and some perished. I've even witnessed it in my own tanks. Mixing CB horses with WC pipes would be extremely risky, as the WC pipes could introduce any number of pathogens.

Sorry if that was a little long-winded. Hope it helps.

[kaba]

Sue -- Thanks for the comments.

The tuxedo urchin is a very interesting little critter. Our current one is the second one we've had. Our first was our sole fatality in the great Halimeda crash of 2003. (It could have been worse, as the all the corals and anemone looked like they were on their last legs for several days.)

Yes, he rasps at the coralline, but he really only makes a dent, IMO. And, yes, they do have a tendency to move small things around, but I don't find it to be a problem. Our first urchin would occasionally release gametes into the water, which was an interesting event to watch. (Fortunately, the tank was large enough so that the water quality wasn't affected.)

So, yes, I really like them. He's a hit with the kids, too.

[MERCEDES]

Originally Posted by otolith

Yes she does, IIRC. I remember just because she has to do so many water changes with the fry.

Well we all know what Derek won't be raising anytime soon in his tank



Karen those are amazing pictures! You're fish only tank looked beautiful as does the current set up. Sorry to hear about your Angel she was as Sue put it a very beautiful fish. Great information on the Seahorses lovely but sooooo delicate that I am content to look at others photos and listen to them talk about their success in their own tanks. Please post more pics when you have time. Your moon coral is stunning

[ReefLuvR]

Have to agree with all the above. Beautiful tanks. Lovely horses. Something I, too would love to learn more about in the future. Congrats on your obvious successes!

[JoshMatt]

Beautiful pictures!!

A little off topic, but do you put copyrights on all your photos? I've seen other threads where someone has found one of their images on a vendor's site, is this a problem you've run into?

Josh

[kaba]

Thanks again for the comments, everyone.

Josh -- Yes, I do put copyrights on many of my pics to deter people from using them without permission. We actually have come across a seahorse-related commercial website that had used pics swiped from the seahorse.org gallery. It is a real problem.