Cali Kid Corals

Felicia's 30 Gallon Seahorse Tank - Seahorses have arrived!!!

rygh said:
Those are some spoiled jawfish being carefully hand fed like that.:cool:

Look around for seahorses and flow rate. There are some newer articles
that say what you really want is regions of good flow, plus regions of low flow.
They can swim well, and like to, but really lack endurance and need to rest.
(No opinion if that is really true)
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Haha! Yeah, they're pretty spoiled. I don't normally target feed fish, but I had read that jawfish only eat what floats by their burrow. I didn't want to dump enough food in the little 10 gallon frag tank to have enough float by them, so I figured target feeding would be better and wouldn't foul up the water so much. Now they expect it and go after the pipet as soon as it gets near them.

That's basically what I've been reading about seahorses from the recent literature. The new theory is that quite a bit of flow is best and just to design it so that there are spots where the seahorses can get out of the flow to rest. What you said definitely reflects what I've been reading and my plan for this tank. I also need quite a bit of flow for the gorgonians and sponges, so the MP10 won't be set too low. However, it does need to be set at like 50% power or less since its max flow is like 1575 gph. I figure somewhere between 400 and 700 gph should be the setting on the MP10. I'll have to tweak it until I get it right, which is the nice thing about the MP10 since its flow is completely adjustable.
 
Tank news update time!

The cycle in complete! For the past couple days I've been getting a steady reading of 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and 5-10 ppm nitrates. Woohoo! So yesterday evening, I put in all the filter media (I wasn't using it during the cycle) to help get rid of the nitrates and I also finally turned on the skimmer. Not that it has anything to skim yet, but its bubbling very nicely and seems like its going to do a greatj ob once there is something to skim. The water in the skimmer chamber stays at a very constant level, so that is perfect for this skimmer. I'm so glad the water flow in the chambers is working how I designed it!

Anyways, I added some blue ochtodes to the refugium chamber and poured in my 16 oz. of Tisbe pods to seed the refugium area. I also fed the tank with PhycoPure copepod blend to make sure the copepods survive and start multiplying for me. I will be getting some more chaeto this weekend to add into the refugium area with the ochtodes.

Finally, I decided to move a few things from the frag tank into the seahorse tank because I'm having a cyano issue in the frag tank and its getting all over the sponges and gorgs. I've been manually removing it daily, and I'd like to get those things into the new cyano free tank as soon as I can. Last night I transferred over all the sponges, two mushroom frags, the yellow leather, and the small freebie gorg from KPA. This morning everything looks fine and nothing seems to be in distress, so that's a good sign. I'm going to do a 10% water change on the seahorse tank tonight to remove some of the nitrates and then I'll probably move some more things over. Once I can get all of the new corals out of the frag tank, I can start treating the fish with Furan-2 and PraziPro. Progress!!!

Additionally, this means its about time for seahorses! I want to put them in the tank before I add the fish so that they can get well established and not be stressed by the fish while they adjust to their new home. I want to get them used to the feeding routine and stuff before the fish come into the picture. I'll make sure everything does well through the weekend in the new tank and then if all is still stable and the water parameters are good, then I'll order early next week!

I just got off the phone with Jon at Southwatch Seahorse and he was super nice and helpful. Anyways, he's got several yellow females for me to choose from, including some with cerri! He's going to be sending me photos through text message later this afternoon once he finishes packaging orders for the day. So excited!
 
Hehe Brandie! Sorry, I should have explained cerri. They're like little projections that come off the seahorse. They're for camouflage and only some seahorses have them.

I just bought my seahorses
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They are shipping out on Monday for delivery on Tuesday of next week! I am going to be so anxious/giddy until then!

They're coming from Southwatch Seahorse (a breeder in Florida) and I got to pick out my two ponies from the females they currently have available. Here are the two that I picked. One is a smaller female around 3" long and the other is a larger female around 4.5" long (the one with cerri).

Pony #1
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I love her white patches!

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Pony #2
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Big girl with great color and cerri! (The things sticking off of her head are cerri - breeders sell seahorses with cerri for more money usually.)

imagejpeg_2.jpg
 
I love how the breeder uses yellow plastic chain to get the seahorses to stay yellow. Maybe you should do something like that. Make a yellow chain link "suspension bridge". "golden gate bridge". Hahahaha
 
zeroinverse said:
I love how the breeder uses yellow plastic chain to get the seahorses to stay yellow. Maybe you should do something like that. Make a yellow chain link "suspension bridge". "golden gate bridge". Hahahaha
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It seems that all the breeders use those plastic chains. They can't use natural corals in the big aquaculture tanks and they need hitches that are easy to clean and colorful, so those are a good choice. The ones from this breeder will actually stay yellow even without colorful objects because they're bred for their color and pattern, but they will stay brighter with colorful hitches. I have seen people use those chains in their seahorse tanks, but I personally prefer to keep this tank as natural looking as possible. I've got natural pops of yellow from my gorgonians, sponges, and the yellow leather coral.
 
All the corals from the frag tank have been transferred into the seahorse tank. Everything is doing well and all the gorgonians have great PE. I just placed everything in there at random, so nothing is in its permanent spot. Once the MP10 arrives tomorrow, then I will be able to get everything placed and scaped.

IMG_3748.jpg


Also, two photos of one of the jawfish in the frag tank:


 
Ok guys, so here is the seahorse tank now that all the corals are placed. I have a few more softies in the frag tank that need spots and I also have a box of macros and softies arriving next week from a friend on Nano-reef, so it isn't done, but this is the bulk of the coral.







Left Side


Middle


Right Side
 
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