Seahorse?

[Evildude]

Ok, So I got some free time this weekend and went to get some plants for my first fresh water tank and the clerk had what it appear to be 5 to 10 Gal tank with 2 beautiful seahorses, he said they're not that hard to maintain and live for quite some time....

Now I would like to get some advice on that, for what I understand salt water tanks are really expensive to start but not to maintain..any advise there?

Also any of you have some seahorses?

Thank you :shappy:

[labnjab]

I don't have seahorse but I'm planning on it by summer. From what I've been reading they aren't the easiest to care for, but not the hardest either. They need a tall, low flow tank. Also, the tank needs to be running for 6 months to a year before you should add any seahorses to make sure its stable and has a good supply of natural food. I've also read that some species have to been trained to eat frozen food vs live. They need some other special requirements that I can't think of off the top of my head

I personally would try your hand at a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) or reef and see how you can handle it before trying seahorses

[Evildude]

WOW 6 months before I can put any!!!!

I did some research and for what it looks like a SW tank is really expensive and hard to keep, that's why I haven't got one, but if I do it will be no bigger that 20 Gal.

[labnjab]

I know a guy that waited 18 months before adding any seahorses to his seahorse tank.

Yeah they can get expensive but its worth it. I had over $1500 invested in our 1st 29 gallon. We merged 2 29 gallon reefs into a 75 gallon which cost another $400 and I'm still no where near done adding equipment and livestock. Their not too hard if you do all the proper research and are willing to put extra time and effort into it

[Evildude]

Good God!!! that's a lot of money! lol I think I'll wait with my 10 Gal FW tank (for now)

[VoidParadigm]

Haha, good plan, the waiting bit.

As said above saltwater tanks are expensive. And then imagine what the cost would jump up to if you did something wrong because it was your first tank! Personally, I'm sticking to freshwater for many more years. =P

[Northernguy]

Good Advice-Research everything twice.
-Before spending any money on equipment buy a good book or two.
-When you think you are ready ,start pricing all things needed.
You don't jump into SW like you do FW!:22:

[VoidParadigm]

Well, you shouldn't jump into FW either! =P
But I'm sure everyone does anyways. :shrug:

[Amazon]

I have pipefish. And your lfs lied to you. Seahorses are very proned to disease and require a very special custom tank. Its not the expense its just that they require mostly live food. They have to have a tall tank. They can not live with many other creatures. etc. I researched for months on saltwater habitats and I still have a lot to learn. As said before you cant jump into saltwater like FW. Learning how the ocean keeps its parameters stable is a LOT harder than any river or pond. If you want to try saltwater try a FOWLR tank with some clownfish or something easy like that. Then you can try a reef. And then the seahorses. Im not trying to put you down or anything I just want to inform you that it is not even close to as easy as keeping a FW community.:22:

[annageckos]

The setup of a seahorse tank would be more than most freshwater of the same size, but not too bad depending on what you do. I, however, wouldn't recommend them for your first sw tank. The are delicate fish that should be kept in a species only tank. Low flow and 'hitching post'(places to wrap thier tail around and rest) I would also spend the money and get CB(captive bred). Wild caught can have too many problems, are more stressed, illness, diseases and can be much harder to feed anything other than live, if they even take that. CB are generally healthier, parasite free, less stressed and will take frozen foods. Some seahorses are what is called, captive raised or farmed, different than CB and have the same problems as wild seahorses. This site has a lot of great info about seahorses. [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]