Seahorse advice?

[Eyford01]

I have a new little friend, a single orange female Kuda, I brouht her home and introduced her to my 55g reef 4 days ago, she is eating well (mysis and hikari enriched brine) and likes to move from spot to spot every time I turn my back, however when I brought her home she was BRIGHT orange with red spots but on day 2 faded in about 5 minutes to a much lighter peach colour and has stayed that way which worries me a little as this is my first horse... So if anyone might have an idea why this has happened I'd really like to know, also any tips on keeping a seahorse in a reef would be appreciated

Ps I also looked on the seahorse.org compatability list and montipora was listed as a 2 for possible risk and acropora was a 3 and a derasa clam was listed as a 4 for highest risk, anyone know why? I have 2 Monti caps and a sqamosa, already sold my hammer and frogspawn to make it safer...

[Leah]

Changing color is normal not to sure about the coral/clam risk though. Did not keep either with mine.

[Key Equine]

Hello! Congratulations on your new little seahorse! I would love to see a photo of her!

I believe the risk with clams is that seahorses have been known to get their tails caught by the clam.

Where did you get her from? I may be in the market for another pair...

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Those corals do not have powerful stingers that may harm the ponies by accident, which is why they are low risk

A Derasa clam gets huge (waaay bigger than a football) if kept alive & thriving for years, so the risk is that the ponies will glide over the mantle, triggering a "slamming shut" reaction, causing the clam shell to crush or trap the unsuspecting seahorse.

I had mine in the past with clams but the clams were on a shelf up top & the seahorses never really explored up there. Still, it is a risk factor.

Anthony

[sharuq1]

Hello! Congratulations on your new little seahorse! I would love to see a photo of her!

Where did you get her from?

+1 Where did you find that little gem? :biggrin:

[Eyford01]

Well she is still doing well in her new home and is eating about as much as all my other fish put together, still the pale colour though which is a little disappointing but still a beatiful lil critter, I got her from gold aquariums here in Calgary, probably got first pick too they had just arrived 2 hours prior I was told, they have a whole tank full of them captive bred regular $79 got mine on special for $69

[Eyford01]

So an update on my little friend, she is still the pale colour and has been moving around the tank a fair bit but almost always hitches so that she is in a horizontal position rather than upright like I would have expected, is this normal? Also she stopped eating a coulple days ago, it follows the food like it's interested but doesn't take it although I did see her eat something from the rocks one day, still looks healthy for now but it concerns me since it ate so much before

[Borderjumper]

How much flow do you have in your tank? My seahorses hitch verticle, horizontal, upside down..:mrgreen:

I too have noticed sometimes it looks like one or the other has gone off their feed.. but they are very activly hunting in the rocks.. so maybe they just arent hungry enough to eat the mysis Im offering. Then a couple of days will go by and their begging at the front of the tank.. go figure LOL