ichthyogeek
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1) I'm not an expert. That's user vlangel and others.
2) A lot of this is going to regurgitated content from the net. Also, READ THE STICKIES!!
3) I am no longer a high schooler. I graduated college this past Spring, so I'm OLD now. Some of my information is outdated, and I'm sure somebody will come along to correct me.
Now, you're a high schooler who wants to keep seahorses. They're cool! They change colors! They can move their eyes everywhere! Who wouldn't want to keep them?????
That's awesome! I'm glad you found a fish you'd like to keep! As a high achieving high school student, I was in the same boat! I wanted seahorses incredibly badly. Heck, the 29 gallon tank I had was designed (rockwork, skimmer, lights, etc.) specifically for horses! Before I bought the horses though, I did a LOT of internet searches to figure out if seahorses were the right pet for me. After an intense year of googling everything under the sun for Hippocampus erectus and H. reidi, I realized:they weren't. Here are four things to consider if you want to keep seahorses as a minor.
1) Time: Look. As a high schooler, I was run completely ragged. I swam competitively, was a band student (which also had competitions), took all but one of the AP courses that my school offered (9/10) with passing (>3 scores) in almost all (8/9) of them, was a straight A student (89.5 in AP physics counted as an A), participated in quiz bowl, had piano and violin lessons/competitions, AND kept fish tanks. It paid off (maybe), and I got into a REALLY good university. But at the end of the day, it was not healthy, and I barely had time to sleep (maybe that's why I'm so short?), and would often neglect my fish tanks as a result (a day or two without feedings, monthly instead of weekly water changes, etc) . From my research, seahorses aren't going to be okay with that.
So really ask yourself: do you have time to defrost and feed mysis shrimp or hatch brine shrimp to your fish every morning and evening? How about doing water changes on the weekends? Will you be able to arrange for somebody to sit for your stable if you're ever gone say, for a weekend conference? Or even just trips away from home? What about extra time if you need to nurse a horse back after it gets sick? Do you have time to wake up and eat breakfast (more than just a cereal bar you grab and snarf down during 2nd period....) in your morning schedule? What about weaning a fish that has gone off diet? Think about it. If the answer to that is no, then maybe think about if you want to change your schedule, or if you want to pick a different fish.
2) Food: The gold standard for non-dwarf seahorses nowadays is mysis shrimp. Specifically PE and Hikari Mysis. PE tends to be larger, while Hikari tends to be smaller. For dwarves, you'll want freshly hatched brine shrimp (24 hours after adding them into the water). In the weird thing we call life, seahorses didn't get blessed with being able to have fat reserves, nor with the ability to eat non frozen/live foods. Their mouths aren't designed for that, so you're going to have to be willing to provide high quality (see attached files on mysis shrimp) foods. Other foods, such as amphipods and copepods may be of use, as are 1 day old guppy fry for the larger seahorses (H. kuda, H. abdominalis, etc.). IF you cannot source these foods, then you either have to 1) culture them yourself (a further time problem), or 2) give up on the idea of horses. It's generally concluded that brine shrimp don't have enough nutrition to provide a stable monodiet that mysis shrimp can provide, ALTHOUGH they are useful in helping wean moody horses back to eating frozen.
3) Medications: Think of seahorses as immunocompromised individuals. Their immune systems are not very well off. That's relatively okay in a giant ocean where disease causing pathogens are highly diluted, but in a warm, nutrient filled tank? Vibrio and other bacteria are going to multiply like nobody's business. Your best preventatives will be keeping the tank colder (68 F - 75 F seems to be a generally agreed upon range) to slow down pathogen reproduction, running a skimmer to remove pathogens and nutrients from the water column, and potentially running a UV sterilizer as well (this last option always seemed fairly optional to me in my research).
While this also falls under the time category, are you going to be able to take the time to nurse a sick seahorse back to full health? What about getting the necessary medications required? Some medications (such as diamox/acetazolamide for gas bubble disease) are going to be incredibly hard to find and will need a prescription. Do you know an aquatic vet who is willing to prescribe the drug for you? While medicating your fish has always been something relegated to the hobbyist, with seahorses, you're going to need to research the disease and its cure, and then source the medication. If the medication needs a prescription, you're going to have to go to the vet, provide pictures of the fish, and argue your case for a prescription since most vets are not aquatically trained.
Closing notes:
I am not you, and every person's experience's will be difficult. But for most people, grade (K-12) school is a tough time regardless of who you are. For the sake of the fish, ask yourself: "am I prepared to do this?" If so, I wish you best fishes, and to go forth and conquer! If not, then rest easy and take comfort in the fact that you are acting in the best interest of the fish by not buying them.
