Dear hobbyist:
A good protein skimmer is highly recommended but is not a prerequisite for keeping seahorses successfully by any means. In your case, the Skilters should provide all the protein skimming your tank needs if they are operating properly. Just keep them clean and tune or tweak the built-in skimmers as needed, according to the instructions.
Yes, indeed, both the toadstool coral in the purple ribbon coral are perfectly safe to keep with seahorses. Generally speaking, most soft corals are quite safe to keep with seahorses. The stony corals are another matter and must be regarded with caution. Avoid the long polyp stony (LPS) corals, which have powerful stings and can be very dangerous for seahorses in a small, close system aquarium. Certain of the short polyp stony (SPS) corals can be tried at your discretion, but they often require high-intensity lighting and strong water currents in order to thrive, which can sometimes make it difficult to strike a good balance between the needs of the SPS corals and the needs of the seahorses.
Your 110-gallon aquarium should be a good choice for a seahorse tank. It has the superior height that seahorses need in order to mate comfortably and to protect them from depth-related problems such as gas bubble syndrome. And it has excellent water volume which should provide the system with outstanding stability and give you a very comfortable margin for error.
If your new aquarium is in the process of cycling right now, this would be the perfect time for you to participate in Ocean Rider’s free training course on seahorse keeping. It will tell you everything you need to know about the aquarium care and requirements of seahorses and how to optimize your aquarium to create ideal conditions for the ponies. This basic training is very informal and completely free of charge. Ocean Rider provides the free training as a service to their customers and any other hobbyists who are interested in learning more about the care and keeping of seahorses. It’s a crash course on seahorse keeping consisting of 10 separate lessons covering the following subjects, and is conducted entirely via e-mail. There is no homework or examinations or anything of that nature — just a lot of good, solid information on seahorses for you to read through and absorb as best you can, at your own speed:
Aquarium care and requirements of seahorses;
Selecting a suitable aquarium for seahorses;
*size (tank height and water volume)
*filtration
*aquarium test kits
Optimizing your aquarium for seahorses;
*lighting
*water movement and circulation
*hitching posts (real and artificial)
*aquascaping
*substrate
Cycling a new marine aquarium;
The cleanup crew (aquarium janitors & sanitation engineers);
Water Chemistry
*optimal parameters
*water quality & water changes
*aquarium maintenance schedule
Feeding seahorses;
Compatible tank mates for seahorses;
Courtship and breeding;
Rearing the young;
Disease prevention and control;
Acclimating Ocean Rider seahorses.
If you are interested, I will be providing you with detailed information on these subjects and answering any questions you may have about the material I present. I will also be recommending seahorse-related articles for you to read and absorb online.
When you get to Lesson 6 in the training, it is devoted entirely for compatible tank mates for seahorses, including a discussion of the various fish, live corals, and other invertebrates that do well with seahorses and the others that you should avoid. One entire section of this lesson is devoted to keeping seahorses in tanks with live corals, and should be very useful for you when you are stocking your new aquarium.
By the time you complete all 10 lessons, your new aquarium should be ready for the seahorses and you can feel very confident about adding the ponies to the new tank.
If you would like to give the seahorse training a try, just contact me off list ([email protected]) with your full name, and I’ll get you started on the training course right away. You’ll be up to speed on the care and keeping of seahorses and ready to order your first specimens before you know it!
Best wishes with all your fishes (and invertebrates)!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna
Post edited by: Pete Giwojna, at: 2009/02/15 02:02
Ocean Rider, Inc. is an Organic Hawaiian-Based Seahorse Aqua-Farm & Aquarium that Follows Strict Good Farming Practices in Raising Seahorses and Other Aquatic Life.
