Are All Sea Horses Salt Water?

[Loopee]

Is every single sea horse saltwater?

If so is there a fish that is like a sea horse thats Fresh Water?

,Thanks

 

[Lynden]

I couldn't name any though I'm pretty sure some are at least brackish.

However, there are some freshwater pipefishes; these are feasible to be kept, but most need live foods. As per water conditions they are fairly adaptable.

[URL="http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=359"]http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=359[/URL]

 

[chrissaysyes]

Look into barbour's seahorse (Hippocampus barbouri) and especially the hedgehog seahorse (Hippocampus spinosissimus). I'm fairly sure theyre both brackish seahorses. Like lynden said, most sh's referred to as "freshwater seahorses" are indeed pipe fish. The African Pipefish being one of the most popular I believe. Blickedy blam:

Oh and btw, if you're looking to do a seahorse in freshwater because you think it will be easier or less work than a saltwater horsie then dont bother. For starters, you're more than likely going to find that the closest thing to a freshwater seahorse is a brackish horse...if you're going to go brackish you may as well go marine. Secondly, horses like lots of hitching posts and places to play and hang on to, the best thing for that is plant-life...planted tanks are much more complicated and time consuming than a basic marine seahorse tank IMO. Speaking of plants, seahorses usually enjoy live foods, a lot of those foods enjoy plants as well, you could always breed brine shrimp and add them to fresh or brackish water...they may live long enough for the horses to munch them up...but in a marine environment horses usually have copods and amphipods to munch on via live rock or chaeto algae. It's much much easier to maintain macro algaes such as chaeto or caulerpa than it is to maintain a planted tank. Then there's the process of actually finding the seahorses...you're going to have to find a breeder who breeds whichever fresh/brackish horses you're going to want to add...unless you're lucky (even with marine seahorses) then you're going to have to pay shipping...it's not uncommon to pay $50/60 for just one horse. I would imagine you'd have to pay a lot more for what you're looking for. Just some things to think about. If you really want horses and the only thing keeping you from saltwater horses is a fear of a saltwater tank being too difficult to maintain, I can assure you that a basic, well-maintained, saltwater aquarium for seahorses would not be as difficult as you may think as long as you have the time to keep up with it. God that was a rant.

 

[bitfishy]

check out www.seahorse.org. Everyone's really nice on it and what they don't know about seahorses etc etc

 

[pleder]

There are no fresh water seahorses. There aren't even really any brackish seahorses. (barbs and spins included)

There is a seahorse from Southern Africa Capenisis which lives in an area where many rivers flow into the sea and the salinity is lower, but at the depths the seahorses commonly live the water is not quite brackish. They are an endangered species (the only seahorse that is) and need temps in the 55F range in order to live. They do best in bare bottom tanks as they like there tail to be in contact with the surface and the sand can open small sores and leave openings for infection.

HTH

 

[Musho3210]

i disagree on the planted freshwater tanks, having simple easy to care for plants, i have a generally 0 maintanance tank, just water changes once a month, filter cleaning under tap water (plants do all the biological work so my bacteria levels are near zilch) once every 1-2 months, i feed my fish however much whenever i want to without needing to worry about much since the plants are such good filters.

And java moss can hold a good amount of micro life, as well as being an extremely hardy plant, mine doubles about once every 2-3 months.

About the brine shrimp for saltwater, theres daphnia for fresh.

But i wouldnt know much about keeping seahorses or about freshwater ones, just wanted to place my experience on the table to help you choose, as everything is, everyone has different tanks and different experiences in the same things.

 

[Lateral Line]

The title of this thread attracted me after I read this. I know the Thames is tidal in it's lower reaches.

 

[smithrc]

The title of this thread attracted me after I read this. I know the Thames is tidal in it's lower reaches.

I was just about to quote the same article

 

[pleder]

The Thames is saline and the article does list places where the seahorse have been found, all are salt water.

 

[andywg]

The Thames is saline and the article does list places where the seahorse have been found, all are salt water.

Brackish water has salt in it, so surely that is saline too...

There are species of sea horse which are estuarine in nature though they are likely too be strong brackish (1.014 and upwards).

 

[pleder]

Really name 3 besides capensis. 34 recognized species, name three that live in water below 1.021.

Capensis are also typically found at depths below where the fresh water mixes with the salt water as the fresh water rises to the top, much as it does in the Thames. Infact the Thames is fed by the North Sea which is at full salinity. So . . .

Name 3.


Here is a great place for you to look. Project Seahorse ID guide

 

[andywg]

Infact the Thames is fed by the North Sea which is at full salinity. So . . .

The Thames flow into the North Sea, not vice versa. Thus the association is described that the Thames flows into the North Sea. Honestly, have you ever heard anyone say that the Atlantic feeds the Amazon?

Plus, that area where the tide of the North Sea will affect water height and the salinity will be a mix of sea water coming in and fresh water flowing out. This mix of water which has a greater salinity than freshwater but lower than full marine is called brackish.

Name 3.

Ok, estuarine sea horses according to your link are the below. The scientific data does not state the SG that they are found in, however it does show that sea horses are found in estuarine areas, those where freshwater rivers flow into the seas and oceans.

H. abdominalis
H capensis (tolerates salinity of 1-59 parts per thousand, making it extremely euryhaline)
H. hippocampus
H. kuda (Noted as living in lower reaches of rivers and inhabiting brackish waters)
H. reidi

And those with the habitat unknown

H. algricus
H. fisheri
H. lichtensteinii
H. mohnikei
H. sindonis

So based on the above, your statement of:

There aren't even really any brackish seahorses

Appears to be contradicted by the scientific descriptions of two sea horses that can certainly inhabit brackish areas, another 3 which inhabit estuarine areas and 5 whose distribution is not currently known, and thus on whom it is difficult to pass judgement.