Seahorse Training Program — get certified now!

Dear TMZ:

Outstanding, sir!

A 40-gallon aquarium that is plumbed into your main aquarium system so that it can benefit from the pristine water quality maintained for your 600 gallon reef system should make a superb habitat for seahorses, and I would be very pleased to enroll you in the Ocean Rider seahorse training program so that you can learn more about the husbandry of these amazing aquatic equines!

However, the training program is a correspondence course that is conducted entirely via e-mail, so before we can proceed we must first establish e-mail communication. If you will please send a brief reply off list to the following e-mail address, which includes your full name for my records, I will gladly send you all of the training material as soon as I receive your message:

[email protected]

The training program is designed so that you can proceed through the lessons at whatever speed is convenient for you and your busy schedule, TMZ, and an experienced marine aquarist and expert reefer like yourself will be able to breeze right through all the lessons, so there should be no significant delay in your case, once we have begun our correspondence.

In the meantime, best wishes with all of your fishes (and invertebrates), sir!

Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support

Dear Holly & Craig:

Okay, guys, it sounds like you’re on the right track. Your 35-gallon reef tank would indeed likely need some modifications in order to make a good habitat for the seahorses. You would probably need to moderate the water flow somewhat and you would need to relocate the coral banded shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) and any anemones or corals with large fleshy polyps equipped with powerful nematocysts (many LPS corals as well as certain SPS corals have potent stinging ability and could pose a possible threat to the seahorses). Emerald Mithrax often do well for seahorses providing they are small specimens and there is enough algae in the aquarium to keep them well fed.

If you’re going to use a tank as small as 14 gallons for seahorses, you’ll want to stick with the Sunbursts which are somewhat smaller on average than the Mustangs, and you’ll want to request small specimens. In that case, it would also be best if you limited yourself to one mated pair of small Sunbursts plus a good cleanup crew.

If you would like to include small hermit crabs as part of your cleanup crew, Holly and Craig, it’s very important to obtain dwarf or microhermit crabs for a seahorse tank — species that start out small and remain small even when they reach their maximum size, such as the species listed below:

Dwarf Blue-leg hermits (Clibanarius tricolor)
Left-handed hermit (Calcinus laevimanus)
Mexican Red Legged Hermits (Clibanarius digueti)
Scarlet Reef hermit crabs (Paguristes cadenati)

Those are all examples of dwarf or microhermit crabs that will serve well as sanitation engineers for a seahorse setup, guys.

For living hitching posts, you may consider soft corals of all kinds (with the exception of like gorgonians and sea fans, which would not thrive in this particular set up) as well as colorful macroalgae. As far as macros go, I highly recommend red grape Caulerpa (Botryocladia), decorative Gracilaria or Ogo in various colors (yellow, gold, red, brown), and Dragon’s tongue (Heymenia) in particular.

There is only one other thing you must do if you would like to participate in the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Program, Holly and Craig, and that is to contact me via e-mail off list. The seahorse training program is a correspondence course that is conducted entirely via e-mail, so we must first establish e-mail contact before we can begin the lessons (when you post here on the discussion forum, I do not have access to your e-mail address). So please send me a brief note to the following e-mail address, and I will get you started out with the training material as soon as I get your message:

[email protected]

Best wishes with all your fishes, Holly and Craig! I hope to hear from you off list very soon.

Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Training Program Advisor

Dear Tony Rajkovich & Ron and Ruthie Wolfe:

Okay, guys, just a quick note to let you know that I received your e-mail inquiries off list ([email protected]) and you have been duly enrolled in the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Program. In fact, you should have received all of the materials for the training program by this time.

Be sure to let me know whenever you have any questions or concerns about any of the material in the lessons or the progress of your new seahorse setups.

Best wishes with all your fishes!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Training Program Advisor

Dear Pete, 

I see the seahorse training thread was posted in 2010. Any chance the training program is still going? I emailed you my information. 

Is the Seahorse Training Program still available?

I would live to get all information and take the test to ensure the safety of owning seahorses. I have always been fascinated by them!

I sent you an email message a few days ago about the course. Just wondering how soon I will hear from you. Thank You. 

Name: Jean Biernacki

I would like to take the course for educational purposes. I am a retired HS biology teacher. My only experience is with an outdoor Koi pond which I have successfully maintained since 2006.  I am familiar with most chemistry requirements.  I may wish to lead my grandchildren down this path sometime in the future.