What are the differences between the male and female kelloggi seahores?

trikonreefs

trikonreefs

New Member
I recently have picked up two two kelloggi seahorses one being all black and the other an off-yellow almost white. I'm trying to determine if i have a male/female or two different sp. of hippocampus. considering i got them from petcrap it could be possible... any help would be nice. I could also post a few pics of them if that would behelpful.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Welcome to SWF
Pics would definitely help....need pics of the fron to see if there are pouches too
WHat type of tank do you have them in? What's with them?
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
Pictures are a must.
Please review the deworming thread at the top of this forum.
Kellogi horses do not have the best track record. They are usually net or pen raised, which is pretty much the same as wild caught.
What size tank are these in as they are rather lrg horses that can grow to 11 inches . What temp are you keeping them at??
T
 
trikonreefs

trikonreefs

New Member
top two pics are of the "black" one the next are of the white one. they are currently in a 25 long quarentine/spec. tank that has been up and running for well over a year and has TONS of live food for them to grub on. I've been giving them (i know) frozen mysis i soaked in oyester feast for added nutrition. they feed on this like crazy as this is what was fed to them at petcer.
The bottom pic is of my dsply tank. just thought id thro that in so you can see that i am by no means a noob and just picked these up because i thought they were "cute". I put a bit of thought into it before i got these critters.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
the top one look kellogi and the light one looks kuda or redi.
You dont plan on keeping then in that display tank do you?? There are corals in there that sting and will kill them. Go over the compatibility chart at the top if this forum.
Temp for horses should be around 74 degrees to keep bacterial infections at bay. Horses, especially wild caught are easy to get infections like vibro.
The black on is female. but cant tell in the light one.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I see a few issues...if the horsesare in the display tank you have pictured, the bubble coral and the frogspawn are issues.....they will sting the horses
What else do you have in there?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
To answer your question...the female has a tummy tucked in toward the tail...look at your black one to see why Teresa said female....a male will have a smooth line from tummy to tail..the pouch is there and gives them that appearance.
Meowzer..that is not the SH tank...it is a different tank to show us He/she is not a novice.
 
trikonreefs

trikonreefs

New Member
Okay thank you. yea, the disply is not for the horsies. no no. They are in/going to a spc. only tank that will have only nice seahorse "toys". those anemones pictured would make an instant meal out of them. without hesitation. nom nom nom. especially the bubble, he takes in a few large silversides each feeding. he's scary i think.
so other than the tummies what other differances between them? i've read that they are dimorphic but haven't found much about it. I just got more of the "white" one and will post.
So they do look like different spc. then? and are they male and female?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrikonReefs http:///forum/thread/386109/what-are-the-differences-between-the-male-and-female-kelloggi-seahores#post_3389463
Okay thank you. yea, the disply is not for the horsies. no no. They are in/going to a spc. only tank that will have only nice seahorse "toys". those anemones pictured would make an instant meal out of them. without hesitation. nom nom nom. especially the bubble, he takes in a few large silversides each feeding. he's scary i think.
so other than the tummies what other differances between them? i've read that they are dimorphic but haven't found much about it. I just got more of the "white" one and will post.
So they do look like different spc. then? and are they male and female?
Sorry...I must have missed that line....
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
need more of a side view, but the white one looks female. Do you know how old they are ?? they look young and still may develop a pouch.
As far species a couple of good head profiles would help. I am not good telling other then erectus.
If you look thru some of my post, you will see some of my fry that are just developing thier pouches. they are about 22 weeks old.
T
I have read post from one of the owners of a seahorse aquaculture and He has had a few cases of females turning into males, even after the females had eggs. Though I dont think it happens very often.
 
trikonreefs

trikonreefs

New Member
I'm not sure of their age. They are pretty small tho, Like two inches from tip of the tail to nose. The pics of the white one are of the same horse just different views. can you tell the age by their size? and i'll try to get a clear pic of their faces and post. Are there any other defining characteristics aside from the pouch ie; color, size, spine or ring counts?
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
species ID is always hard for me except erectus lol. I am going to pm a couple of members and ask them to take a look.
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Haha! Thanks for those pictures! Those are by far the best photos to show the sexual differences. I get it! My larger is definitely female, the younger one is still a little confusing. It only gives me it's back everytime I get close enough to look!
 
S

saxman

Guest
I'd say that the dark SH is a kelloggi or at least a kelloggi hybrid (there have been a lot of those around out of SE Asia and Sri Lanka).
The lighter SH doesn't QUITE say "kelloggi" to me because of its rather prominant eye spine when compared to the darker SH, but the snout length (fairly short) and coronet are very close to that of a kelloggi, but from what I can tell (the pix are kinda fuzzy), it has more tail rings than the darker SH, but that could be because they show up better due to coloration. Then again, if they're hybrids, they'll be tuff to ID. At this point I'd have to go with kelloggi or MAYBE kelloggi x "?". They aren't kuda, as they lack the backswept coronet and their snouts are too short. Also, kuda lack both eye and cheek spines and are smoother in general.
The SH look young, so once they get a bit more size on them, they should be easier to ID.
HTH
 
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