Seahorses

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Mourinho18

Caquetaia man
MFK Member
Aug 21, 2005
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Hey everybody, I'm in the process of starting up a saltwater tank, size is 20 gallons long. I'm getting my live rock online at about 4 dollars a pound shipped :).

Anyway, in terms of stocking, i was thinking percula clowns or a flame hawkfish or even a species only tank of seahorses. How many seahorses could i put in the tank and would it be alright to introduce a percula to the tank. Otherwise, I'll just go with the flame hawkfish.
 
Everything I've read and heard about keeping seahorses states that they need to be kept by themselves or with other slow-moving species such as pipefishes. Putting them with clowns and/or hawkfish will probably result in the seahorse(s) starving to death because they can't compete with faster moving fish.
And, the only species you can keep in a 20 would probably be the Florida pygmy seahorse.
 
Thanks oddball. I figured that would be the response I was gonna get. I think I'll just go with a flame hawkfish and a single percula then. :)
 
Why not go for a pair of clowns and try some breeding. They're easy to sex. The larger dominant fish becomes the female and the smaller recessive tankmate becomes the male.
 
You know what, a breeding project might be something great to venture into with saltwater. It's just that I wouldn't have any spare tanks, but a divider would fix that problem. I may just try to introduce an anemone eventually and hope that they take to it. :)
 
Any suggestions for how many I should add. A small group of 3-4 or will a couple be good enough. :)
 
A 20's not big enough for the species of anemones that clowns form a symbiosis with. You have to treat the anemone the same as fish and a 8-10" diameter, 3-5" tall organism is just too large for a 20. Plus, they don't anchor and will "walk" around the tank looking for spots it likes. Chances are the clowns you buy were farm spawned and raised. These clowns have never seen an anemone and have not had the opportunity to build any immunity to the tentacle stings.
 
Sounds good, I have done some research on these guys but apparently not enough. I do want to add some type of inverts to the tank though. I'm gonna stay away from corals altogether seeing as how I won't have sufficient lighting for them. Would a starfish do fine :).
 
Starfish and brittlestars will do fine. Just remember that these creatures are hunters. They'll eat whatever they can grab (snails, clams, scallops, hermit crabs, and even sleeping fish).

Instead, try something like an electric flame scallop. They have cilia near the mantle edge that refracts light out as the cilia pulse. Looks like a lightning storm or plasma lamp. They'll also occassionally flap up and swim around the tank (like most other scallop species).
 
Oddball said:
A 20's not big enough for the species of anemones that clowns form a symbiosis with. You have to treat the anemone the same as fish and a 8-10" diameter, 3-5" tall organism is just too large for a 20. Plus, they don't anchor and will "walk" around the tank looking for spots it likes. Chances are the clowns you buy were farm spawned and raised. These clowns have never seen an anemone and have not had the opportunity to build any immunity to the tentacle stings.
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sure it is, but it'd take up most of the tank! My rose grew from the size of a baseball to the size of a dinner plate in just a few months! I've also had clowns take to torch corals. It's prety funny to watch until you put your hand in the tank to move somthing and they attack your hand. But I'm getting off topic. Go for a pair of clowns to try to breed them, or something that's even easier.... Bangaii cardinals. They're super easy to breed. They're mouth brooders!!!
 
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