rip_van_winkle

Hello,
I am converting to saltwater from freshwater, and I have a 5 gallon to do it with. However i'm not getting fish, only pygymy seahorses, and they supposedly can't have live rock in with them. So, would gravel be better? easier to clean? Sand as far as i can see has tons of cons and no pros. If i should go with sand though, is it any differant from sand box sand? Where would i go about getting it from?
thank you everyone!

Mike

Hi RVW,
Why can't they have live rock in the tank with them? It could be a potential food source in between meals maybe and it could provide more natural looking holdfasts.

I'd go with sand, it's also more natural looking. I'd stay away from the sandbox sand if you don't know whats in it. Any aragonite based sand suitable for saltwater tanks would work. But keeping the tank clean is slightly more difficult with sand, although you can vacuum the top layer of the sand to keep it looking nice during a partial water change. You can get the aragonite sand from any shop that sells saltwater fish usually.

rip_van_winkle

ok thanks. I have been google-ing alot since it seems like nobody has really kept seahorses on fishlore. Anyways, on more than one site it said that live coral looks great and everything, but they can also house little creatures that grab your seahorses when they come near. There was also one a relative to jellyfish that you get rid of with fluke, i'm blanking on the name. anyways they sting the seahorses and potentially kill them. Shrimp living in holes in the rock, feeding off of the brine that you give in the seahorses can then eat your seahorses. I don't know if any of this is true, but it makes sense to me, i mean as adults they only get to be about an inch long, so pretty much anything that lives in the rock can get them. the only thing is, can the creatures come out of the live rock?