I am new

Dear eclipse:

Your new 125-gallon aquarium can accommodate all whole herd of seahorses and I would be happy to help you set it up to create an ideal environment for these amazing aquatic equines.

The best way to get started would be to enroll in our seahorse training course. 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. It covers the following topics it will explain everything you need to know about optimizing your 125-gallon aquarium for seahorses:

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.

The purpose of this training is twofold: (1) to assure that the hobbyist has a suitable aquarium, completely cycled and with the biofiltration fully established, ready and waiting when his seahorses arrive, and (2) to assure that the hobbyist has a good understanding of the aquarium care and requirements of Ocean Rider seahorses by the time he or she has completed the training and been certified.

How long this training will take to complete depends on your experience level as an aquarist to a large extent. For example, if you have never kept seahorses before and you do not already have a suitable saltwater aquarium up and running, it will take at least eight weeks for your training and preparations to be completed before you can be certified. It will take that long to learn the basics of seahorse keeping, set up a suitable aquarium, cycle the tank from scratch to establish the biological filtration, and optimize the tank to create an ideal environment for seahorses. Only then can you be certified ready to receive your first seahorses.

On the other hand, experienced marine aquarists and hobbyists that have had seahorses before and already have a suitable saltwater aquarium up and running can be certified much more quickly. I will run through the same basic information with them, but most of the information I provide will be familiar material for such hobbyists and they should be able to review it and get up to speed quickly, plus they should have well-established aquariums ready, fully matured that they can fairly quickly adapt in order to make them more ideal for seahorses. In a case like that, certification can be completed as soon as they have absorbed the material I provide and are confident they have a good grasp of the specialized requirements and aquarium care of the seahorses.

So in order to get started, eclipse, the first thing I need to know is how experienced you are with saltwater aquariums. Have you ever kept a marine aquarium before? If so, how long have you been involved with the saltwater aquarium hobby? Do you have one or more marine aquariums up and running at this time? If so, how long have the tanks been in operation?

If you can tell me a little more about your new 125-gallon aquarium, that would also be very helpful. Did it come with a filtration system or will you be installing filters after you get the aquarium set up? What kind of light fixture does the 125-gallon tank have? Any information you can provide about the water pumps or equipment included with the aquarium will be appreciated.

If you’re interested, please get back to me as soon as possible ([email protected]) with your full name and the information requested above, and we will get started with your training right away.

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna