A new pair of Ingens seahorses

[tjdouglas]

I bought a couple of captive-bred Ingens seahorses online about three weeks ago. They are doing pretty well, but arrived being much smaller than I expected. (The website claimed they were "medium" sized, but these are really more like small juveniles IMO). So, instead of putting them in my display tank with my other seahorses (reidi-erectus hybrids) I have them in a smaller grow-out tank for now. Fortunately they are eating mysis well but I am also feeding them tigger pods and enriched adult live brine. They eat a lot!

I hope they do OK. Anybody out there have any luck with this species?

 

[tjdouglas]

Video of them eating frozen mysis from a pipette

 

[Oceanwave45]

Too cute... are they always this slow? If so how do they stay alive in the wild!

 

[vlangel]

Sorry tj, I have never kept ingens and have not even read much info on them.

 

[Annette Garcia]

Ingens seahorses are beautiful they can get almost 12" big. You would have to have a 36"- 48" high tank for them.

 

[tjdouglas]

My current tank is 30" high so will probably be OK for a while anyway.

 

[tjdouglas]

Too cute... are they always this slow? If so how do they stay alive in the wild!

In general, seahorses are pretty slow eaters. In nature I think they are considered to be "camouflage predators", using their ability to blend in with their surroundings (rather than speed) to catch any unwitting prey that passes near them.

 

[Oceanwave45]

In general, seahorses are pretty slow eaters. In nature I think they are considered to be "camouflage predators", using their ability to blend in with their surroundings (rather than speed) to catch any unwitting prey that passes near them.

Awe! Sorry I love sea horses but I don't know much about them... can you place them in a reef tank? My tank is pretty mellow I don't have any live stock that's mean

 

[Critterheaven]

lol I was just going to say they are pretty aggressive eaters...for seahorses!

I wouldn't suggest putting seahorses in an average reef tank. They can't be with stingning corals (frogspawn, hammers) or anemones or clams or really aggressive eating fish. They also don't do well in the very turbulent waters most people have for their reef tanks. And cooler temps are best (72 ish)

You pretty much have to design a seahorse tank and possibly put some reef corals and critter in with the seahorses versus the other way around.

 

[tjdouglas]

Awe! Sorry I love sea horses but I don't know much about them... can you place them in a reef tank? My tank is pretty mellow I don't have any live stock that's mean

Hi Oceanwave,
I agree with Critterheaven that keeping seahorses in a reef tank is generally not a great idea. Seahorses need to be fed twice a day (which can wreak havoc on your reef tank's nitrate and phosphate levels), you need to keep the temp down to the low 70s or the seahorses are likely to get bacterial/viral infections, seahorses can't compete with more aggressive eaters such as tangs and clownfish and angels, and they can be severely stung by a number of LPS corals. Also the tank needs to be fairly tall, like 24" or more. So most people would advise against it. If your reef tank is mostly leather corals, mushrooms, blennies and scooters, is tall enough, and you keep the water temp in the low 70s it could work. But otherwise it is generally not a good idea.
Sorry not to have more encouraging news....

 

[tjdouglas]

Here are some new pics of the Ingens seahorses. I have had them for a month now and they are doing pretty good despite the fact that they were very small when they were shipped to me. You can see the tan colored one has clearly developed a male's pouch now