# 55g Tank



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

Ok, i decided to start with some small cute fish. So, i am planning on breeding either cardinals, firefish gobies, mandarin gobies, or maby some type of butterflyfish. but i will probably go with the first 3 small species. would i ahve room in a 55g to breed the firefish, cardinals, and mandarin gobies? or just two of the three or just one?

i'd like to get a radiata lionfish as the 'king' of the tank. i'll make sure he is always well fed, and he won't really bother the other fish if there is plenty of hiding spots and stuff will he/her?

i have to go for the night, please give suggestions!


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Well first, i highly doubt those species of fish will breed at a regular basis if they even breed at all in the home aquaria.

Why dont you try breeding clownfish, try getting a bubble tip anemone and very strong MH lighting, 10 wpg with 14,000k lights is best. Then get a mating pair of clowns and hope for the best


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

most saltwater fish do not breed in the home aquaria.


----------



## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Your best bet would be seahorses, Bangaii cardinals, and clowns. Do not even attempt to put a mandarin in a 55g as it needs will not be met and most likely will starve to death. Adding a lion fish to the tank will absolutely put an end to any breeding activity. If you get a lion put it by itself in a 55g with no other fish.


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

have you thought of breeding freshwater fish? I know some freshwater fish are hard to breed but it is possible, otociculus are hard to breed but it has been documented, the ram chichlids take a long time to breed and can probably earn you some money, i bought my rams for 11.99 american dollars each so im guessing the ones that you grow will be 3-6 dollars. Plus the freshwater fish have a much higher survival rate than saltwater bred fish, saltwater ones you will need to feed mico-plankton, micro-algae, lots of micro stuff that takes a while to make and there survival rate is 100:1. Try fragging corals or breeding freshwater fish if you want to make a penny, saltwater fish is just for kicks and you will lose money rather than gain money on that.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

like i've told you before musho, i'm very experienced in breeding freshwater clams, shrimp, snails, and fish. basically the only freshwater animal i've not breed atleast once is crabs. and i was going to try that once but i didn't want to turn my crawdadd's aquarium into a crab aquairium, he would probably not like others in with him.

so yeah, i've breed tons of freshwater things musho.


also, musho, firefish and mandarin gobies, plus like the other person said, the cardinals, will breed in a home aquarium.

if i do go with the reef tank i will probably get a type of goby. but i may go with clownfish also. in a 55g, i could have the lionfish, and breed gobies and a small species of clownfish. 

any suggested species if i go with getting a 55g?

i'm still debating on trying the shark or getting the 55g. (see my other thread about the shark if your interested in an item lists and some interesting reading material)


----------



## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

> if i do go with the reef tank i will probably get a type of goby. but i may go with clownfish also. in a 55g, i could have the lionfish, and breed gobies and a small species of clownfish.




The reason you dont want to put a lionfish in a tank you are tring to breed small clownfish or whatever you wanted to try and breed is because the lionfish would have a snack whenever it wanted to after the fry hatched. Also breeding saltwater fish can be alot harder then breeding freshwater but you should now that.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

yeah, i knew it is harder. i really hope that last sentance wasn't sarcasim...


a well fed lionfish shouldn't attack other fishes in the tank. the worst thign that could happen is a fish goes blind and runs into one of his fins.

and for the fry, all pregnant fish will probably not be in with the lionfish in the main tank. i'll probably use a 20-25 gallon for the birth and the development of the babies until a certain size.


----------



## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

> yeah, i knew it is harder. i really hope that last sentance wasn't sarcasim...


I said it because you seem like you been tring to research it, so you would know that its harder. And has for the lionfish it will eat whatever it wants to even though you are feeding it. But if you remove the fry or eegs before they hatch. He would never get a taste of what they would taste like.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

so a well fed lionfish could eat the adult fish still? i won't have to worry about him eating the fry, they will be gone by the time they hatch, or by the time the female gives birth.

i am guessing you can't, but what are the chances that a snowflake eel could be in there too? i was origanlly just gonna have the lionfish and eel, but i wanted to breed some cute little gobies or something. would there be room for him? i'm having trouble imagining the tank with some live rock, little fish and a lionfish, i can't imagine whether there would be room or not.

so would the eel fit in or not?

