Help setting up Seahorse tank

[ladyhealth]

Hi all,
I would like to set up a seahorse tank. Currently, I have a 10 gallon rectangular and 35 gallon hexagonal tank, both are not cycled. So, I would start from scratch.
About 6 months ago, I purchased two seahorses and were told they would be happy in my established reef tank (going on for one year now), a 28g JBJ HQI. But the flow was way too much for the kelloggi, so I moved them over to the 35 hex, which at that time was housing ~60-70 lbs of live rock. To say the least, not an ideal environment of the seahorses, but out of desperation, I wanted them out of the JBJ. One day, one of the seahorses went missing. I had a fluval 205 filter hooked up to the tank and suspect that, maybe the seahorse got 'sucked up'. Who knows, but never saw him again. The other seahorse did not eat well despite attempts to feed him twice a day with mysis and reef prime. The inevitable occurred.
Now, I want to try again since I felt misguided the first time. I'm thinking I can put two seahorses in the 10 gallon, so this way, I can use the 35 hex for about 3 medium (2-3 inch) sized fish. I plan on adding one yellow watchman goby to the seahorse tank. Any recommendations would be great.
Here are a few pics of my 28g JBJ. I love this hobby. Boy, is this addictive.

 

[Domboski]

What kind fo seahorses do you want to keep? That to me is the first step in properly planning a system.

 

[ladyhealth]

I was think kelloggi (?sp), but not sure. Essentially, I'm looking for a hardy seahorse since I'm a beginner.Do you have any advice on how to select which type or any books that are a great resource for seahorses?

 

[Domboski]

If you haven't been to www.seahorse.org that would be a good place to start

 

[ladyhealth]

Question

I will be sure to check out the website. Thanks

I want to take it slow and do my research. I am kind of heartbroken about the first pair that died;-(

I thought I did everything right based on the directions and advice of the LFS. In addition, I now realize the seahorses that were sold to me were not healthy.

I welcome all advice

 

[Domboski]

Unfortunately most LFS will not admit they do not know the proper care for some fish because of the fear of losing a sale. They do not realize that when people spend the money and the animal dies because of faulty advice that they lose the customer permanently.

I currently have erectus seahorses. Andrew (asianer on the board) has kept Reidi. Once you start knowing a little more about the species you want people will be able to provide some helpful tips

 

[asianer]

Research the difference between captive-bred and tank-raised; many think that these terms are interchangable - they are not. I could simply give you the answer but researching, for me, was where I learned the most; besides first-hand experience of course. I have raised and bred Reidi with great success, moreso by following tried and true methods, than by any skill of mine. I would definitely start with the thread that Dom provided. Any potential seahorse purchase should be preceded by watching an actual feeding, getting seahorses trained to frozen food is the single most difficult thing to do and making sure you buy some that are already trained will reduce your stress by 50%. IMO, they prefer really low flow and like many places to hitch. I hope I didn't come off as condescending but I just wanted to stress how important reading is prior to purchasing anything you want to keep. As for tankmates I have kept seahorses with anything from shy gobies to pretty aggressive wrasses and they have all gotten along quite well. There are a few people on MR that keep or have kept seahorses so you will find many good resources on here as well, and please don't hestitate to ask questions!

 

[basiab]

No way to know if the first ones were healthy or not but more likely they were not trained to eat 'dead' food. In that case you have to get live food for them until you train them to take frozen or whatever. And not all will agree to be trained. So it is better to make sure that they are trained before you buy them as indicated by a previous post.