Seahorses are one of the most graceful creatures you can keep on your tank. But they are also very fragile and just a basic salt water fish tank setup won't be enough to keep them happy and healthy. In this small article we will explore the differences between a standard tank and a seahorse tank.
Starting with the size of the tank, unlike for other saltwater creatures, bigger is not always better. For dwarf seahorses you need to provide nano tanks, which are just 2 to 20 gallons, but even for standard tanks you shouldn't go above 60 gallons because seahorses are slow swimmers and won't be able to reach food in large tanks.
And the format of the tank should also be different. Usually tanks are wide, but for a seahorse the taller the better. At the very least you should have three times the length of the seahorse, but if you can get one even taller (or build one yourself).
As for the floor of the tank, I prefer sand, which is better for bacteria (necessary because seahorses are messy eaters). Also use a lot of rocks, algae or trunks because seahorses need places to perch - if they don't have any they will cling to aquarium equipment, which may hurt them, or die of exhaustion.
Some keepers like to have a feeding station, which is a part of the tank where they feed their seahorses. Like I said, seahorses are very messy eaters and if you only feed them on an easy to clean area with lots of objects for them to perch on it will make cleaning the tank easier. I prefer to have a crew of cleaners (usually snails) and get good filtration.
Which brings us to the pump. Be careful because seahorses can't fight strong currents and they prefer tanks with little turbulence. Some seahorses have even died because they were sucked by stronger pumps.
No comments:
Post a Comment