My Sea Horse adventure:)

First topic message reminder :

I have been wanting to setup a tank dedicated to sea horses and pipe fish for the last couple of years so I decided to just do it! I researched them a couple of years ago but I will need to take a refresher course:) but I am getting the tank its a Red Sea Max 130 plug and play. I plan to do the usual and have black and white CaribSea Ocean direct sand and 35 odd pounds of Tonga Branch live rock I will pick rock that doesn't have sharp edges to keep the ponies safe. I plan to have 2 pairs 2 female and 2 males. I am also going to pay more and buy captive bred sea horses that have already been raised on frozen foods so there wont be an issue with them not eating. I am getting tropical sea horses so I won't need an expensive chiller. so let the fun begin. I will update this thread with pics as things come together. I thought you all might be interested in ponies too:) wish me luck!
heres the tank. I am getting it off craigslist but its a 3 hour drive for me but the guy said he will hang onto it till I can make it down to pick it up. p.s I will paint the tank black and the Sea horses will be Hippocampus erectus I find them fascinating creatures they change color with their moods and environment.



pipefish a close relative of the sea horse.

Ok finally the ponies are ordered it's been a long 7 months, the tank has been up and running without any issues what so ever!!!! the chiller and heater are working together to keep the tank at an optimum 75 degrees.
PH 8.1
amm 0
trates 0
trites 0
salinity 1.025
here's the stocklist
1 purple firefish
3 red firefish
1 watchman goby
1 Bi color blenny
1 mated pair of Mustangs
1 mated pair of Sun bursts
2 red banded pipefish
I decided to go with all real corals like xenia,Gorg's,leathers,zoa's I am getting ready to place another order now for a couple more corals to finnish the look I'm after off.
they will be delivered this Saturday 10/15/11 pictures to follow:)
LOL I am sooooo nervous... you'd think I'm having a kid or something..
please wish me luck and break out the Cigars

what no GSP?

no but I can always take some out of the 180:)

Did you go bare bottom in this? I'm not reading back through to refresh my memory. I dream of an RSM with bare bottom to grow GSP across with xenia and ricordea everywhere.

I thought long and hard on BB but chose to go with a shallow sand bed.
here's a few things I just ordered for the tank.
Purple Sea Fan (Gorgonia sp.) - Size: 9"-12"
Bali Blue Sea Fan (Acalycigorgia sp.) 5"-9"
Bluespotted Jawfish (Opistognathus rosenblatti) - Size: 3"- 4"
Red Tree Sponge (Ptilocaulis sp.) - Medium: 7”-10”
Orange Finger Sponge (Axinella sp.) - Medium: 6”-9”
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea (Cyphastrea sp.) - Frag: 3/4" this baby go's in the 180:)

I LOVE my cyphastrea



There's a guy in dallas sells these on 1.5" frag tiles for cheap cheap cheap. His are all colored down. I had to have it and a month later this thing is awesome. Makes me want to buy out all he has for what he's asking. Color them up in my tank, then flip them for double.

His collection of not yet sold cyphastrea. (egg crate squares are roughly 3/4")

really beautiful! I went to a friends house and he had a really nice one then while shopping this morning I came across it and had to have it:) the next on my list is Jedi Mind Trick love that one too although its a bit more pricey. you know you should buy all he's got!!! I would if I was close.

You want pokerstars monti

Though the jedi mindtricks are sweet.

Have you seen the Jason Fox Cyphastrea with green skin and blue polyps?

Can't wait to see everything when they arrive and you get them all settled! WOOOOOOT!

yes me too Meredith:)
yes pope I see alot of Jason Fox pieces he lives right down the road:)

the ponies are here!!!! I am sooooooo nervous!!!! pics coming soon:)

they want they want whats in the bag lol

That is amazing cwhip! Has to be a truly humbling sight to see.

yes t is! I'm in love:)

Awesome ponies!

Gorgeous! Did you get two mated pairs as planned? In the pic above, I see the gold one has its tail around the gray one. Is this mated pair behavior or just regular "hitching to a post" ? I'm very excited to finally see them! I can only imagine your joy!

yes I got two mated pairs, they like being near each other and wraping their tails around each other as well but thats not their mating dance, I will try taking video of them and when they do mate I hope to get video of that too along with the males giving birth:) my plan for now is to let them rest I'm sure they have jet lag. today will be their 1st feeding so that should be interesting. now I need to get back to planning a small Kreasel tank for future fry. they are so amazing so far they have change colors from lavender with pink dots to orange,yellow and grey with light grey saddde markings. I couldn't sleep last night all I could think about was the ponies:)

feeding went great it took about 5 minutes. I use thawed and rinced mysis then soaked it in vibrance until the heads of the mysis shrimp turned red then offered to them with a turkey baster they gobbled it up and the firefish, goby and blenny,jawfish cleaned up what was left this means I will no longer be feeding the fish... right now they are swimming around having a good time, they love riding the current