seahorse species and basic needs

[dingus890]

Originally Posted by DanU
http:///forum/post/3184282
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
Dan, I was looking into H. Fuscus. Do you have any information on them? Any help greatly appreciated

 

[danu]

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

 

[ann83]

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.

 

[jc germ]

i don’t think that the lfs fed them as they just arrived at the shop when i bought them
and yes a sebay anemone is in the tank with them i have phoned every lfs in my area and not one of them has mysis shrimp what do i do now ???? i got adult brine and fed them not sure if they ate it though they where swimming around when i put it in as i watched from a distance

 

[teresaq]

Hi, I am going to ask a favor. you are posting in an information thread. could you move your posts to a thread of your own. The first the threads in this section are information threads to help people start a horse tank.
now. The anemone is a real threat to your horses. It has to go or it will make a meal of them.
you really need to get these horses eatting. They do not have a stomac so they need comstante food going through thier systems.

 

[rickybutler]

could I use my 14 gallon biocube to house a species of seahorse or pipefish? If yes which type and what are some acceptable tank mates and how should I change or modify my tank for a better environment. I am currently cultivation copepods in the 2nd chamber of my tank.
Biocube 14
2 ocellaris clowns
1 fire fish
1 red bali star
2 blue legged hermits
7 snails

 

[teresaq]

I, you could you start your own thread to get answeres to your questions. This is an information thread.
To start, no, a 14 gal is not lrg enough for most species of horses. Even Fuscus you not fit well.
I would love to post more, could you start a thread on this.
T