(i may be selling some dead coral that came with the live rock, it was suposivly live rock, but there was only a couple red things growing on it, not even algae, anything. so keep an eye out, i may be selling some dead coral that would make good decoration in a reef tank)


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

You can not put a lionfish in a tank in which you plan to breed fish. Especially with small fish. even if you do feed it well, it will still make a snack out of any small fish. Lions should only be kept with other large aggressive fish. They do not belong in community tanks. And just one other note, do not put maroon clowns on your list to breed. 2 maroon clowns should not be kept in anything less than 65 gallons. breed the smaller orange clowns if you go with clowns.


----------



## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Bamboo_Kitten_Shark said:


> so a well fed lionfish could eat the adult fish still? i won't have to worry about him eating the fry, they will be gone by the time they hatch, or by the time the female gives birth.
> 
> i am guessing you can't, but what are the chances that a snowflake eel could be in there too? i was origanlly just gonna have the lionfish and eel, but i wanted to breed some cute little gobies or something. would there be room for him? i'm having trouble imagining the tank with some live rock, little fish and a lionfish, i can't imagine whether there would be room or not.
> 
> ...



Yeah for the lionfish if he feels the urge he will have a snack. But the chances good be slim and might not be. Ive never seen a lionfish in anything but a prediater tank with something that can fend for himself. As for the eel. He *will* eat anything that will fit in his mouth. They also get 3' long. and can destroy a rock structure do to them wanting to bury themselfs.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

yeah, i didn't expect the eel to be good with the small fish. i was just making sure.

as for the lionfish, mellissa, someone said something about the fry, not about the adults, and if they did i did not see it. thats why i asked about the adults, becuase i thought it may be just the small babies. thanks for nicely misunderstanding my question. your a very kind helpful person -_-


i guess i will go for a piecful reef tank or something. if i go with a 55g, i think i will do the seahorses now. cause it may be hard to keep up with different types of small fish, especially if more then one is having babiesa t the same time. plus, many types of fish, have different amounts of babies, and i don't think it would be smart on my behalf to have different numerous amounts of fry at the same time.

so erectus seahorse it is. but please note, i'm still talking with others about the shark.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

ok, this is a quick update. i will be going with the 55g. well, unless there is some way i could fit a big pool in my house somewhere, and then i could breed tons of little fish and seahorses :shock: 

ok, enough of the day dreaming, now about the 55g....

i'm thinking my best bet would be with the seahorses. i've already done tons of studying about them already, i'm a member at seahorse.org, and i've read nearly all of there articles. plus everything i could find on google.

i'm going to get the erectus species, that was the most recommended by other seahorse breeders. 

i have some seahorse questions though. i'll probably have a thread at seahorse.org if your a member there also.

one question is, if i buy a male and female erectus, will they most likely pair up and have some babies and stuff, or will the female possibly reject the male? i'd prefer not to buy 2 males and a female, but if i need to, i want to know.

i'll be buying the 55g deluze from walmart. i hate walmart, mainly because the way they treat there fish. but they do have the best deal i've found. 

the 55g comes with a filter, heater, light, hood, water treatment, thermometer, and i think thats it, but it's good. it will be $150, but with the taz i've found it will be about $160 or so. i currently have $100, but i should be getting more soon. 

i have 30 lbs of live rock for the 55g. wich costed $105. so i've got some of the expense already purchased. here is my new seahorse to buy list.

2 erectus seahorses
medications (don't remember medication list i had, i lost it.)
salt (duh)
hydrometer
saltwater master water test kit
plants (suggestions?)
corals (suggestions?)
tube worms
scallops
clam+ mussels
snails
hermits
live rock (30lbs already bought)
live sand (30lbs already bought) ( for refugium)
refugium 
chaeto (for refugium)
85-100 small white shrimp (to help start a colony)
phytoplankton
brine shrimp (already have TONS in like 5 different containers, lots and lots of young healthy brine shrimp. they will be enriched with phytoplankton)
copepods or rotifers?
emergency disease guide (already printed up) (for emergencies)
fry tank (just until they are a few inches, big enough to go into the 55g and not get lost, lol) (what size should this be? 20-25 or 35-40?)


theres probably more that i'm not thinking of, i lost my original list. need suggestions and if anyone knows the answers to any of my questions, please answer.


