Dear Haynes:
Well done! It sounds like you did a fine job of switching to the larger aquarium and transferring all your specimens and filters.
Give the new setup a couple of weeks to settle in and make sure that everything is running smoothly and that there are no ammonia or nitrite spikes, and then you certainly may consider adding a few new specimens. A 45-gallon aquarium with excellent height like your new setup should be able to accommodate another pair of Sunbursts, a bumblebee shrimp, and another small fish without any problems if it is equipped with an efficient filtration system.
In that regard, I would suggest upgrading your filter to something a bit more suitable for the larger, taller aquarium. As it is now, there simply would not be enough water movement to provide good circulation throughout the 45-gallon extra tall aquaria.
For example, as a general rule of thumb, if your filtration is not turning over the entire volume of the aquarium a MINIMUM of 5 times per hour, then you’re seahorse setup is undercirculated. With waterfall return or a spray bar return raised above the surface of the water to diffuse the outflow, you can achieve turnover rates of up to 10-20 times the volume of your tank every hour without producing too much turbulence or current for seahorses. A waterfall return is another good way to diffuse the output from your filter, and also works well for seahorses. There will be an area of relatively vigorous water movement at one end of the aquarium underneath and nearby the waterfall, while the other end of the tank is a relatively low flow area.
In short, for a 45-gallon aquarium, I would suggest using a filter that moves at least 250 gallons per hour. If you do decide to upgrade the filtration system as well, Haynes, be sure to preserve the biological filtration media with all of its it’s beneficial nitrifying bacteria intact and unimpaired from your current filters so that there is no disruption of your biological filtration.
Your current aquarium parameters are right on the button. If you want to consider a dottyback for your aquarium, make sure it is a captive bred orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis friedmani), once they are relatively passive and inoffensive as far as dottybacks go. Other species of Pseudochromis can be highly aggressive fish that can get downright nasty with their tankmates at times.
Best of luck with your new, improved seahorse tank, Haynes!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna
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.
