[Penguin]

Purely hypothetical question. Could a relatively peaceful trigger, like maybe a Sargassum (Xanthichthys ringens) be kept safely with seahorses?

[Biomanjcs72]

Maybe a sargassum seahorse (if they exist, I think they do)
I would think the problem would be that since Seahorses eat only live food, the trigger (being faster and more agile) would eat pretty much all of the food and your horse would slowly starve to death. Everything I've heard/read says that they pretty much have to be kept in a species tank. The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has an absolutely wonderful seahorse exhibit, they are breeding the critters, along with pipefish, they also have some sea dragons (they are trying to breed them , but I didn't see any babies.) It was really cool to look in the display tanks and see these little transparent seahorses and pipefish floating around like plankton and snatching up rotifers/copepods, etc. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

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JCS
"Too much of everything is just enough." Hunter/Weir

[tlc]

i certainly would not keep a horse and a trigger together. horses need to be kept with fish that are not aggressive eaters. www.oceanrider.com has a list of suggested tankmates. there horses also eat frozen mysis. another place to go would be www.seahorse.org they are the authority on horses.

[Neal359]

a triger would be the worst typ of fish to keep with them something more aprpopreat would be a manderin

[Penguin]

I didn't think it would work. But I'm envisioning a tank with lots of macroalgae, one that you would have to look really closely to see all the fish in it. Seahorses, pipefish. Maybe a tassled filefish. I know I have heard of these being kept successfully with seahorses. Any others?

This isn't a system I'm going to attempt any time soon, if ever. I'm just picturing stuff.

[tlc]

i have a fire fish and a jaw fish with my ponies. i dont know how much experience you have with fish keeping so i will just give you my .02 on the subject. i would not recomend wild caught horsies. ocean rider sells healthy captive bred. they cost a little more but they are much more adapted to tank life as well as being more resistant to disease. pipe fish should only be handled by experts. they have very strict dietary needs and usualy dont fair to well by someone inexperienced. you will also need to keep a nice supply of live food for them . some have success weaning them to mysis and brine. the macro set up is perfect for horses. keep on learning and asking questions.

[chromis]

At the baltimore aquarium there is a great exhibit on sea horses and sea dragons. I went to see it and was amazed by the sea dragons. A leafy sea dragon is a very beautiful fish and could probably be kept with sea horses. However, they are large and most likely hard to keep.

Andrew

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"I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them."

George W. Bush

[Biomanjcs72]

Sea dragons are also illegal to keep in private (non-research) aquaria, their wild populations are VERY endangered.

[Penguin]

Yeah, the sea dragons are some of the most amazing looking fish, IMO. I imagine they'd be real difficult to keep, even if they were legal. I've been meaning to get down to Baltimore to see the new seahorse exhibit myself.

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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."-George W. Bush

[tlc]

yes sea dragons are way cool. there was an article about them in one of the fish magazines. they are stating that the only researchers having success with them are keepping maybe 2 in a 500 gallon tank and constantly supplying the tank with various live foods. there body lets them mimick floating seaweed and thats how they prey on food. just pretending to float around.

[organicreefer]