Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sea Horse




Seahorses have been popularized in television and in movies for years. Seahorses can be delightful creatures to keep in the aquarium, and they always seem to please their owners with their playful behavior and attitudes. In this article I will be talking about the best way to setup your very own sea horse aquarium.

The first thing you need to do is settle on the type of species of seahorse you want for your aquarium. Different fish and species of seahorses will get along, but some can harm one another, Make sure you do plenty of research when you are selecting the type of fish that you want to house with your seahorse. If you are picking out a seahorse from a pet store, make sure that the seahorse has bright coloring and appears to be healthy overall. If your seahorse does not eat within 24 hours of purchasing it, there is something wrong.


After you receive your seahorses, you can start to begin the acclimation process. First, you will want to get your seahorse used to your quarantine tank. It is much better to first keep your new pet in the quarantine tank with a close eye to see if there are any visible signs of illness. If any of the seahorses show signs of illness, or erratic behavior, you should immediately move them out of the quarantine tank and place them off to themselves. After you are sure that your new seahorses do not pose any threat to the other life in your aquarium, you can start the acclimation process.

Depending on your seahorse species, you will need to have the parameters of your aquarium at certain levels. Generally you need to have a PH balance of around 8.0 to 8.3, a specific gravity of 1.021 to 1.024. No levels of Ammonia or Nitrite can be detectable in your aquarium, and nitrate should be under 20ppm. You should start with more tropical species, so you do not have to drop the money on an aquarium chiller. Heating an aquarium is much less expensive and a lot easier than trying to cool it down. When you are selecting your heater, you should calculate 4 watts per gallon of water. You should also have an aquarium that is a bit taller than standard aquariums, seahorses need plenty of room to move vertically.

After you get your aquarium set up properly, you need to choose the proper tank mates for your new pets. There are plenty of guides around the internet that can recommend safe tank mates to your specific species of sea horse. As for feeding, you should focus on feeding your seahorse plenty of brine shrimp along with other more standard foods for best health.

I hope you have found this article helpful in your search to start your very own seahorse aquarium. Seahorses really are interesting creatures, and it can be extremely rewarding to keep them in your home aquarium. If you ever run into a question that you cannot answer on the internet, you can speak with helpful retailers around the web for the solution. Thank you for reading and good luck.

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