Seahorses

[shivvy_girl]

Hiya everyone. Not sure if I'm in the right forum or not but I was wondering what size a tank seahorses need? You see, I read that they prefer small tanks (I read it on the internet and in a marine book I have) about 20 gallons - but when I went to the pet shop today the guy there said a big tank was better...what doo you guys think? I don't mind buying a bigger tank but I read that they would find it harder to get food in a big one...any advice is appreciated and any other info on seahorses - I know they are very hard to keep but it's something I would really like to try

 

[crazyelece]

I forget the post, try a search, but there was a link to a great site for seahorse info. As with any livestock - the larger the tank the better. The less chance of a chemistry problem when there is more volume to absorb it. Also from what I have heard seahorses can be tought to come to a specific place to get food and thus not have any issues finding food in a large tank.

 

[Dragonscales]

It depends on the species really. I wrote a list on seahorse size categories and a rough stocking guide a while ago which can be found here:

Seahorse species sizes

 

[shivvy_girl]

Thanks a lot guys.

Wow, I never knew there was so many seahorse species dragonscales!
That page you linked to is very helpful, I think I'll stick to the smaller types of seahorses.
Do they prefer tanks that are more taller than long? Or normal ones thats longer than tall?
Just that question there ^ then I'm off to buy the tank!

 

[huntnikk]

I have never even seen seahorses for sale at a pet store or fish store... (I live in Arizona and I did live in NJ before this..

Where do you find them for sale?

 

[Opcn]

Macro Algea is the key, get lots of it, and if you dose the tank with live phyto pod populations go throught the roof, you can also build pod piles, piles of rock were you put bits of shrimp for the pods to eat and be protected, sortof like a refuge within the tank. I'n my pld LFS there was a caulerpa tank, a 29 gallon on the top rack in the same system as all of there other salt water tanks, thousands of gallons in all, anyways they tossed some seahorses in and everyone forgot about them because no one could see them, they lived for months without being fed at all, it wasn't untill the shop closed down that they realised that the seahorses were up there still.

 

[Dragonscales]

Height is important in a seahorse tank due to their upright nature. However, adequate horizontal swimming space is also important and something that shouldn't be skimped on.