diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/flags.go b/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
index 1588361c2b..f876f54137 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/flags.go
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ func Flags() (*Config, support.ConfigOptions) {
 			EnvVar:    "STELLAR_CORE_DATABASE_URL",
 			ConfigKey: &config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL,
 			OptType:   types.String,
+			Required:  false,
 			Usage:     "stellar-core postgres database to connect with",
 		},
 		&support.ConfigOption{
@@ -359,10 +360,8 @@ func NewAppFromFlags(config *Config, flags support.ConfigOptions) *App {
 	if config.StellarCoreURL == "" {
 		log.Fatalf("flag --%s cannot be empty", StellarCoreURLFlagName)
 	}
-	if config.Ingest {
-		if config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL == "" {
-			log.Fatalf("flag --%s cannot be empty", StellarCoreDBURLFlagName)
-		}
+	if config.Ingest && !config.EnableCaptiveCoreIngestion && config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL == "" {
+		log.Fatalf("flag --%s cannot be empty", StellarCoreDBURLFlagName)
 	}
 	app, err := NewApp(*config)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/init.go b/services/horizon/internal/init.go
index 4445ec7605..fa76eb1763 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/init.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/init.go
@@ -52,10 +52,12 @@ func mustInitHorizonDB(app *App) {
 
 func initExpIngester(app *App) {
 	var err error
+	var coreSession *db.Session
+	if !app.config.EnableCaptiveCoreIngestion {
+		coreSession = mustNewDBSession(app.config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL, ingest.MaxDBConnections, ingest.MaxDBConnections)
+	}
 	app.ingester, err = ingest.NewSystem(ingest.Config{
-		CoreSession: mustNewDBSession(
-			app.config.StellarCoreDatabaseURL, ingest.MaxDBConnections, ingest.MaxDBConnections,
-		),
+		CoreSession: coreSession,
 		HistorySession: mustNewDBSession(
 			app.config.DatabaseURL, ingest.MaxDBConnections, ingest.MaxDBConnections,
 		),