Spotted Seahorse

the fish profile

Spotted Seahorse

This marine aquarium fish is known as Spotted Seahorse and the correct latin name is Hippocampus kuda. It belongs to the Seahorse family. (e) Origin of this fish is Indo-Pacific. (e)

Character and suggestions regarding care

This is a peaceful Seahorse.

Spotted Seahorse can grow up to 30 cm what is approximately 11 inches. 1 specimen basically needs at least 3600cm2 of water surface which is approximately 558 square inch. It is recommended to raise this species in fish tanks that are large. (e) Medium aquariums have at least 113 Litres (30 US Gallons). Large aquariums have at least 265 Litres (70 US Gallons). Capacity of very large aquariums is at least 700 Litres (185 US Gallons).

It is difficult to keep the Spotted Seahorse fish. (e) The specific gravity (SG) should be between 1,020 and 1,025, the temperature between 23°C (73.4°F) and 26°C (78.8°F). The recommended pH level is between 8.0 and 8.3 since marine fish are used to these levels in general.

You should have sea grasses and live rocks in the tank if you want to keep this Seahorse. Corals are not a good choice for a Seahorse tank. Seahorses use to hook on aquarium decoration, plants and everything what stands still, so you should have only such thinks in your tank which are strongly fixed to the bottom or rocks. The best tank mates are Seahorses. You should not keep them with other fish.

This Seahorse is a carnivore, so it should eat food based on meat; such as shrimps - the best are mysis shrimp, mosquito larvae and larval fishes, daphnias, zooplankton. There are sometimes problems with feeding, because they do not always eat other than live food.

This species is able to breed in the tank. Maybe you have heard that Seahorses have strange breeding habits. Not the female is pregnant, but the male. You know which is the male and female by the size of the belly. If it is small, then it?s a female. The larger belly is the male’s. H. Kuda is able to breed three times a year. The best is to buy Seahorses breed in the tank. They are more hardy than the ones from the sea. But do not mix fish from the nature and fish bred in the tank. Otherwise the caught fish might bring some disease into the tank.

There might be problems with bubbles in the males body and here are instruction what to do:

If he has trapped air, he will try to hang on to something for his dear life so that he does not float around on top. This is an easy problem to fix though. You have to grab the male seahorse and position him so that he is not moving around too much in your hands. Once he has settled down and curled into a ball, move his tail aside. The last step is to push up from the bottom of his pouch so that all the air gets to the top and then push the sides of his pouch. Lots of bubbles will come out and you might sometimes hear a sound come with it. To ensure that most if not all the bubbles have been removed, let go of the seahorse but keep your hand below him as he falls. If he sinks, you got all the bubbles out. If he is still floating, you have more bubbles to remove. Once he sinks into your hands, take him to a favourite attaching place and let him hold on to it. He will become a lot more timid for a few hours and might refuse food, but he will be up and running again later on in the day. He just needs some time to rest.

The original article can be found here: http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_Hippocampus_kuda.php

Spotted Seahorse picture no. 1

Spotted Seahorse picture no. 2

Spotted Seahorse picture no. 3

Spotted Seahorse picture no. 4

Spotted Seahorse picture no. 5



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Document modified on Wed Jan 16 19:13:02 UTC 2008
Document created on Sat Dec 15 11:38:01 UTC 2007
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