Home Aquaria and Seahorse Care

Note: Keeping seahorses alive and well is extremely difficult, even for professionals. Seahorses require live food, and are prone to disease (see seahorse.org's pathology section for some sobering pictures). Only the most experienced aquariarists should consider the prospect. Finally, there are serious conservation issues. For more information, see Project Seahorse's page "Your actions can help ensure that trade is sustainable," or Special Topics, Seahorse conservation on this site.

Gateway sites | Aquarium care | Buying seahorses

Gateway sites

Seahorse.org is a large and multifaceted home aquarium site, billing itself as the "Internet's number one source for information about seahorses and related syngnathid species." Highlights include Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Discussion List, and photo gallery.

Aquarium care

Amazon. Seahorses: A Complete Pet Owners Manual, by Frank Indiviglio. "Everything about history, care, nutrition, handling, and behavior."

"It's Rodeo time, Hippocampus erectus style!" by Ed Curran, from Splash (Milwaukee Aquarium Society "Aquarticles"). The article recounts how the author managed to grow and breed seahorses in his aquarium.

"For me this has been a lesson in patience and chances, for I cannot give up so easily if a fish does not spawn in my time frame, or for the quick accumulation of b.a.p. points. This has truly been my most exciting spawn to date."

Amazon. Seahorses: Conservation and Care by Neil Garrick-Maidment, 1997. Amazon reviewer says "This book should be required for anyone considering the purchase of seahorses."

Review by someone at the British Marine Life Study Society. Detailed review. Highly recommended.

Feeding tips from Aquatics Unlimited, submitted by Jim Kostich.

Amazon. The Complete Guide to Dwarf Seahorses in the Aquarium by Alisa Wagner Abbott.

Short positive review by Marc, on Sygnathid.org: "Read it cover to cover in 2 /2 hours, couldn't put it down"

Amazon. Seahorses: Conservation & Care by Neil Garrick-Maidonent.

Amazon. Practical Fishkeeper's Guide to Seahorses by Neil Garrick-Maidment.

"About Seahorses" by Thierry Schmidt, France, for Seascope. This article talks about how to keep seahorses in aquaria. There is an interesting photo of a male lined sea horse giving birth.

Buying seahorses

Seahorse Australia, a "specialist farm producing seahorses for public and domestic aquariums," has a list of Australian species . Their aquarium information includes a page on companion fish (fish that won't eat the seahorses).

Ocean Rider, Hawaii, specializes in selling seahorses. Includes photos from hobbyists, conservations information and sea horse care. They have a page on traditional medicine (seahorses are nature's Cialis), with sophistry in support of the practice. No doubt it makes them money. I hear rhino horns work even better...

Sea horses for sale at the Hitching Post.

Marine Depot Live seahorses search.