ReefGen Extreme Cirri Act II Ornate Lined Seahorse

We finally have new cirri'd seahorses!  And this time THEY ARE ALL YELLOW!  While this batch of cirri seahorses don't have the 1" length of cirri, their cirri are pronounced and almost 1cm!  We are offering two grades of these extremes:

Grade A: Cirri pushing 1cm

Grade B: Cirri well under 1cm

 

The Act II Ornate Lined Seahorses, are captive bred and handpicked for their markings, but they derive from the Lined Seahorse species, H. erectus.   Act II Ornates are just what they sound like, a second round of some of Alyssa’s most beautiful erectus, but Act II's are different in that they don't have the parents with the long cirri, thus they are a little cheaper than original ornates.  However, Act II's have the added benefit of all being VERY YELLOW!  

 

Act II Ornates are gorgeous, flocked with beautiful white markings ranging from saddles to spots, but all remarkably pretty.  Some of their markings are reminiscent of Lightening Maroon clowns, and others look like encrusting coralline.  The tank surroundings that give them the best coloration have a bright blue background with bright yellow hitching posts.  We use yellow plastic chain, but there are great artificial yellow corals and sea fans available online.  We recommend dimmed lighting to enhance their yellow coloration.

 

Size:  ~3-4"

 

Feeding and Diet:  Frozen PE Mysis, they eat mysis off the tank bottom, and can easily be trained to eat out of a dish.  Try and feed 2-3x per day.  It's recommended that you siphon the uneaten food an hour after feeding.  We use a Maxspect Gyre, with low flow, in our seahorse tanks to keep food up in the water column until it is all eaten.  Works great!

 

Recommended Tank Size:  ~30G for 1 Pair, Add 15G for each additional pair (Density can be higher if system water volume is large and stable.)

 

Tank Parameters Recommenations: 

    •    Temp:  70F-76F Preferred

    •    pH: 8.0-8.3

    •    Specific Gravity: 1.020-1.025, 

    •    Ammonia and Nitrite:  ZERO - Seahorses are extremely sensitive to ammonia

    •    Nitrate: < 30

    •    Copper tolerance:  Avoid copper exposure 

 

Water Quality:  The cleaner you keep the tank, the happier and healthier your seahorses will be.  We recommend you keep them in a tank with large system volume, if possible, or that you do regular water changes.  Siphon their tank 1 hour after each feeding.  Most seahorse ailments come from bacterial infections due to poor tank conditions, so stay ahead of the game and keep your tank water clean with siphoning and water changes.  Interestingly, seahorses will exhibit incomplete tail wrapping on their hitching location as a symptom of deteriorating water quality.

 

Decor:  We recommend you keep the seahorses with BRIGHT yellow, orange, and blue decorations.  Seahorses will change their body color based on their surroundings, so stick with the advised colors above, and avoid adding black, brown and red decor to their tanks, which will cause them to darken..  They enjoy hitching to bright yellow chains, fake coral, and ropes.  

 

Live Coral:  Seahorses also do great in reef tanks with live coral!   Aside from extremely agressive carpet anemones, and the like, seahorses do just fine with a wide spectrum of coral.  We have heard rumors that Seahorses prefer ReefGen coral over all other coral varieties. 

 

Tank Mates:  While a species-only tank is recommended, seahorses can live with other docile tropical fish.  Seahorses are entirely safe to keep with a wide assortment of invertebrates, like snails, clams, fan worms, shrimp, and hermit crabs.  Beware of large and fast crabs like Sally Lightfoots and emeralds.  Obviously, avoid fish that may fight or eat the seahorses.  Examples of some seahorse-safe fish include: gobies, cardinal fish, fire fish, fairy wrasses, and sometimes even clownfish.  

 

IMPORTANT NOTE ON ACCLIMATION:  It is STRONGLY recommended, by the breeder's vast experience with these seahorses, that you DO NOT DRIP ACCLIMATE your new arrivals.  They have found that the seahorses' extreme sensitivity to ammonia is most noted when the ammonium in shipping bags is converted to ammonia when the shipping water is slowly exposed to new water.  They recommend that you (brace yourself) float the seahorses in closed bags for 10-15 minutes, then cut and dump them into their new tank directly.  They say that the seahorses  seem to whether changes in salinity and pH well.  ReefGen followed the breeder's directions, and despite a specific gravity change of three points for the seahorses, and goodness knows the pH change after 24-hours of shipping, the seahorses were hitching and eating within one minute of introduction to their new tank.  Therefore, ReefGen backs this recommendation 100%!