Are Seahorses right for me?

Doctorgori

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How does pairing work? Do you have to get an established pair or can you buy 2. I know there’s specific rules for clowns size wise wondering if there’s any pairing rules for seahorse
they will easily breed but males can harass girls
…I wouldn’t worry about babies, most won’t make it even with care. I’ve raised quite a few, lots of bbs, phyto, water changes and losses… barely worth it, most LFS will offer pennie’s for all your effort
 

DED65

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Male and male, female and female and you don’t have to worry about babies. It can be difficult to sex the younger ones, so if you want to pick the sex, you will get slightly older ones.
 

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I agree pick them up with yours hands. I wouldn’t do live rock in the moving bucket because if it shifts due to car stopping you can injure them. A bit of chaeto to hold onto or a straw is good
 

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Yeah, it definitely wasn’t old age (never said it was) and we treated for bacterial infections thinking something like this could be the cause. Although, nutrition and whatnot was well in the low range of measurements. Really had no idea what the starter was minus a mistake in temperature fluctuation as noted in the thread.
Yes vibrio is gram negative and gets in the deeper flesh so hard to treat. Most regular antibiotics don’t work. I can’t get good drugs here either so once they get it I’ve never been successful saving one.
 
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I agree pick them up with yours hands. I wouldn’t do live rock in the moving bucket because if it shifts due to car stopping you can injure them. A bit of chaeto to hold onto or a straw is good
When picking a tank I was going to go with a biocube 32. I noticed the 32 style seemed to be taller than the 29 style of bio cube. Is 21” tall enough height?
 
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auto feeder. They can be trained to eat out of a trough and many people do so this way. So if you can measure out feedings into a trough using a pump, theoretically you can automate feedings
 

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auto feeder. They can be trained to eat out of a trough and many people do so this way. So if you can measure out feedings into a trough using a pump, theoretically you can automate feedings

^^^ might work you gotta be careful with frozen foods sitting too long, that can make em sick just as fast …

I ended up feeding mine 2x/day …if at the same time your ponies will be waiting by the dish..
BTW someone made a 3d printed seahorse feeder, somewhere
 
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^^^ might work you gotta be careful with frozen foods sitting too long, that can make em sick just as fast …

I ended up feeding mine 2x/day …if at same time…
Yes, that makes sense! If this were to work the maintenance on my part would be to rinse the mysis then place it into the fridge every morning before I leave for class and remove it after the feedings. Then the seahorses wake up at 9am, feed at 10am then at 4pm, and then if I decide to do a 3rd feeding I can hand feed before bedtime!
 

DED65

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Theoretically. Food begins to decay and bacteria starts to multiply beginning above 41 degrees. The line coming out of the refrigerator and into the tank must be 41 degrees or below. The line in the tank will be the tank temperature and any exposed line out of the tank will transfer the heat. I think you would be better off feeding well twice a day. You can buy a feeding station for a few dollars online and not worry about the seahorses getting an infection from tainted food.
 
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Theoretically. Food begins to decay and bacteria starts to multiply beginning above 41 degrees. The line coming out of the refrigerator and into the tank must be 41 degrees or below. The line in the tank will be the tank temperature and any exposed line out of the tank will transfer the heat. I think you would be better off feeding well twice a day. You can buy a feeding station for a few dollars online and not worry about the seahorses getting an infection from tainted food.
That makes a lot of sense, I did not account for the fact that food would be sitting in the tube and not just the fridge. The plan was to pump food into one of those feeding stations but yeah like you said the tube would always be room temp so during scheduled feedings it would not be cold anymore. Thank you!
 
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That makes a lot of sense, I did not account for the fact that food would be sitting in the tube and not just the fridge. The plan was to pump food into one of those feeding stations but yeah like you said the tube would always be room temp so during scheduled feedings it would not be cold anymore. Thank you!
To reiterate the auto feeder was not why I think I could do seahorses. Hand feeding twice a day is not an issue, I will have time both before and after classes to hand feed or use the station, this was just an idea that might've helped with adding an extra feeding in the day and automate some things
 

DED65

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Hand feed twice a day and give them an extra feeding on your days off or when you have time to fatten them up. When I kept seahorses, I worked more than full time and as long as they were fed twice a day, they were fine. Try not to overthink it. If you can supply copepods and amphipods, seahorses can hunt for the extra food:)!
 
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Hand feed twice a day and give them an extra feeding on your days off or when you have time to fatten them up. When I kept seahorses, I worked more than full time and as long as they were fed twice a day, they were fine. Try not to overthink it. If you can supply copepods and amphipods, seahorses can hunt for the extra food:)!
i am spoiled as I have daily access to live baby brine, but I’ve seen some sources say they’re too small. But my fat clownfish and Midas blenny will go nuts when I put some in for the mandarin I have.
 

DED65

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You can always try the baby brine shrimp. If they can hunt pods, I would think that they would go after the brine shrimp. No experience with brine on my part, but some things that people write are not written with experience. You can always look up how to feed the brine with phyto to fatten them up.
P.S, I do have a little experience with the seahorses and food safety :) !
 
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Thank you everyone for the help, I think I am going to go for it!!! There’s a really good deal on a full biocube setup 40min from me so let’s hope it stays for sale until I’m done with finals and I’ll make a build thread I hope you’ll all follow along :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
 
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I have checked my house temperature after the tank was set up (still no seahorses I am waiting until absolutely ready) and the tank hovers right ay 74-75 degrees when the house is set at 72. So I have deemed a chiller necessary and might as well because I will need one in the long run. Does anyone have chiller recommendations that are on the cheaper side, and will get me to 70-72 degrees for 30 gallons of water?
 

DED65

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A cooling fan may get you to the temperature. Of course, the tank will evaporate more water as evaporation is the cooling method.
 

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