The first time I got interested in marine aquariums was when I went to see my relations two Christmas's ago.  My nephew Stuart wanted to take my Dad and me to an aquatic store in Essex.

 

When I saw this store it blew my mind.  From then on, and everyone said to me, "NO Sue don't do it".....so I gave up the idea of a marine tank.  Then I came across the Ocean Rider and Docslaw Seaworld websites.  That was it folks, I was hooked on seahorses.

 

At the time, February 2002, I could only afford a smaller tank so a friend at work let me have their disused tropical 30 gallon tank and gradually added to it.  I was thrilled when I got my first bit of live rock.  When the tank cycled I got my first pair of captive bred H. reidi seahorses, that I still have today - Ewan and Ryan.  I thought Ryan was a female at first till he changed sex later.

 

Photo Gallery:

• Juwel Vision 260, 13" wide x 25" high x 49" long, 59 gallon/260 litre capacity.

Cover/Canopy and Stand:

• Canopy is strong black plastic lids hinged from a central console the length of the tank.
• Stand is strong black wooden 2 - door cabinet with centre cupboard.

Heating:

• Juwel 200 watt heater located inside main box filter on the right hand side.

Thermometer:

• Hagen located on the end glass on the left hand side.

• Juwel filter system  two-stage biological and mechanical filtration. A large volume of filtration material  powerhead has slow flow through filter media located inside tall filter box on the back right hand side tank wall.
• Eheim internal filter  13 - 35 imp. gallons located on right hand side tank wall.

• Juwel multilux lighting system  twin-tube output lighting in place via a central console that can slide backwards and forwards light system end - caps have watertight seals that are changed annually 2 38 watt bulbs.

Daily Photo Period:

• 07.00 am - 23.00 pm.

• Tank canopy cleaned  tank glass all tank hitching posts  gravel cleaner lifts out debris sucked out to a bucket  this sucks out 40% of tank water and detritus then replace with new saltwater.

• SG. 1.020 - 1.023.

• PH. 8.2.

Additives and Buffers Used:

• Additives added after new water change:

  • 1/2 bottle Kent calcium.
  • Kent trace elements.
  • Kent Iodine.
  • Kent Strontium and Molybdenum.
  • some times a teaspoon paragon as a tonic.

Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate Range:

• Ammonia  0.
• Nitrite  0.1
• Nitrate  0.

Water Quality and Chemistry Testing Regime:

• Parameters are tested monthly.

• Test kits are Interpret 'easy test' kits.

• 15lbs of fiji cured live rock with coralline.

Substrate:

• Substrate is  larger white coral skeleton gravel, as it is easier to clean and doesn't get sucked up in the gravel cleaner.

• I have 3 kinds of hitching posts - a large purple fake coral tree, a small blue tree, 3-4 horn type seashells dug into the gravel.

• Six H. reidi, the two males Ewan & Ryan I've kept since 2002.
• Two females H. reidi. Rosie I still have, Becky died last month of a weak snick, I've had those since September 2002
• I also kept a breeding pair of H. fuscus for a few months but they both died of fungus which is a common disease with this species.

Temperature Range for Our Seahorse:

• 72 to 75 degrees F.

Acclimatization Process:

• I acclimate any seahorse, marine fish or invert in the same way. Open the plastic bag holding the animal then clip to inside wall of the tank.  Then I take a cupful of saltwater out of the bag then replace it with a cupful of tankwater,  I do this every 10 minutes for a total of 40 minutes.  Then I carefully lift the animal out of the bag and into the tank, so as not to get any bag water in the tank.

• I feed my seahorses and fish frozen Gamma mysis and frozen spirulina enriched brine shrimp.  During summer I fetch live mysis shrimp/rivershrimp/gammarus from a local river, during winter months I order adult brine shrimp from an LFS, there is also many amphipods in the tank.

Nutritional Supplements Used:

• I feed the live shrimp with brine shrimp and a pinch of spirulina.

Number of Feedings per Day:

• I feed the seahorses once, sometimes twice a day but no overfeeding if I can help it as I could get a cyanobacteria outbreak in the tank which suffocates the corals growth.

Feeding Method:

• When feeding live food I rinse the shrimp out in RO water before feeding out.  Then I put many in the tank for the seahorses to feed on all day, as I feel a lot of live mysis does them good and makes them live longer lives.  I just drop the food in.  I don't target feed unless a seahorse has a problem with eating.

• One blue-green chromis.
• Three banded pipefish.
• One spotted mandarin.
• One pyjama wrasse.

How and What Fish are Fed:

• Most of these fish eat frozen brine shrimp, but also eat mysis. Everyone gets fed well and there is no stress at all from these tankmates.

• Two red-legged hermit crabs.
• Eight astrea snails.
• One blood shrimp.
• Three peppermint shrimp.

How and What Invertebrates are Fed:

• Invertebrates eat any food/debris fallen onto substrate.
• Also feed calcium to keep them healthy.

• Star polyps.
• Christmas tree corals, including a large pink tubeworm.
• Toadstool coral.
• Blue mushrooms.
• Cauliflower coral.
• Strioe mushrooms.
• Beaded mushrooms.
• Striped disk mushrooms.

How and What Corals are Fed:

• I don't feed the corals coral food out of a bottle as adding this gives me a cyanobacteria outbreak. They like to feed on the mysis juice, also I feed the rotifers and frozen cyclops.

• taxifolia, mexicana, grape and prolifera caulerpa.

Dealing with Problem Algae:

• Any problems with a nuisance algae I treat with Rowaphos which takes a week to make a difference, its a phosphate remover

Sump:

• No sump is used.

• Aquafuge hang-on refugium, located on right hand side tank wall.

Powerheads:

• Refugium is powered by AquaClear 301 powerhead up to 30 imp. gallons.

Substrate:

• Refugium contains bio-sediment and macroalgae providing refuge for amphipods and copepods.

• Clearseal five gallon tank.

• Black lid for canopy.

• 14 watt bulb with reflector.

• Fluval filter Internal One Plus - up to 45 liters.

• Live rock consists of just a couple of pieces of rubble rock.

• Five peppermint shrimp.

How and What Invertebrates are Fed:

• They fed with frozen spirulina brine and mysis.

Hospital Tank:

• No hospital tank is used.

Quarantine Tank:

• No quarantine tank is used.

Type of Water Used:

• I have a purity on tap RO unit plumbed into my main water supply.

Brands of Salt Mix Used:

• Instant Ocean or Kent marine salt.

NSW Mixing Container Size:

• With RO, I make up new salt water in a large plastic refuse bin.

Aeration and Heating:

• I aerate this overnight, maybe 48 hrs but I do not heat this as well unless the climate is very cold.
• I aerate the new salt water with a small Fluval filter.

I have a new breeding tank connected to a refugium with Eheim substrate and miracle mud which is currently being set-up.  This tank has four sections to house a small number of fry in each section of the tank.