Dwarf Erectus Anyone?

[kizanne]

I have been raising babies since Feb. and I have a few that seem to be smaller than others even as they have had lots of time to grow. They eat vigorously and otherwise seem healthy. Does anyone else have dwarfs?

Could this be an alternative to people who like the size of zoestra but don't want to feed live food. Though only one is really small so they would need a 5 or 10 gallon instead of a 1 or 2 like zoestra.

[rayjay]

While they may remain fairly small, as they grow, they will end up much larger than the largest of dwarfs. Most likely it will take at least two years for them to reach their maximum size. I wouldn't recommend anything less than a 20g for them and be prepared to upsize if they go through a later growth spurt than brings them near normal size.

[kizanne]

Yes I sell the babies and I hold out any that look like dwarfs because I don't want my customers to have dwarfs unless they want dwarfs. So far I only have 3 and I think one is on the slow growth track. The others don't really look to be growing.

[rayjay]

In my OWN experiences, I've NEVER had standard seahorse runts stay near dwarf size. The biggest dwarf I've had would probably be about 1 1/4 inches (most smaller though) while the SMALLEST runt standard seahorse probably ended up in the 3 inch range but most of those actually get about 3/4 the size of their normal expectation as they mature.
You MIGHT find that the ones that don't appear to have ANY growth, eventually perish in time.

[kizanne]

Sure they might and my dwarf are bigger than zoestra but if they get only 5 inches instead of 8 they could probably use less than a 30 gallon for a pair. And of course they could have babies as well. I guess only time will tell.

But the original question was would this be a good alternative for people who want smaller tanks. I concede they would definitely be larger than zoestra. I'm pondering would they need a 5 gallon a 10. Right now I have them in a 5.

[rayjay]

Need isn't all based on volume of tank but whatever it takes to keep the bacteria at bay mostly. Tank size choice should be made based on expected adult full size, not their current size as juveniles, although when they are small, you can obviously still use smaller volumes, increasing as they grow.
IMO, 5" adult seahorses still need 30g/pair.
3.4" adult seahorses need probably 20g/pair.
HOWEVER, if a person knows that they can maintain the rigid protocol to keep the water such that bacteria DON'T become problematic, then that's their choice.
The UNFORTUNATE thing is that some hobbyists will start out being sure that they can maintain a certain protocol but as time goes on, some will end up skipping a cleaning/water change here or there and over time, the accumulative result of the missed tasks allow for the nasty bacteria to become plague proportions.
It would be GREAT if we were able to have test kit(s) that can tell us when the water is approaching that point, but there IS NOTHING available to the hobbyist to be able to indicate that so everything has to be done pro-actively rather than re-actively.
I have one tank that is severely overstocked with seahorses, BUT, I clean the mechanical filters every 3 days and do at least 90% water change on the bare bottom tank ONCE A WEEK, without fail.
As for sizes of seahorses, IME, the largest reidi I've had was probably only just a touch over 6" and the largest erectus probably a touch over 7" and that took several years for them to get to that size.
Currently, my barbs at 2 yrs of age are averaging about 4.5" and the 2 yr old abs are only about 7-8" so I expect it might take another year (or more) for them to max out their size.

[kizanne]

My Barbouri come in Wednesday. I'm very excited.

[rayjay]

I know what that excitement is like.
I had barbs many years ago when I was able to get some angustus and barbs from a company in Australia owned by Dr Mic Payne. Up till then I'd only had reidi. The barbs quickly became my favourites though. By the time they passed on, the company had closed after not being able to sell it so it was MANY years until I found that I could get them from another Australian company, Seahorse Australia.
Originally I was going to get them through a store who had placed an order there. Unfortunately his order was a multiple species order and wouldn't be shipped until his turn came up for the backordered species.
Finally, after a year, I gave up and ordered my own direct here to Canada. Shipping was as much as the seahorses themselves.
I picked up the shipment June 26 2017 of 6 abdominalis and 8 barbouri and still have them all except for a male ab that died six weeks after receiving it, two days after it gave birth to hundreds of dead malformed fry. Have no idea what the problem was but thank God it never transferred to any of the others.
Barbs still are my favourite with reidi the second, and that's after also having had the angustus, erectus and comes as well over the last 16 yrs.

[kizanne]

Yeah I hope to breed the barbouri. I think they are a perfect size and I love their snout!

[ThePurple12]

That’s a first.