Corals for a pony tank

[weez1959]

Hi everyone, I've been slowly working up to a pony tank and have been doing a bit of reading up on it before starting. My plan was for a 24g cube for a small pair of ponies (not sure which yet) Anyways to the point...
Can you guys list the safe corals that can be put in with them?

[coral_diver]

weez...that's great that we are getting some interest in seahorses they really are magical creatures. Before I personally would suggest anything I would say you really need to decide on what type of seahorses you want, if you decide on dwarf seahorses (zoestrea) then we need to talk alot about care and proper housing...a 24 is large for them unless you get a whole bunch, if we are talking redi then the 24 may be ok then again it may not but I really prefer a minimum tank size of a 30gallon extra high for anything larger than the dwarfs and of course going up in size with the horses the tank sizes should scale upward. I really like the extra high tanks because it gives them lots of room to stretch out and they need to do that and besides they will do what I call "the dance" for you, no not mating just a cool little I'm hungry dance or the I want attention dance, it's really cool and not something that you see much in your shorter tanks. I really recommend against most corals...they sting and can cause trouble for your horses but if you must try to stick to things like some mushrooms are usually ok but not the hairy type, most zoa's, suncoral, caulerpa's are always a nice addition to SH tanks, pipe organ, strawberry aka chili coral, mangroves they love to hitch to!, leathers, xenia, most softies are going to be ok just remember if the coral has sweepers it's a no no, if it has stinging ability I would not...and so on. Keep us up with where you are going to try to go with this. I would personally be happy to help all I can in steering you in the right direction. My biggest peice of advice is do all the research you can stand and then do a little more, most seahorses are just out of the danger zone of protection and extinction so it is a important factor to keep them around! I would recommend Captive Bred because of this also. :)

[weez1959]

Hi Desiree,
Thanks for the info! Locally I can get Kudas. Also when measuring a pony, does everyone measure open or wound tail? Would the 24 fit 2 of them?
Also I read somewhere that some people use a leather as a feeding station, is this a good idea?

[weez1959]

I forgot to mention, since I'm in Canada, not many vendors have horses, I'd prefer not to order them if I can avoid it since it it probably stressful for them. The guy I would get them from says they (kudas) are captive bred in Hawaii.

[coral_diver]

Weez...I would say no less than a 30gallon extra high for a pair of kuda. They can get up around 12inches. Really a decent size horse :) Kuda are beautiful horses and have lots of personality in my experience. A seahorse is measured uncurled and fully stretched out :) not with tail curled. I really couldn't think of any reasons that a leather would be a bad idea unless the leather is known to have secretions that could be fatal? I don't know of any that are but I am sure they are probably out there. I personally have used a medium to large seashell in the past as a feeding station. Keep in mind that if you are going to feed frozen and your ponies are not used to a feeding station you will need to train them and basically show them "hey guys here is the food", don't try to do this at the risk of the horses not eating though you may have to suspend the food in the water for them to realize it is food, do it slowly use a turkey baster and a cup of tank water suck it up and slowly add it as they eat up what is available, some horses are picky like one of my potbellies...he will not eat anything that hits the substrate it must be suspended for him or he will not snick it LOL another of my potbellies prefers to eat off the substrate? picky if I say so myself. Honestly any transport wether it is in your car or in the mail in my oppinion is stressful plus a new environment and everything so I have nothing against mail order really. I do alot of mail order for alot of stuff coral, SH's, food, equipment etc. Are the horses that this guy is talking about from Ocean Rider? They are the captive breeders of many seahorses in Hawaii. If that is the case I personally would order them yourself from their online site. That would ensure that they have one less trip to make, you know hawaii to the store then back in a bag in your car to your home, now that I think is a little more stressful than anything. And anyway if you order from Ocean Rider yourself you'll see they have a pretty good selection of seahorses other than just the Kuda's. Just make sure you are paying attention to their temperature requirments. Don't get a coldwater seahorse if you don't allready have a chiller or are getting one about a month before they will arrive. The reason I caution this is that number 1 coldwater SH's must by all means have the chiller to keep a constant cold temp. second I say about a month before hand because it is possible that your tank will do a mini cycle when it get's colder all of a sudden, and PH tends to change also. I don't really recommend the coldwaters as a starter horse though. Redi, Kuda, and Erectus are in my oppinion decent starter horses. Ok I can talk forever :) LOL lets start here and if you need more info ask and I of course will reply :)

[weez1959]

Hi Desiree,

I called Ocean Rider a couple of days ago and they won't ship to Canada and they also told me they didn't ship to my vendor either, so I'm not sure where I would be able to get online horses :-( Does anyone know online dealers in Canada?

About the tank size, I was checking out the Red Sea Max (34 gallon) yesterday cool but crazy expensive here, with base is $1150.00 with tax!

I'd be willing to live with that price but then there's the size issue. The only reason I was going with the 24 cube is it would fit into a spot in the living room that wouldn't be too much in the way of my hubby, (he's Paraplegic, gets around in a wheelchair) and things are tight in there but I think the Max tank is just an extra 2" depth. I'm waiting til he gets up to try and pass it by him. He's really understanding with all this but I don't want to make his life any harder than it already is :P.

About the Red Sea tank, anyone have one? I'd love some feedback on this thing before I blow that much $$ on it...

