Fluval Edge 6g Nano Reef. Dwarf Seahorses.

Fluval Edge 6 gallon Nano Reef. Dwarf Seahorses.

I will only be using the HOB filter that came with the tank. I have rearranged it so I can put the heater in the filter to save room inside the tank. The first step is cycling. Which will give me time to get everything else in order.

As far as stocking goes. I haven't decided on a pair of dwarfs yet. But I was thinking sleepy and grumpy. Though I'm open to suggestions.

What I'd like to know is what kind of plants I can put in with them. What Natural things will give them the best hitching post. I should be able to order the dwarfs in a week, as I'm using live rock, and substrate from my main tank. So after a small minI cycle everything will be ready.

Daily water changes will keep the tank clean, do to their messy life styles. Everything else is taken care of.

Lighting I have enough of. I heard sea horses don't like a lot of light? But How much will I need to grow the plants?

Welcome to my learning experience.

Pics?

 

Wish you the best of luck and keep up updated, I love Seahorses.

 

Ouch I see a mistake in the making already... dwarf seahorses can't be housed with live rock as it houses tiny 'things' that may sting the horses and stress them /kill them...

I know 2 members that have been researching to start a dwarf horse tank (featherblue and tigress hill) maybe they will pop up here to help or maybe send them some pms...

 

Have ubeen to seahorse.org yet? I found a few dwarf seahorse care journals there that outlined the high level of care these guys need tor a long life in captivity.
Here's the highlights that made me rethink the stocking on my 12g reef:
natural dangers: hydroids are macroscopic death machines to dwarfs, fry or adult. Look like tiny anenomes and 3/5 of live rock carry them. Any marine item added to the tank is a risk of hydroid infection (plants, rocks, corals, CUC). panacur kills the hydroids, as well as all worms, some snails, and most soft corals. The effect is residual, so the tank won't support any soft corals or worms for over a year.
Diet: 3 month seahorses are the norm for most people who try them. BBS will keep them alive, but lacks nutrition for long term health. Those who have kept dwarfs for over a year find a need for a varied diet, which means multiple live cultures, half of which need days of enrichment. I wasn't willing to do 3-5 cultures, timing pop explosions and enrichment process to keep a variety of fresh food available for 2-3 times a day feeding.
Housing: species only for the most part. Most corals will sting them, heaters burn them (needs to be out of the display), other tank mates will just eat them, even hermit crabs. A second cycled hydroid free tank makes raising babies more sucessful.
This is just a few points on care I found from successful dwarf keepers, it put the "they're not hard to care for" general info on the Internet into perpsective for me. Id recommend some intense research before u have dwarf seahorse dependent on you for their needs, the general info is very misleading

 

Thanks for the replies. I have been reading much from that site as of late. The live rock, was dry rock, which I made into live rock. So It is clean. The only thing in the tank would be the ponies, so no stocking problems occur.

The hardest part for me would be hatching my own brine shrimp. That's the only part I'm unfamiliar with. If I could train them to frozen then I would do that for sure.

If all else fails. A simple nano reef with a few gobies would be easy enough.

But I'm not giving up yet. So onward!

 

Do too the brine shrimp feeding problem. I have to cancel plans for a seahorse tank till I have my own place to breed them. So Nano Reef will just be a normal reef! Oh well.

Here it goes!
One fire Fish, and one Orange spotted Goby. The plan is to add a peppermint shrimp or skunk shrimp as well.

Can I add more then one Goby in the same tank?

Pics!

Filling it up!


The Final Product


In go the fishes.




This morning with the lights off.

 

Thank you so much for all the replies!

Atm i'm thinking of not adding any powerheads. Thoughts?

UPDATE:
I had to rework the rock cause the filter was pushing the sand around to much. The firefish still hasn't come out of hiding. I'm not sure if he is gonna make it. Though I did rescue him from a tank at the lfs that had a really mean tomato clown chasing him all over the tank. So I'll keep an eye on him for now.

The Goby seems to be doing great so far, he is pretty neat, my first time having one. He sits on a mound of sand and just watches the whole room. and then flees when anyone walks by. If I sit in front of the tank. he'll slowly waddle back out but if I move he will waddle back behind the rocks. So I just try to be as still as I can.

I think I'll be adding a pistol shrimp soon, and hopefully the goby will pair with him
I also added three little cleaner crabs. Red legged I think?

Also! The new lights have shipped so they should be here soon. As for the kessel, I still am not sure how i'm going to mount it for the tank yet. That might be the hardest part of this job. The back of the tank that houses everything is a plastic and I don't know how much stress it can take. The plan will be to glue a piece to the back, and clip the light onto it.

Pics!

Here is the new rock work to redirect the flow of the filter.


The goby saying Hello this morning when I woke up The firefish is no where to be found..


Here is the red legged cleaner crab. There are 3 of them in the tank.


Fts. I love how it looks like a perfect cube of life and beauty.


Anyways that's all for now. I'll get pics up of the lights when they come, and I'll start looking into different corals, as well as finding a way to mount that darn kessel (hanging it isn't an option).

 

That's a cute goby! I hope the firefish comes out and thrives in the new tank.

 

Good Day everyone!
So It seems everyone is doing good. I added a new friend. Surprise is the last picture I noticed no one was eating the pellets So I went out and got a bag of frozen mysis shrimp. And that seems to be a hit. Today will be the second day of feeding mysis shrimp.

Pics!

Got the Kessel up. Man what a difference.


Fts. The camera makes the light look much bluer then it really is. All pics are done with my iphone. haha.


Everyone came out to play once the new lights came on. I was secretly taking pictures from around the corner.


Here is the Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby.


And the Firefish!


Brand new addition to the tank! A Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp. I can't believe how loud it is when it snaps its claw! Sounds like a cap gun going off. Anyways. Put him the tank and he immediately started building a home. Hopefully the Goby will pair with him soon.