Sea horse safe coral

[Mitchellgil]

I’m starting my dwarf sea horse tank soon and I was wonder if yellow finger gorgonian are sea horse safe as in the won’t sting them I want the coral for them to hold on to but I’m not sure if it will I how someone can help thanks


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[Fish_wiz2]

I don't have dwarfs but I have some smaller Kuda's (3.5-4") and they hitch on my gorgonians just fine. I have 9 gorgonians and a sea fan and have no issues, do not think they have stingers only polyps but don't quote me on this.

[rayjay]

For me personally, with dwarf tanks I want totally sterilize system including hitching.
First of all, anything like non sterile rock, and then adding other livestock that CAN'T be sterilized will increase the odds of ending up with hydroids due to the need to feed live brine shrimp nauplii.
Second point is that many corals won't do well in the lower temperature recommended for seahorses.
Speaking then of temperature, the light requirement for many corals would mean warming the water more, or, using more methods to keep the temperature lower.

[noy]

Originally Posted by Mitchellgil

I’m starting my dwarf sea horse tank soon and I was wonder if yellow finger gorgonian are sea horse safe as in the won’t sting them I want the coral for them to hold on to but I’m not sure if it will I how someone can help thanks


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I have kept non-dwart seahorses with yellow finger gorgs and they don't sting the seahorses. However the fact the seahorses hang onto them irritates the polyps and they won't open up - so its not particularly great for the gorgs.

[teddscau]

Hmm, gorgonians are said to have anti-microbial properties in their mucous, so that could be beneficial for dwarfs. The gorgonian will also help eat some of the food you put in the tank. Which dwarf species are you getting? I assume the only legal one... Anyways, from what I read, you don't want anything larger than a 10g tank, preferably smaller. I'm sure they'd enjoy having lots of macroalgae, though. Maybe halimeda and maidens hair. Some seagrass as well. Not sure if Caulerpa would be too big for them to grasp. You have to feed dwarfs a ton of food everyday, so I wonder if it might be beneficial to have some filterfeeders in there as well, such as porcelain crabs?

As for the gorgonians being irritated by the dwarf seahorses, I'm not sure if they'd be all that irritated by them. They're so tiny, that if anything, they might just close up polyps in the immediate vicinity of where they're being grasped. They'd probably react the same way as they do when a bristleworm or brittlestar is crawling around on them. Plus, corals do get used to being poked and prodded at after repeated exposure. You could try gently nudging your gorgonian in various spots throughout the day to get it used to being touched before trying it out in the dwarf tank.