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

get at least 55 pounds of live rock with 75 pounds even better, yes if you place a "dead" rock in there it will soon become live but not until a long time and you will have to deal with a lot of algae before it becomes "alive"

As for corals, dont do it if you are planning on breeding
For saltwater fish you will need very litterally optimal water conditions, so you will need a skimmer. Also ive read that sea-horses like a tall tank, so getting a cube wouldnt hurt as long as you understand that the less surface area, the less fish you can keep. I also think sea-horses like to cling onto sea weed and sea grass but im not sure. Make sure you have a strong lighting system too in order for the good algae to grow and for the light to penetrate the deepness of the cube tank, Compact flourecent at the minimum with MH reccomended. Try to maybe do 2-3 water changes weekly to help maintain good water conditions. Dont be surprised if the sea-horses dont breed within the first year, the tank will need to be very mature before you can move on to breeding.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

musho, seriously, your acting like i'm some person that hasn't read anything about keeping fish. i don't need someone to lecture about what i'm going to have to do with seahorses. don't you think after, like i said, studying a ton on them, that i know this stuff?

and what is up with you and live rock....?

they also like to hitch onto branching CORALS. since when have you became an expert on everything?

the seahorses don't need, and usually don't like very much rock. some live in reefs with branching corals, and others live in sand bottom areas with kelp and other plants. they aren't usually in a tank filled with rock.

the tank will have a couple piles of live rock, with some branching corals or something. and then the rest will be just a sand bed with tall plants. 

so they can have a mix, have places to swim, and attatch to tall plants, and stay near the bottom, and hitching to corals.


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

the rock is for filtration, not for the fishes need, it provides more surface area than a wet/dry trickle filter and contains nitrigying and de-nitrifying bacteria. Even in a normal tank when you dont plan on breeding you should get 1-1.5 pounds of live rock, it is not an oxymoron, it is important

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=40

on both sea-horse page it says they cling to seagrass, i took the assumption that they all like to, and told you that, if you read carefully (which i doubt you did) i said i THINK they need it, if you say you do a lot of research, try reading word for word. If you think you are the only person who researches here, maybe you should try to find another forum to boast about what you know.

Also, you researched...... What the heck does that mean, does it mean you know the color of them, or the exact organ location by the millimeter and can draw it out in a few minutes

here i am answering what you wanted to know, and get accused of telling you stuff you already know. Well unless i lived with you, how would i know if you knew that?


----------



## Rue (Jan 28, 2007)

Why are you so set against taking advice? :shock:

If you've had some success breeding freshwater organisms and want to try salt...at least start small...and in a 55g Walmart tank you really have no option, esp. with your limited funds...

Get your saltwater tank up and running...see if you can even keep the fish alive for several months...and then think about breeding something easy to breed...


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

ok, this is all im going to say on this matter. have you ever had a saltwater tank before? if not you can not just jump into it. lots of people do and loose everything. you need to take it slow, and get used to how you need to keep a saltwater tank running successfully first. then if you want fish get fish. and save your branching corals or whatever you want to get for last. you need good light for these types of corals you are looking for. then when you have everything established and running greatly you can try to breed fish or whatever. you will need excellent water conditions to breed anything. and i do not reccomend a beginner start with breeding in mind. keep the saltwater tank first then breed later.

and in your remark from earlier i was talking about small fish in gerneral. babies and adults. And please dont be crude to the experienced members here who are trying to offer you advise to help you and give you understanding.


----------



## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Melissa don't worry yourself. Just read back through the post and the other threads started by this member and you'll quickly realize that this member is not looking for help but rather posting what they are going to do regardless of what others have to say. It's not a matter of seeking advice, more of a blog entry of how it's going to be.


----------



## jdecorse25 (Feb 13, 2007)

*Trust me on this.*

If you purchased the "kit" from Wal-Mart, then you should just throw the filter away. I learned this. The filters that come in the "kits" are for freshwater and won't do anything in your saltwater aquarium. You'll need to get a skimmer and don't get the SeaClone. That's what I purchased and it sucks! Also, like musho said, the live rock isn't for the seahorses to enjoy, it's for the water filtration. It does the bio filtration. Very necessary. Oh, and I have a lionfish with 2 true percula clowns and I now know that when he gets big enough he will eat the clowns. We plan on separating them into an aggresive tank and a community tank before that happens.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

thanks corse for the filter info. 

and melissa, i thought you were talking fry, sorry for the missunderstanding.

why are you guys acting like i'm gonna do anything no matter what?

the main advice i need is the answers to questions i've had. musho just pointed out some things. sorry musho,, i know you can't read my mind.

also rue, i know i'll need great water quality. i'll be getting a protien skimmer definatly, and thanks for your input about the seaclones. i'll make sure not to get one of those.

i'll have 30 lbs of live rock and 30 lbs of live sand plus a refugium with live sand and chaeto. i'll also be buying phytoplankton and maby a couple types of zoo plankton. i'll get more live rock as i go on, but i know that i need good biological filtration and i have that under control. i'll be getting more, but when i'm first putting stuff together and getting the tank to mature with somethign like saltwater mollies or something, i don't need it at the beginning. 

