Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

Seahorse Club
Aquarium & Livestock

Feed Ezy Frozen Mysis

number of seahorses for my 37 gal

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  • #1907
    jbusatti
    Member

    I would like to start keeping seahorses in my 37 gallon cube tank which is piped into my 200 gallon tank and filter system. I already have a pair of firefish, a pair of spotted mandarins, and 4 dragonface pipefish in the 37 gallon now and I would like to start off with a pair of sunbursts and then add some different species later. I was wondering if this would be the proper environment for seahorses and how many I could put in the tank. I’m not sure if I could put more in since all 200 gallons of my system cycle through the tank or not.(I do have some fish in the other tanks but the filtration system is very good and has 3 refugiums) I figure that would keep the water clean and it would be a smaller area for them to feed in so they may get more food. If possible I would like to add pairs of sunbursts, brazileros, and kudas. I would like mustangs too but that may be pushing it if I’m not pushing it already with the 3 pairs.

    #5360
    Pete Giwojna
    Guest

    Dear JB:

    Well, sir — there is really no formula for calculating the proper stocking density for seahorses in a complicated aquarium systems such as yours where a number of different tanks share a common filtration system. But if you are looking for some general guidelines, then I can tell you that the recommended stocking density for large tropical seahorses such as Mustangs and Sunbursts (H. erectus) is usually about one pair of adults per 10 gallons of water, with a minimum tank size of 30 gallons.

    Going by those guidelines, JB, providing it has an efficient filtration system, your 37-gallon cube tank could safely house 3-4 pairs of mature Mustangs or Sunbursts, or 7-8 adult individuals of those types, IF the ponies were the only inhabitants of the tank and you stocked it to capacity.

    Of course, your situation is little more complicated, since there are already a number of inhabitants in your 37-gallon cube tank, and the cube tank is plumbed into a 200-gallon aquarium system that includes very efficient filtration and no less than three refugiums to help maintain good water quality.

    In that case, the 37-gallon capacity of the cube tank is no longer the limiting factor, since the overall water volume of the whole aquarium system is well over 200 gallons and the sophisticated filtration system can probably handle all of the different seahorses you are considering without beginning to overtax the biofiltration or compromise the water quality.

    In other words, JB, the actual carrying capacity of your 37-gallon cube tank is greatly increased because it is part of an aquarium system with much greater overall water volume and sophisticated filtration, including a number of refugiums to help keep nitrates under control as you regularly harvest and export macroalgae.

    In a situation like this, JB, the capacity of the 37-gallon aquarium and the filtration it has are not the limiting factors for the number of seahorses your biocube can safely support. Rather, it is behavioral constraints that will determine how many seahorses can safely be contained together in the 37-gallon biocube given its current inhabitants.

    Fortunately, all of the current inhabitants of the tank (a Firefish, pair of spotted Mandarin dragonets, and 4 dragonface pipefish) are passive, nonaggressive species that make wonderful tankmates for seahorses and will not outcompete them for food at mealtime. So we don’t have to worry about territoriality, bullying, or possible harassment of the ponies when it comes to the 37-gallon cube tank.

    Likewise, Ocean Rider seahorses are highly social, very gregarious animals that are accustomed to the presence of other seahorses and typically very much enjoy the company of others of their kind. So there should be no competition or aggression between the seahorses themselves either.

    In short, under your circumstances, JB, I should think that you can certainly consider adding a total of 6-8 adult seahorses such as Mustangs and Sunbursts to your 37-gallon aquarium system, and you should be able to expect that they will all get along splendidly with one another as well as with the current residents of the tank. How you want to break down those 6-8 seahorses, I will leave to your discretion, but I will say that Mustangs and Sunbursts are ideal tankmates for one another, since they are different color morphs of the same species (Hippocampus erectus). Brazileros (Hippocampus reidi) and Oceanic seahorses (Hippocampus kuda) are tropical species that are also very similar in their temperature preferences, feeding habits, and aquarium requirements, so they should all be compatible in that regard.

    One last thought for you to keep in mind, JB – this is what I usually advise home hobbyists regarding stocking their seahorse setups:

    <open quote>
    In actual practice, determining how many seahorses can comfortably live in an aquarium of a certain size is not as simple as it seems at first glance. The proper stocking density for any given setup depends on a great many complex factors. I have listed a few of the most important of these below:

    • The size of the aquarium.
    • The filtration system it uses.
    • Is it a species tank or a mixed community?
    • The number and type of non-seahorse tankmates it houses.
    • The type of seahorses you will be keeping and the maximum size they reach.
    • The experience level of the seahorse keeper.
    • Are the seahorses you will be keeping wild specimens or farm-raised livestock?

    Many of the considerations you must keep in mind when stocking your aquarium are self-explanatory. For example, common sense dictates that the bigger the tank the more seahorses it can safely house, or that an aquarium of given size can support more small to medium sized seahorses than it can if stocked with one of the giant breeds. And you don’t need to be Jacques Cousteau to realize that if you are keeping your ponies in a mixed community with other reef fishes, you will have to settle for fewer Hippocampines than if you kept them in a species tank dedicated to seahorses only (Giwojna, Jan. 2002).

    Likewise, the experience level of the hobbyist certainly has a bearing on how many seahorses he should attempt to keep in a given volume of water. If you’re a rank beginner, you will be better off keeping your stable under stocked in order to provide a margin of error while you learn the ropes with these amazing aquatic equines. Savvy seahorse pros who’ve seen it all before and know all the tricks and trouble spots, on the other hand, can afford to push the envelope a bit and keep their herds near capacity (Giwojna, Jan. 2002).

