Pauline Walsh Jacobson, USA
Info
Hippocampus jayakari Boulenger, 1900
Found in seagrass beds, e.g. Halophila spp. Ovoviviparous.
The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch which is found under the tail.
The spiny seahorse is found in the wild in so-called boulder-algae habitats and on certain sponges down to a depth of around 20 meters. The IUCN Red List lists this animal with the reference to a usual water depth of 2-23 meters.
Rudie H. Kuiter attributes the low distribution of this seahorse to two explanations:
Juvenile seahorses cling to the bottom substrate immediately after leaving the male breeding fold. Adult animals, on the other hand, do not drift with loose plant parts.
Seahorses are not beginner animals and, in our opinion, should be kept in a species tank as they would not get enough food in a community aquarium. The fish get to the food faster than the less well-swimming seahorses.
Depth ot 20 meters.
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
You can download the minimum requirements for keeping seahorses (in accordance with EC Regulation 338/97) from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as a PDF here: https://meerwasser-lexikon.de/downloads/BfN_Mindestanforderung_haltung_seepferdchen_hippocampus.pdf
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
Found in seagrass beds, e.g. Halophila spp. Ovoviviparous.
The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch which is found under the tail.
The spiny seahorse is found in the wild in so-called boulder-algae habitats and on certain sponges down to a depth of around 20 meters. The IUCN Red List lists this animal with the reference to a usual water depth of 2-23 meters.
Rudie H. Kuiter attributes the low distribution of this seahorse to two explanations:
Juvenile seahorses cling to the bottom substrate immediately after leaving the male breeding fold. Adult animals, on the other hand, do not drift with loose plant parts.
Seahorses are not beginner animals and, in our opinion, should be kept in a species tank as they would not get enough food in a community aquarium. The fish get to the food faster than the less well-swimming seahorses.
Depth ot 20 meters.
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
You can download the minimum requirements for keeping seahorses (in accordance with EC Regulation 338/97) from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as a PDF here: https://meerwasser-lexikon.de/downloads/BfN_Mindestanforderung_haltung_seepferdchen_hippocampus.pdf
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