Louise

[coral_diver]

weez...I totally understand the disabled issue, I myself still have issues with my disability (my legs) but for a long time I spent time in a wheelchair then on crutches for a long time after I was finally able to walk again. I feel for him! Although I know this may sound terrible to say and I hope you don't take it wrong but there are times when I just wish that I couldn't feel my legs anymore just to stop the pains although I know being a former RN that there are still phantom pains that I am sure I wouldn't want to deal with either. But anyway back to the tanks...Have you just looked into the All-glass brand tanks in the 30 extra high? I used to have one and they don't really take up much room if I remember it well. I was a real nice tank and all-glass has never given me any problems in the past. The Red Sea Max is an awesome tank I was considering getting one myself but I am still really kicking it around because I will be moving in about a year to god knows where the FAA is going to put me. Honestly it may be a little overkill for a seahorse tank anyway. They don't need strong lights, actually they like subdued lighting so unless you are planning lots of things in the tank that needs a ton of light keep the tank simple. My seahorse tanks have never been anything dramatic until fairly recently like the last couple years...I never even ran a skimmer on my tanks reef or seahorse until gosh maybe about a year and a half ago when I moved and found the water here to be so different. Just have to keep up with real good maintence which I did. I swear I had less problems back then too but what r you going to do you know...As far as the seahorses...do you have a way of checking to see if there are any issues with you having them shipped to you from the US? If there isn't a big deal in someone shipping them to you I would be happy to help you out either finding you some nice horses here or if you want them from Ocean Rider you could have them shipped to me I could let them rest for a few days to a week with me in my QT and then get them shipped up to you with O2. If you are interested in that let me know. A friend of mine sells corals online so he has the O2 and the packing from Ocean Rider, cooler and all that will come with them allready I'd just add some ice packs. If you go with your guy up there I'd find out where he is getting them from if he'll tell you that is just tell him that it isn't that you doubt him that they are captive breed but....tell him you have heard some horror stories or something. If I get a chance in the next few days I'll try looking to see if I can find any seahorse vendors in your area also. I'll see what I can find out for you... :)

[weez1959]

Looks like we were posting at the same time :) I started a new thread about Canadian pony suppliers LOL
Anyways, it's supposed to be off limits (shipping to Canada) for various reasons so I have to find them locally or within Canada.
I even tried to get Garf's Grunge and that wasn't allowed either.
My son went to cuba this summer and I asked him for a small bottle of sand from under the water (really cool by the way, it was full of all kinds of goodies) and he was worried the whole time til he was in the clear. He could of ditched it but figured I'd be disappointed if he didn't have it. I didn't know til he arrived with it that it was illegal to take the sand out of the country LOL

[coral_diver]

Actually I think it's technically illegal to take sand from the oceans period. I could be wrong on that but I know at least here in FL I have heard it is illegal and could swear I read somewhere a while back about it being illegal? I wonder why the import of live SHs is illegal to Canada if your guy is getting them from hawaii? Strange...well I haven't had a chance to look around for you yet but I'll try to in the next few days things are awfully busy with my flying schedule.

[weez1959]

I think you have to have a commercial licence or some sort of baloney like that to be able to import livestock, I can't get anything alive from the U.S. to Canada, be it fish, coral or pods.
Louise

[weez1959]

Well after lots of searching I ended up with a JBJ because I had no other option. The RedSea Max was $1150.00 and shipping was about $500.00!!
And I was worried it would arrive broken with my luck, so I have a 24 JBJ which I was able to get locally.

The tank has been cycling for about 2 weeks now, checked my water again this morning and it would seem that the cycle has finished :) which is nice but now I have to wait for the diatoms to go away.

About the Kudas, I bought a book, "Seahorses, Pipefish and their relatives" by Rudie H Kuiter, it says Kudas get to be 15cm, and several websites say anywhere between 4"-6" but a few say 10-12", why so much difference?

I've been watching the temp in the tank and without a heater it is staying in the 74-78f range. Is this OK?

[Brock Fluharty]

I've never seen a kuda over 6-7".

I think that the reason for the law on the sand isn't actually the sand but what's inside it. My parenrs went to the Bahamas when I was younger, and they wanted to bring me back a bunch of shells. Well, they asked someone on the airplane (employee) and they told them that you can take sand and shells, but only if you soak them in bleach for 24 hours, to kill any invasive species inside them. That was about 10 years ago, mind you, but I believe that's still the main reason.

[coral_diver]

The reason for the difference you see is mainly because they can vary so much in captivity some of those reported kuda's may not have been in captivity...some may have been WC and brought to captivity...For some reason, some claim it is tank size, I don't really agree as I have had many fish outgrow a tank they do grow larger than their housing...as for the sand issue...here in the US the issue with taking sand is the errosion factor not what is contained in the sand, for example here in FL you can't take it because our beaches wash out to sea and they have to bring sand in from the bahamas to replace it over and over again, you would think it wouldn't be a big deal but apparently it is? Since the sand is brought in from the bahamas I don't think the species in the sand is an issue but I could be wrong, I know up in Ohio in Lake Erie there is a problem with some fish I forget the name of it but it is eating the walley and perch and also there is a problem with zebra muscles that were brought in on the barges so maybe we had a problem back 10 yrs ago but who knows?