How to Care For Baby Seahorses
Baby seahorses are much like other fish, they just look different. Although you will find over 35 different species of seahorses, only a few of these are used in aquariums. The seahorse is a vertebrate; they will grow anywhere from 6 to 12 inches long, depending on the species and the environment they live in. You can find seahorses of all different colors, including red, blue, yellow, black and you can even find spotted seahorses.
Feeding seahorses isn’t all that easy, they will eat frozen food but are not very receptive to it. To ensure that your seahorse has a balanced diet you will also want to feed it live foods, these include foods such as plankton, river shrimp and more. You will want to do some research to find out exactly what you will need to feed a seahorse as far as live foods.
Caring for baby seahorses is a little more difficult than caring for other species of fish. While seahorse babies are small, you will need to have a tank with no filtration. Since you won’t have a filter, you will need to change out at least 10% of the water on a daily basis. As the father is the one that gives birth to the young and cares for them, babies should be kept with him in the same tank, but change the temperature to about 78F.
To keep from harming your baby seahorses you will need to make sure there is no algae in the tank, plus you should use a sponge to clean the sides of the tank on a regular basis. Other requirements include keeping light in the tank for about 14 hours a day; you will want to give small feedings over this period of time.
When your baby seahorses are small you will want to feed them plankton and Artemia nauplii, the latter has the nutrition they will require for the first six weeks of their lives. For a time you will want to avoid feeding them brine shrimp because the shells may kill the babies.
Some of the health problems that you may encounter when raising seahorses include gas, fin rot and more. When a seahorse has gas it will appear as if the pouch area of the body is bloated. Fin rot will usually be most apparent on the back fin of a seahorse. If you notice fin rot you will want to treat it as soon as possible to avoid losing your seahorse.
Another problem that seahorses have are parasites known as sea louse; this parasite will pierce the skin and suck the blood from a seahorse. If the seahorse becomes too irritated by this parasite they will refuse to eat and end up dying. It is best to remove sea louse as soon as they become evident. To do this you will need to use a pair of tweezers.
Ich can be another problem with seahorses, as well as the rest of the population in your tank. If a seahorse has ich it can cause respiratory problems and eventually death. To get rid of ich you will need to use a commercial treatment for the water.
Buying seahorses so that you can breed them and get baby seahorses is a tempting idea, but these fish require a lot of care and may not be the best alternative for everyone. If you do decide to raise seahorses, make sure that you do plenty of research and know what you are doing first.