here is a more clear plan 

ok, i'll be getting the 55 gallon tank
fill it with water obviously
get rid of chlorine
add salt
use hydrometer to get the salinity about 1.024
use the heater and check the temp to get it at a good temperature for the seahorse when they come into the plan
add sand as substrate
add live rock
add the refugium with live sand and chaeto
check and record specific gravity, ph, nitrite, nitrate, etc.
after about a week of good water quality, add saltwater mollies (yes there are saltwater mollies fyi)

then with the mollies producing ammonia, and with the amount of bacteria in the aquarium, the nitrification proccess will begin. after a while the bacteria will grow and duplicate with all the amonia and nitrite to work with and there will be plenty of biological filtration until i get more rock.

so please, stop acting like i'm not taking advice or answers to my questions. and please stop being rude.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

This is a more clear plan. Please read carefully. If you have something to say that may be rude or rude in someone elses point of view, please check your eveidence giving you the reaosn to be rude and check it carefully. 

Please, if you have something to say, or a question, instead of going to assumptions, please tell or ask and talk it over. =)

i'm thinking my best bet would be with the seahorses. i've already done tons of studying about them already, i'm a member at seahorse.org, and i've read nearly all of there articles. plus everything i could find on google.

i'm going to get the erectus species, that was the most recommended by other seahorse breeders.

i have some seahorse questions though. i'll probably have a thread at seahorse.org if your a member there also.

one question is, if i buy a male and female erectus, will they most likely pair up and have some babies and stuff, or will the female possibly reject the male? i'd prefer not to buy 2 males and a female, but if i need to, i want to know.

i'll be buying the 55g deluze from walmart. i hate walmart, mainly because the way they treat there fish. but they do have the best deal i've found.

the 55g comes with a filter, heater, light, hood, water treatment, thermometer, and i think thats it, but it's good. it will be $150, but with the taz i've found it will be about $160 or so. i currently have $100, but i should be getting more soon.

i have 30 lbs of live rock for the 55g. wich costed $105. so i've got some of the expense already purchased. here is my new seahorse to buy list.

2 erectus seahorses
medications (don't remember medication list i had, i lost it.)
salt (duh)
hydrometer
saltwater master water test kit
plants (suggestions?)
corals (suggestions?)
tube worms
scallops
clam+ mussels
snails
hermits
live rock (30lbs already bought)
live sand (30lbs already bought) ( for refugium)
refugium
chaeto (for refugium)
85-100 small white shrimp (to help start a colony)
phytoplankton
brine shrimp (already have TONS in like 5 different containers, lots and lots of young healthy brine shrimp. they will be enriched with phytoplankton)
copepods or rotifers?
emergency disease guide (already printed up) (for emergencies)
fry tank (just until they are a few inches, big enough to go into the 55g and not get lost, lol) (what size should this be? 20-25 or 35-40?)


theres probably more that i'm not thinking of, i lost my original list. need suggestions and if anyone knows the answers to any of my questions, please answer.



ok, i'll be getting the 55 gallon tank
fill it with water obviously
get rid of chlorine
add salt
use hydrometer to get the salinity about 1.024
use the heater and check the temp to get it at a good temperature for the seahorse when they come into the plan
add sand as substrate
add live rock
add the refugium with live sand and chaeto
check and record specific gravity, ph, nitrite, nitrate, etc.
after about a week of good water quality, add saltwater mollies (yes there are saltwater mollies fyi)

then with the mollies producing ammonia, and with the amount of bacteria in the aquarium, the nitrification proccess will begin. after a while the bacteria will grow and duplicate with all the amonia and nitrite to work with and there will be plenty of biological filtration until i get more rock. 


My live rock has some small plants, little red things, and algae and sponges. it also has small anemone's but i doubt they are alive after shipping conditions. if they are, i'm probably gonna sell them, because i probably can't keep them alive without a powerhead and i don't want my seahorses to get harmed by them.


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

the small anemones seem to be rock anemones (aipistasia anemone or whatever there called) you wont want the to survive and i dont think anyone would buy them, try to get rid of them completely before you add more fish as they are real pests and pack a powerful sting. Is there going to be any live rock in the refugium?

I know you will hate me for this but you do need a skimmer (did you say that you were on other posts, if you did im sorry for telling you again)


Also, i didnt see one there but what will your main filter be?


