BC29 seahorse tank

We remove the false bottom on the first chamber of 14g cubes (not sure if it's on other models, haven't personally looked)... but that false bottom is a trap for all sorts of yuck, so we just ditched it! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/wink.gif As for the seahorses BigGene on here currently has some, and I've kept them in the past. But won't get back into them until I've got a suitable tank again AND have downsized this breeding operation some more. lol. I'd love to try my hand at raising their offspring as last time mine bred all the time and I hadn't the slightest clue how to handle the babies! Now I feel like I could tackle it more confidently for sure. But all in time. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/wink.gif Plus I've got my eye on some pricey horses!!! Gotta save up some more! Good luck, be sure to keep us updated.

 

For dwarfs? As in true dwarfs-never getting larger than 1-1.5" (H. zosterae)...then no. I think a 29g is more than fine for a lot of other fish out there, but dwarfs are the exact opposite of most out there for space/water gallon needs. It has to be appropriately small, small enough to keep food densities high enough to not starve them out. All the while large enough to not take on water quality issues associated with tiny tanks. AND there's the problem with filtration for a dwarf, they can get sucked up VERY easily. A 29BC might be harder to modify than something else, but I'm sure you could rig something up if you really wanted. The aren't very strong swimmers... and most definitely you'll be providing live foods to them! (cool if your up to the challenge). But in my opinion if your really wanting to use that cube, you need a large heard of dwarfs (like 20+) or you might consider looking into a different species.

 

Ok if your set on the tank, I'd definitely say new species. Here is one of my more trusted sites when it comes to seahorses.... actually when it comes to live pods are bring them in via these guys. http://seahorsesource.com/ they are great and aside from the dwarfs they don't sell a horse if it's not trained to frozen. That allows for a better chance of success. But some of their prices are a bit steeper than other places.

H. barbouri, H. reidi, H. kuda, H. erectus, H. comes these guys need about 18-20" vertical height, not sure how tall the 29 is, you might be on the short end. But these 5 species generally utilize 20-30g per pair. Might look into the ones you like most. But just based off of size H. barbouri and H. erectus take my vote.

 

We had a seahorse tank back in 2004. It seems like I spent more money on that thank, the equipment, etc than I did on my 75gallon FOWLR. I went with top notch gear, had the tank cycled to the point of actually having a firefish, some clowns, a cleanup crew, and maybe another fish in there just to give us something to look at while we waited for the ideal time to get the seahorses and more importantly, to make sure that the tank was ready.

I kid you not, the day that the seahorses arrived and the other fish "moved out," parameters went totally bonkers (yes, I said bonkers) in regards to pH. It was up, it was down, it was swinging a lot in what seemed like every hour.

The poor seahorses were super stressed, and so were we. My wife said that it was worse that having a newborn baby as we were up all night just monitoring the system. Yes, a little PH swing overnight when the lights were out made sense, but this was just dropping like nuts or going up a ton.

In the end, we partitioned off part of our 75 gallon that was sitting empty from a fish perspective (LONG and tragic story that I posted back when I first joined GIRS in my introduction post), and managed to keep them alive for a week before selling them off to someone in Indiana (yes, we made quite a drive to meet them in Champaign, IL and this is when we lived in Des Moines). They did a lot better there.

We never figured out what happened to the tank to make it freak out with pH, and honestly I am sure that there was an explanation and it could have been rectified, but flash back 10 years and information on smaller tanks (I thought that it was a 40 gallon tall tank) wasn't as prevalent as it is today.

It was very heart breaking at the time because we had literally spent over a year getting ready and trying to make sure that everything was perfect and after the loss of the 75 gallon due to a faulty programmable thermostat in our house (not even fish related equipment), it was the final straw that got me out of the hobby for 8 years. I donated pretty much everything but the tanks themselves to the ISU Marine Biology Club and walked away.

I would love to have seahorses as they are awesome creatures and fascinating to watch, but I don't have the energy to go there again and I have even less time to do live feedings daily than I did 10 years ago.

This is not meant to discourage you at all. It is just a story about how things turned out for me, and that with advancements in knowledge and experiences from others for the past 10 years will surely make this a success for you.