2) A lot of this is going to regurgitated content from the net. Also, READ THE STICKIES!!
3) I am no longer a high schooler. I graduated college this past Spring, so I'm OLD now. Some of my information is outdated, and I'm sure somebody will come along to correct me.
Now, you're a high schooler who wants to keep seahorses. They're cool! They change colors! They can move their eyes everywhere! Who wouldn't want to keep them?????
That's awesome! I'm glad you found a fish you'd like to keep! As a high achieving high school student, I was in the same boat! I wanted seahorses incredibly badly. Heck, the 29 gallon tank I had was designed (rockwork, skimmer, lights, etc.) specifically for horses! Before I bought the horses though, I did a LOT of internet searches to figure out if seahorses were the right pet for me. After an intense year of googling everything under the sun for Hippocampus erectus and H. reidi, I realized:they weren't. Here are four things to consider if you want to keep seahorses as a minor.
1) Time: Look. As a high schooler, I was run completely ragged. I swam competitively, was a band student (which also had competitions), took all but one of the AP courses that my school offered (9/10) with passing (>3 scores) in almost all (8/9) of them, was a straight A student (89.5 in AP physics counted as an A), participated in quiz bowl, had piano and violin lessons/competitions, AND kept fish tanks. It paid off (maybe), and I got into a REALLY good university. But at the end of the day, it was not healthy, and I barely had time to sleep (maybe that's why I'm so short?), and would often neglect my fish tanks as a result (a day or two without feedings, monthly instead of weekly water changes, etc) . From my research, seahorses aren't going to be okay with that.
So really ask yourself: do you have time to defrost and feed mysis shrimp or hatch brine shrimp to your fish every morning and evening? How about doing water changes on the weekends? Will you be able to arrange for somebody to sit for your stable if you're ever gone say, for a weekend conference? Or even just trips away from home? What about extra time if you need to nurse a horse back after it gets sick? Do you have time to wake up and eat breakfast (more than just a cereal bar you grab and snarf down during 2nd period....) in your morning schedule? What about weaning a fish that has gone off diet? Think about it. If the answer to that is no, then maybe think about if you want to change your schedule, or if you want to pick a different fish.
2) Food: The gold standard for non-dwarf seahorses nowadays is mysis shrimp. Specifically PE and Hikari Mysis. PE tends to be larger, while Hikari tends to be smaller. For dwarves, you'll want freshly hatched brine shrimp (24 hours after adding them into the water). In the weird thing we call life, seahorses didn't get blessed with being able to have fat reserves, nor with the ability to eat non frozen/live foods. Their mouths aren't designed for that, so you're going to have to be willing to provide high quality (see attached files on mysis shrimp) foods. Other foods, such as amphipods and copepods may be of use, as are 1 day old guppy fry for the larger seahorses (H. kuda, H. abdominalis, etc.). IF you cannot source these foods, then you either have to 1) culture them yourself (a further time problem), or 2) give up on the idea of horses. It's generally concluded that brine shrimp don't have enough nutrition to provide a stable monodiet that mysis shrimp can provide, ALTHOUGH they are useful in helping wean moody horses back to eating frozen.
3) Medications: Think of seahorses as immunocompromised individuals. Their immune systems are not very well off. That's relatively okay in a giant ocean where disease causing pathogens are highly diluted, but in a warm, nutrient filled tank? Vibrio and other bacteria are going to multiply like nobody's business. Your best preventatives will be keeping the tank colder (68 F - 75 F seems to be a generally agreed upon range) to slow down pathogen reproduction, running a skimmer to remove pathogens and nutrients from the water column, and potentially running a UV sterilizer as well (this last option always seemed fairly optional to me in my research).
While this also falls under the time category, are you going to be able to take the time to nurse a sick seahorse back to full health? What about getting the necessary medications required? Some medications (such as diamox/acetazolamide for gas bubble disease) are going to be incredibly hard to find and will need a prescription. Do you know an aquatic vet who is willing to prescribe the drug for you? While medicating your fish has always been something relegated to the hobbyist, with seahorses, you're going to need to research the disease and its cure, and then source the medication. If the medication needs a prescription, you're going to have to go to the vet, provide pictures of the fish, and argue your case for a prescription since most vets are not aquatically trained.
Closing notes:
I am not you, and every person's experience's will be difficult. But for most people, grade (K-12) school is a tough time regardless of who you are. For the sake of the fish, ask yourself: "am I prepared to do this?" If so, I wish you best fishes, and to go forth and conquer! If not, then rest easy and take comfort in the fact that you are acting in the best interest of the fish by not buying them.
