What are the benefits of having a freshwater aquarium vs. having a tank of seahorses?
After contemplating getting a male and female seahorse, I’m having doubts about getting a fresh water aquarium. I’m aware that seahorses are probably extensively harder to take care of and, being such exotic creatures, may just be a naive whim. However, the idea of of a bunch of little seahorses swimming around a tank is appealing to me. But, to add to this, this is my very first tank, and, however absolutely adorable and grand the idea of two mated seahorses and their offspring is to me, I’m rather inexperienced. I’m really looking for help to convince me that an aquarium would be better or that seahorses are not that hard to care for.
i have also just found out that there are no freshwater seahorses, but all the same, the benefits of aquariums and why to get them would be helpful to help convince me and my dad.
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Dwarf Sea Horses are one of the best ones to choose from, but you would have to know extensive knowledge about saltwater tanks and the only feeding method is hatched brined shrimp.
A tropical tank, heater,filter,tank, thats a tropical tank.
Saltwater is hard work until you know the basics, and alot of money wasted if unexperienced.
if you insist on doing this, do the research. buy good equipment. dont be surprised if you have many failures before you have success
First tank – dont even consider it !!!
Seahorses are one of the more difficult marine fish to keep, and marine tanks are 10 times harder than freshwater anyway.
You are probably looking at $1000 to set up a tank just to house them, then 99% chance they are going to die.
Start with a decent sized freshwater tropical tank, learn how to take care of that correctly. Go to marine once you are confidant in your fish keeping skills and if you can keep normal reef fish successfully, then maybe consider seahorses again. By that time you will probably have learned that they aren’t worth the effort
Ian
Seahorses are difficult to care for. A beginner with saltwater should not start with them. I don’t want to sound discouraging but when I was an adolescent with some years of experience with freshwater livebearers, I tried seahorses. I still remember the thrill of picking them up at night from the post office (we were called as soon as they arrived since they were living creatures) and the smell of the saltwater solution. Sadly, they didn’t live long, they all died. I still feel guilty about it, decades later. Please leave the cute seahorses (they are cute!) to the public aquaria or to experienced saltwater aquarium keepers where the animals will have a far better chance of healthy lives.
Having a tropical freshwater tank not only is easier (although with difficult moments too) but it is also a rewarding experience. I love having my tanks. Some fish are very nearly as colorful as saltwater tropicals–look into rainbowfish from Papua New Guinea and Australia. They are beauties and not so hard to care for, once you develop some good experience with ‘easy’ fish. Good luck to you! It was smart of you to ask before you plunged into something you might not be ready for.
As other posters have said, seahorses are difficult to care for, and are probably not your best bet if you are just starting out. They are not only fairly expensive…but fairly easy to kill as they have strict nutritional and environmental requirements. You’d be very lucky to get them to survive: getting them to breed is probably out of the question.
Salt water tanks tend to be somewhat more expensive than freshwater, both in initial costs and maintenance. Your average saltwater fish costs about 30$…your average freshwater fish costs about 3$…Saltwater aquariums have additional water parameters you need to monitor, and tend to involve a little bit more chemistry. For your first tank, you are probably better off with a freshwater setup. They tend to be cheaper and simpler to set-up.
Start with a freshwater tank – get a little bit of experience under your belt before going for the marathon!
A saltwater tank of any sort is a very difficult endeavor – I know several people who are avidly into aquariums that have given up after spending a lot of time and a LOT of money trying to establish a saltwater tank and having failure after failure.
well, here are some benefits
1) not nearly as demanding
2) less sensitive
3) less expensive to feed
4) not going to die immediatly if something goes wrong
5) about 1/4 of the work