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

you are gonna have to put a better filter on your list. the filters that come with the set ups from walmart are only good for freshwater, they are not rated for saltwater. Oh and do you know what kind of lighting you are going to use? You are going to need something better that the bulbs that come in the set up too.


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

you shouldnt get a kit, start from scratch, buy a tank with no hood and no lights, then buy a separate lighting system to match what corals you want, then buy a skimmer and since you arent getting 55 pounds of live rock to start off with you will need to get another filter, try to find one made for saltwater, canisters are good, just make sure you try to not get too porous material (although still get at least some) if you are going to have corals as they produce nitrates. Then go get a skimmer, get the most expensive one that will fit your tank. Good companies (from what ive heard) are AquaC and some other ones (other topics have information about good skimmer companies), get a counter current ventri style ones, these are the most effective. Buy some powerheads as well to help oxygenate the tank as well as provide lots of current. Make sure the tank is at least 20 inches deep (from what ive heard) as that is best for sea-horses. You will need more than 30 pounds of live sand, maybe buy 20 pounds of aragonite sand (live wont be needed anymore as 30 pounds will seed the other sand, the same can be said for live rock but it is much harder and wont be anywhere near as effective as real live rock). Also buy a good quality heater, top-fin and all-glass are bad companies, stay away from these even if there prices are low)

Starting from scratch saves you a lot of money as if you buy a kit, the equipment isnt good and you will throw away most of it meaning you waste money.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

yeah, dumb me. i forgot to add the skimmer to the list. i will edit it in a sec.

i was going to start from scratch, but i have only found the tank with a hood and light, not a kit, but i can't find just the plain tank.

also, the tank with the hood and light cost almost as much as the kit. although the lights and hood may be much better. i'll have to see what i can find.

i was planning on breeding mollies sometime in the summer/spring too. but that wouldn't take much money or time away from working with the seahorses and keeping them happy. but i heard mollies are salt intolerent. would they have to be gradually introduced to salt water, or would it be possible to have some in the seahorse tank? i'm guessing they won't try nipping at the seahorses would they? i heard seahorses like fish fry, so the seahorses may go after a few of the babies, but i'll have enough hiding places they won't get too many, but a good snack.

i'll try to find some type of canister filter too. is that the best for this type of tank?

and i was gonna get some low powered power heads. like only for a 30 gallon or something, because i want to circulate and oxygenate, but i know the seahorses don't like much current. although i have heard they someetimes like to play near power heads because of the flow. i would probably play in a low powered flow too if i was a seahorse, but lets stop thinking about being a seahorse now... >_>

should i get one for a 50 gallon? i don't want there to be much current for the seahorses.

and i looked at my rock today, i don't think the anemome made it, there not on the rocks anymore. guess they died and fell off. and your right about the sting. thats how i originally found the damn things :?


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Well the light plays a very important part for corals and live rock, to get the best coralline algae you should have at least 4wpg of 10,000k+ lighting. With corals it matters but for the soft hardy ones you should get at least 5 wpg with 10,000k lighting and some antics, with harder corals you will start to need more light. MH light is the best for hard corals while PC or VHO are ok for the softer corals. 

Mollies are brackish water fish that can live in any type of water, brackish, fresh, salt, but im not sure if they breed in salt. Also when acclimating them you should do a drip acclimate for around 6-8 hours to get the salinity level right without doing any major damage to the mollies.

Have you considered a 56 gallon column tank, these tanks are tall enough for sea-horses yet have enough surface area to fit a decent amount. 

As for the powerheads, almost all saltwater tanks need these, you look at an ocean an you will constatly see waves in the reefs, this is needed in the home aquaria too. They also raise the oxygen levels

Canister filters are good for FO and FOWLR but for corals, you might have to look into the berlin method (skimmer and live rock and live sand powerhead, add a refugium to this) since when you have corals, you need to be able to reduce the nitrate levels as well.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

i am planning on doing the berlin method. but i just thought it wouldn't hurt to add a filter on top of that, unless it will not help the whole nitrate thing.


i'll have to look up about the mollies.

i'll probably look into a tall tank. i may not go with any corals, they may be more trouble and money then there worth. any suggestions of tall saltwater plants? 

and i forgot to answer this question earlier. there will be a little bit of rock in the refugium, but it may only be rock with sponge. i'll be having some filter feeders in the refugium and the tank. so i want to have enough room in the refugium left for small filter feeders. the larger ones will be moved to the tank. Like small tube worms, or small mussels/clams.

i'm putting pics of my live rock up tomorrow.

still unanswered questions:

suggestions of good seahorse keeping/caring/breeding books
suggestions of tall saltwater plants


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

not sure about the books but i think (not the i think) sea weed and sea grass are good but i dont know if they grow in the home aquaria, you will need to ask someone else on this.