    In addition, the filtration system obviously affects the number of specimens a certain aquarium can support, yet it is often overlooked when stocking densities are discussed. Consider two identical 29-gallon (tall) tanks: one relies on undergravels and/or foam filters, perhaps supplemented by a small external, hang-on-the-back filter packed with media such as activated carbon; the other features plenty of live rock and perhaps even a live sand bed, supplemented with a good protein skimmer and a power filter for added circulation and water movement. The first simple setup has an adequate biofilter but is something of a nitrate factory, whereas the more sophisticated setup has significant dentrification ability in addition to plenty of biofiltration (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). Both systems have the right dimensions and sufficient water volume to support several large seahorses, but you don’t need to be a marine biologist to understand that the live rock setup with the skimmer can handle a greater bioload and safely house more specimens than the more basic system (Giwojna, Jan. 2002).

    Perhaps the most common mistake seahorse keepers make when considering the appropriate stocking density for their systems is failing to distinguish between wild-caught and captive-bred seahorses. Enough field work and research has now been done to conclude that, in terms of their behavior and need for elbow room, seahorses in the wild are very different animals from captive-bred and raised seahorses (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). For example, field studies show that pair-bonded seahorses typically enjoy a large territory in the wild (100 square meters in the case of female Hippocampus whitei, a fairly small Australian species that has been studied closely), and with their patchy distribution pattern, these seahorses only infrequently come in contact with others of their kind (Vincent & Sadler, 1995). Traumatic capture techniques, mishandling, and lack of feeding opportunities often plague wild-caught seahorses during transport and holding, and by the time they finally arrive at your local dealer’s, chances are great that wild ponies have already endured quite an ordeal (Bull and Mitchell, 2002). Malnutrition and stress at a time of high metabolic demand are likely to have weakened them (Lidster, 2003). When confined in an aquarium, therefore, wild-caught horses do not tolerate crowding well, and given their low disease resistance compared to their captive-bred brethren, it is NEVER a good idea to crowd wild-caught seahorses. They often have a more difficult time acclimating to life in captivity and will therefore be stressed, at least initially (Giwojna, Jan. 2002).

    Farm-raised seahorses, on the other hand, are raised at far greater population densities than any seahorse experiences in the wild. Born and bred for aquarium life, they are far more social than wild caughts and are used to living in close proximity to each other (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). For them, that’s their normal condition and the aquarium is their natural environment. They reach the hobbyist well fed, in peak condition, and already accustomed to aquarium life and frozen foods. As a result, farm-raised seahorses are simply hardier, more disease resistant, and tolerate crowding and life in captivity far better than their wild-caught counterparts (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). Suffice it to say that more captive-bred seahorses can be maintained in an aquarium of a given size than wild-caught ‘horses.

    Quantifying all of this, and specifying a certain number of seahorses per so many gallons of water, is a very tricky proposition because so many factors like those described above must be weighed. Consequently, my recommendations for stocking density always include a range for each size of aquarium in order to accommodate variables such as differing filtration systems, whether the seahorses are wild or captive bred, and varying levels of expertise. If you’re new to seahorses or have a basic setup that relies on regular partial water changes to control nitrates, you will need to stick to the lower end of the recommended range when stocking your stable (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). However, if you’re an experienced reefer or an old hand at seahorse wrangling, with a relatively sophisticated system at your disposal, feel free to explore the upper limits of the suggested stocking densities (Giwojna, Jan. 2002). Likewise, if you’re keeping wild-caught seahorses, I suggest you cut the recommended stocking densities for captive-bred seahorses at least in half (Giwojna, Jan. 2002).

    Assuming that your aquarium will be a dedicated seahorse tank and not a community tank, and that you’ll be keeping captive-bred seahorses such as Mustangs or Sunbursts of average size, the suggested stocking density for Hippocampus erectus under those circumstances is about one pair per 10 gallons of water volume. So a reasonable number of average size Mustangs (or Sunbursts) to keep in a 29-gallon aquarium, for example, is a total of about three pairs or six individuals. An experienced seahorse keeper with a relatively sophisticated filtration system could comfortably keep around eight H. erectus in such a tank with no problems, but a beginner with a basic filtration system should keep no more than four erectus in a tank that size, at least until he or she games a little more valuable firsthand experience keeping seahorses.

    And, as always, be sure to remember the three golden rules that should always guide your actions when stocking any seahorse setup:

    I. Under stocking is ALWAYS better than over stocking. Always! That is the one immutable law that governs the seahorse-keeping universe, and if you violate it, the aquarium gods will exact swift and terrible retribution!

    II. When in doubt, under stock. Don’t push your luck! If you have any doubt whatsoever as to whether or not your system is running at capacity, it probably is. In such a situation, you MUST err on the side of caution.

    III. Don’t mess with success! If your seahorse setup has been running smoothly and trouble-free for a prolonged period at it’s present level of occupancy, try to resist the temptation to increase your herd. Why risk upsetting the balance in a system that has settled into a state of happy equilibrium? Rather than risk overcrowding an established tank, consider starting up a new aquarium when the urge to acquire some new specimens becomes overwhelming.

    When stocking your aquarium, consider these golden rules to be your commandments. Obey them, and your system should flourish. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow thee all of thy days. Break them, and you will soon find yourself teetering on the brink of disaster. Abandon all hope ye whom embark down that dark road to ruin.
    <Close quote>

    Okay, JB, that’s the quick rundown on stocking a seahorse tank.

    Best wishes with all of your fishes, JB! Good luck finding the perfect amount of ponies to include in your 37-gallon cube tank.

    Happy Trails!
    Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support

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