seahorse species and basic needs

Brazilian Reidi

H. zosterae a.k.a. dwarf seahorse

Last photo is of a baby dwarf seahorse.

this thread is great! i was just looking into starting a seahorse tank and have the perfect tank that i wanted to use but was unsure if the height of the tank would be ok. and it will work just fine for dwarf seahorses! now i can move onto the next step!
thanks again!!

I love this thread! What beautiful creatures. It gave me the chills. It makes me that much more determined to set up the perfect tank so I can get a pair.

Good thread...Sorry to hear that.

Hi Teresa I starded a thread yesturday and have been amazed at all the wounderful people willing to help. Thanks a lot!!

Great job Teresa!

A couple of quick notes folks may not be aware of:

H. erectus
Southern Variety: males may reach 8 to 9 inches. Females up to 7 to 8 inches. Very large bodied. More body mass than all the other species listed except H. abdominalis.
Northern Variety: Larger dorsal fin, shorter snout, typically smaller than Southern Variety. Very strong swimmer. Ideal temperature range for this variety 65 to 72 F.
Virtually all bred in the USA

H. barbouri
Continues to grow with age. Older specimens (5+ years) capable of reach 8 inches or more. Best breeding temperatures in captivity 68 to 72 F. Fry, small broods, among the easiest to rear but very slow growers.
Mostly bred in the USA or Australia.

H. kuda
Several different varieties clumped into this group by Project Seahorse. H. taeniopterus recognized by Australia as a separate species is grouped into this group. H. taeniopterus may reach 8 to 10 inches. Will often be listed as H. kuda.
Bred in the USA, Australia and Viet Nam. Specimens from Viet Nam have a poor history of longevity.

H. reidi
Continues to grow with age. Older specimens, 7 years old or more can reach 12 to 14 inches. Among the more difficult fry to rear.
Mostly bred in Sri Lanka and Brazil, very few USA bred. Most of available specimens are from Sri Lanka.

H. ingens
Very long tail compared to other seahorses. While they can reach 12 inches, another seahorse in the 8 inch range will seem just as large. Among the most difficult to rear. Fry are smaller than H. reidi.
Mostly bred in Mexico. Very few USA bred.

H. abdominalis
Fry are 2 to 3 times larger than H. erectus fry.
Mostly bred in Australia.

H. zosterae
Fry are relatively easy. To induce breeding, drop the temperature to the upper 60's or lower 70's depending upon where the current tank temperature is. Breed year round in the wild, even with temperatures as low as 65 F.
Due to the cost of breeding, wild caught specimens are significantly cheaper.

Most H. kuda, H. comes and H. kelloggi are imported from Viet Nam and have a poor history in captivity. H. comes from ORA will have a better track record. Currently no know USA breeders of H. kelloggi.

H. breviceps and H. abdominalis are almost always imported from Australia and have a very good history of longevity if conditions are met.

Dan

i went to the shop this weekend and when i got there they were just dropping off new stock and to my amazement they had 2 black sea horses i just had to have them as i had a tank at home just for them to be alone so starting a sea horse tank now

so i have a question as they were just delivered and i took them home and acclimatized them they have been in there since Saturday and have not eaten yet???
is this normal for them are they just stressed out or what gives im giving them baby brine Live
all my prams are correct

Ah, you've been bitten by the "IMustHaveItNow!!" bug!! I have to say, it's usually a fatal illness....for the animal, that is. Although I don't EVER recommend anyone impulse buy a seahorse, I know it happens. In your case, the fact that you had a tank available for the horses to live alone is a good start. With a little work and a LOT of research I'm sure we can pull you through. Before any of us can answer your question about feeding, we need a little more information from you.

First, what species of seahorse did you buy? "Black" seahorses can be anything....and as I'm sure you'll discover, color is never a guide for these guys. H. erectus, H. reidi, and H. barbouri are often sold as "black seahorses" in many local fish stores. You REALLY need to know the species...call your LFS and ask if you don't already know.

Second, were the horses captive bred or wild caught? This makes all the difference when feeding the animals. If they were wild caught, you have a serious uphill battle in front of you...one that is not often won. Wild caught animals will often only take live food, and more often than not they will ignore anything but the food they were eating in the wild. You mentioned already that they are ignoring the live baby brine. This could be a good thing, or not. If the horses are captive bred, they are probably just not used to equating lbbs as "food." Then again, most large seahorses won't get much nutrition from bbs anyway, as they are built to hunt and catch larger prey. If you have a wild caught pair of horses, I would suggest finding out if your LFS sells live ghost shrimp. There are online providers of this food, but you can't count on the shipping of online places when every day without food means starvation. Horses will occasionally go off their food for a day or two, and it's not unheard of that they ignore their groceries during acclimation, but you have to be very watchful during this time. Seahorse digestive systems are very simple; they lack a true stomach, and they will starve to death in a frighteningly short period of time. Ideally you should be feeding your horses small amounts 3 times a day when they start eating again.

If your horses are in fact captive bred, then most likely they have been raised on frozen mysis shrimp. Easy thing to find out. Buy some mysis, thaw it (drain the liquid) and let them try it. Most captive bred horses will go after mysis pretty quickly.

Also, an you, give us some info on the tank you have set up for these guys. Has the tank been cycled? What size tank is it, and what are your filtration methods??

Finally, I stongly suggest you get some research under your belt!! Start by reading the sticky threads on this website. Go through that, then come back and ask away! Oh, but make your own thread....we're trying to keep these stickies with just the basic info.

thanks for the info

this was my display tank bout 6 months ago it is a 2m hi top there is a bare minimal in the tank now a bit of live rock because a seabay is attached to it so could not take it out the tank is about 2 years old with regular water changes of course sump protein skimmer and all
was a reef tank.. not sure if they are captive or wild bred they are Reidi or something like that what i was told but you never know all prams are fine tested before I went to the lfs
anything else you need from me

sorry it is a bad pick but my cams battery is flat so cell phone cam

Dan, I was looking into H. Fuscus. Do you have any information on them? Any help greatly appreciated

Aside from Teresa's info which is correct.

H. fuscus appear as miniature versions oh H. kuda. Very social and very easy to keep. They have small broods of benthic fry which are very manageable. Most of what you find on the market are bred in the USA. Can be difficult to find at times as there are not many breeders of this species.

Dan

JC Germ,

The seahorses aren't eating baby brine shrimp because baby brine shrimp is insanely small for an adult seahorse of the larger species. Not only are they not going to recognize it as food, but they aren't even going to recognize it as being a reasonable size for a food item.
Adult brine shrimp are more in the range of acceptable food size, however, they aren't likely to be taken as food by wild caught seahorses, and they aren't really very nutritious. You need to get some real shrimp (mysis, ghost, glass, red, etc.) to feed. If they will take frozen mysis, excellent, but if they are wild caught, they may refuse and only take live shrimp. What was the LFS feeding?
If it has already been 2-3 days since they last ate, they need to eat ASAP. Seahorses cannot go long without food without damaging their ability to digest, initiating starvation.
Also, when you said there is a "seabay" attached to a rock in their tank, did you mean Sebae anemone? If so, that's a big problem. Seahorses have no problem getting killed by anemones, even the small nussance aiptasia anemones. It's the hitching and tail dragging behaviors that do them in.