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

well some saltwater plants require the same amount of light as corals. they will also need supplements as corals. but if you want to look into it some plants are shaving brush, and maidens hair.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

thanks for the plant ideas. i'm gonna look into the plants, see what lighting they need, and see what i can do. 

i'll probably go with one of those taller tanks.

it's off topic, but i had a small container with a bit of live sand that i had a few pieces of live rock 'rubble'. turns out it somehow got a REALLY small whole and very slowly is leaking. on the side of that table where the water ran off, there was some type of ice cycle type thing. i suspect this is the salt that was in the water? i'm guessing i'll get this on the tank hood and stuff, so do i just take it off and throw it away, or is it safe salt to put back in the aqaurium? i suspect it would be dirty and not safe to put back, just checking.

so close to finishing saltwater aquariums for dummies!


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

yes those ice cycles are the salt. You wont get it on the hood since the water on the hood is evaporated water (which is pure 100% water with no trace elements at all), that water just leave it there and let it drip back into the tank


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

yeah, just take the salt and scrap it way and throw it away.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

would big tubeworms be a great addition to the tank. since it can filter feed AND be a good hitching spot for the horses? i've never heard anything bad about tubeworms and horses. best friends or bad foes?

also, is there any small pufferfish or something that would be pieceful and also be a nice addition to the tank? for mon ths and months, util i eventually have baby horses, the only inhabitants will be a pair of horses and some mollies. (plus inverts)


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Bamboo_Kitten_Shark said:


> would big tubeworms be a great addition to the tank. since it can filter feed AND be a good hitching spot for the horses? i've never heard anything bad about tubeworms and horses. best friends or bad foes?
> 
> also, is there any small pufferfish or something that would be pieceful and also be a nice addition to the tank? for mon ths and months, util i eventually have baby horses, the only inhabitants will be a pair of horses and some mollies. (plus inverts)


filter feed doesnt mean it filters the tank, just to let you know (i dont know if you already know this but you seem to talk about filter feeders a lot) they just use there own filter to eat food. Tubeworms, well i dont know what they filter out, its probably plankton and other micro foods

As for puffers, a big no no, not enough room and they dont seem very compatible with sea-horses


----------



## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

well you cant put a puffer in your tank...there are tons of other fish you can try in there too. but the only problem it that sea horses are slow eaters, so if you put other fish in there that are fast eaters the sea horses may not eat enough.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

yeah i didn't expect for there to be any puffers, but i thought i would just double check.

so would a clam be able to live in a refugium? i know people have said that clams and scallops may close on a seahorse and trap them and i was hoping to get maby a teardrop maxima or something. 


Is there any small fish that would be beneficial the seahorse tank? would like a small sand siffter goby help? anything i should think about adding to it? if there is anything i will make sure that that fish doesn't take the seahorses food.

i've been reading a couple ssaltwater magazines lately and learned alot too. one featured a seahorse breeding article wich was nice but the same stuff i've found online.

also, shuld the heater mayby be in thhe refugium so no fish get hurt from it or would that not warm it up as much as it would in the tank?

what is everyones suggested brine shrimp HUFA enhancer? besides phytoplankton.

also what i've been wondering lately...

will i be able to use a cheap (like 30-50 dollar) protien skimmer until i can afford a nicer one or will i have to start out big with it? i'll always try to upgrade and get nicer equipment as it goes on, but will i need to start with a $100+ protien skimmer at first?

thanks!


----------



## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

start out with the expensive skimmer, the cheap one wont work so your just wasting money. Same goes with all equipment in saltwater tanks.


----------



## Bamboo_Kitten_Shark (Feb 24, 2007)

i had a waste cleanup idea... i don't know if it ould work but could someone tell me if its a good idea?

ok, have a powerhead that isn't very strong but strong enough to move 'manure' and other wastes from the top of the bed of sand. have it push it to one side of the aqurium and on that side have a suction thing with a little net thing around it so nothing getws cuaght or hurt from it. so the powerhead pushes all wastes to that side of the aquarium where it's all sucked up and out of the aquarium. but have to put into this tub or something with a filter, and then have a pump taking the water back into the aquarium with a real fine net around it so no watses are put back in?

power head --> wastes --> suction --> tub --> filter --> strainer net --> to tank?


----------

