The Proper Care and Maintenance of the Dwarf Seahorse
A dwarf seahorse has its name for appropriate reasons. This member of the seahorse family only ever grows to about 2 inches in size. Its miniature stature is, in fact, what many dwarf seahorse owners love about it. Like anything that is tiny, the dwarf seahorse’s miniature features fascinate us.
The dwarf seahorse adds not only its small stature to this wonder, but also its color. Most dwarf seahorses are albinos—all white and almost transparent looking in parts. (This is not their only color. Some can also be tan or orange.) Also sometimes members of the dwarf seahorse species will have cirri—these little hair like growths that look somewhat like algae.
Tank Requirements
If you are going to keep dwarf seahorses as pets, then you need to make sure to get the right kind of tank. These are very small creatures and like most small creatures, they aren’t comfortable in large open spaces. In the wild, dwarf seahorses hide in eelgrass or in seaweed for protection.
You should keep this in mind when getting a tank for your dwarf seahorses. Ideally, you will get them a five or ten gallon tank so that they don’t have too much room. If you have your dwarf seahorses in a larger area, you should make sure to offer them lots of tall sea grass to hide in.
A further problem with large tanks is that dwarf seahorses are not good swimmers. The filter for large tanks will toss them about. The smaller tank allows you to use a sponge filter instead, which keeps the water relatively undisturbed.
Prepping the Tank
Before you buy your seahorses, you want to make sure that you cycle the tank with ammonia in order to get the water prepared for them. This process takes a couple of weeks, so don’t get your seahorses at the same time or you will likely have a bunch of dead seahorses on your hands.
You can also prep the tank by adding shrimp.
Food
One of the most time consuming aspects of taking care of seahorses of any variety is in the feeding. Dwarves, like all other seahorses, require that you feed them live brine twice daily. To do so, you will need to keep a special brine-hatching tank so that you can have a convenient source of live brine. A good pet store should be able to describe how to set this up. (Many seahorse aficionados simply convert a large plastic soda bottle into their brine hatchery. You can find instructions for this by doing a search for a “homemade brine hatchery”.)
You should expect to spend fifteen minutes every day preparing dwarf seahorse food. You also need to be aware that seahorses are very fussy about their food. You need to feed them at least once daily or you are likely to no longer have any seahorses left. In addition, you need to be careful how much you feed them. If you overfeed them, the left over brine will create waste in your tank that could spread disease. If you underfeed them, your seahorses could starve. Therefore, it is a tricky proposition requiring your careful attention.
Also, be aware that if you go on any trips it may be difficult to find someone to take over the feeding duties. This is not as simple as setting out some food for a cat.
Breeding Seahorses
One more consideration for those who would like to have dwarf seahorses is their short life cycle. Typically, dwarf seahorses only live about a year and a half. This means that if you are going to keep them for a prolonged period, you will want to breed them so that your dank doesn’t die out.
If you are willing to put in the time, however, you will find it a joy having and displaying these unusual creatures.