Giant Seahorses

[WetPetsHawaii]

Aloha from Hawaii....I am a diver/reef collector in Hawaii....the other day I was walking along a canal and the tide was pretty low because it was early in the morning.....I noticed movement in the water but could not see what it was very clearly because the canal water is more on the muddy/dirty side......I went to my truck and got my net and scooped it out and discovered that it was a large seahorse (10" head to tail) I kept walking the canal and found six more that day.....they actually live in brackish water salinity was .016 I never know there was a type of seahorse that could live in Brackish Water.....one of the males is pregnant....anyone know how to set up a plenium to raise these babies or do you think I should just release the babies back into the canal?

 

[ann83]

Post a pic and we'll I.D. the seahorse for you.
Seahorses don't live in brackish water long-term (with the possible exception of capensis), but they can tolerate variances to lower salinities.
You cannot release the babies without proper clearance after removing the parents from the water. Once the seahorses have been exposed to anything outside the water (your aquarium, biological filtration, live rock, other livestock, other water sources, etc.) they pose a hazard to the seahorses in their natural environment and cannot be release - it is in fact illegal most places.
The way you raise the babies will vary depending on species, so please post a pic. Most likely however, you will need cultures of rotifers AND copepods, and be prepared to hatch small strain baby brine shrimp from decapped eggs. These foods will need to be enriched with selco. An airline or sponge filter in a 10 gallon tank, bucket, large fishbowl, large jar, etc. are the simplest setups, greenwater helps sometimes, and you will want to watch out for hydroids and keep fenbendizole on hand along with formalin and an ammonia blocker. Have a look through the propagation and rearing forum on www.seahorse.org and at the seahorse fry rearing article in the library on that site.
Again, pics would help.