Raising sea horses ?

LiquidChaos66

i would love to have a fish tank with sea horses. Anyone here raise them? Any advice?

raisindot

Wow, talk about a memory jog. When I was a kid back in the Victorian Era I got a salt water tank just to raise sea horses. Saltwater tanks are much more of a pain than freshwater because you have to make sure the salt balance is exactly right all the time. Plus the salt corrdones metal, which is why saltwater tanks have as little metal as possible. 

For seahorses, you want to make sure you've got plenty of plastic planty things for them to grab on to. And they generally prefer to eat live little shrimp (or at least they did back when I had them). They're also pretty shy and easy to spook so it's best not to mix them with bigger or aggressive fish. If you have a couple seahorses and some bottom crawlers like hermit crabs or other crabs that's a good combination because the horses never go to the bottom. 

You also have to have a good guard on your filter because horses aren't that strong swimmers and can get sucked into the thing (had that happen oncenot nice). They're also pretty fragile. I had about five of them over the course of a year or so and none of them lived more than 3-4 months. 

avengethis

@raisindot pretty much hit it on the head.  They are a very difficult thing to keep alive and take care of.  If you dont have saltwater experience it would not be a good starter.

LiquidChaos66

Hmmmmm I might re-think this idea... lol I would love to raise them but I would hate to invest in something to have them keep going belly up on me. lol

raisindot

And they literally do go belly up when they're getting ready to go to the Great Beyond...nothing like seeing one floating on its back, its extended diseased belly pushing through the surface...real sad. 

peter4jc

Hehehe...  I thought the thread title was Racing Sea Horses...  interesting mental imagery.

danielzreyes

They taste weird

Poopy_Jones

They're pretty cool but it's a **** getting those tiny horseshoes on them

Oneisnone

Poopy_Jones said:

They're pretty cool but it's a **** getting those tiny horseshoes on them

AquaMan had this down to a science 

LiquidChaos66

Well after heavier research into them... I think I might stick with Goldfish... or maybe Jellyfish. lol There are a few jellyfish setups that look pretty neat.

rsherman24

Every time I see this thread it makes me laugh.  At first I thought you were referring to those little packets you got as a kid.  Were they Sea Monkeys?

Dark_Roast

^ Yes they were. Some form of brine shrimp is what you got. My parents never let me get them.