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Seahorse Seahorse is a small animal that lives, ironically, in the sea. It is a marine fish belonging to the genus Hippocampus of the family Syngnathidae. Seahorses are so named for their equine appearance.
For almost many aquarium hobbyists will keep seahorses as pets, seahorses collected from the wild tend to fare poorly in a home aquarium. They will eat only live foods such as ghost shrimp and are prone to stress in an aquarium, which lowers the efficiency of their immune systems and makes them susceptible to disease. Seahorses are less likely to carry diseases which survive better in captivity. They will eat prepackaged, frozen mysis shrimp that are readily available from aquarium stores, and they do not experience the shock and stress of being taken out of the wild and placed in a small aquarium. Captive-bred seahorses survive better than wild seahorses and they are more expensive, and take no toll on wild populations. Seahorses should be kept in an aquarium to themselves, or with compatible tank-mates. Seahorses are slow feeders, and in an aquarium with fast, aggressive feeders, the seahorses will be edged out in the competition for food. Special care should be given to ensure that all individuals obtain enough food at feeding times. Seahorses can co-exist with many species of shrimp and other bottom-feeding creatures. Fish from the goby family also make good tank-mates. Some species are especially dangerous to the slow-moving seahorses and should be avoided completely: eels, tangs, triggerfish, squid, octopus, and sea anemones. They are among the most graceful and intriguing animals of the ocean and their strictly monogamous lifestyle breaks one of the golden rules of biology - it is the male rather than the female who is left holding the baby.
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