Survival and Growth of Captive Reared Juvenile Seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) Fed Live Feeds and Fishmeal

Abstract

Pond and aquarium keeping of seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) is challenging because of their feeding habits. Although seahorse is a purely active predator, we successfully raised laboratory- produced young on inert feed and evaluated the effects of readily-available cost-effective food items on their growth and survival. Two-month old laboratory bred juveniles were fed live Artemia, live Mysids, minced fishmeal, or a combination of Artemia and Mysids (1:1). Juveniles fed the combination diet reached the highest wet weight (1.93±0.31g), specific growth rate (2.21±0.07), and survival (96±3.0%), significantly (p<0.05) higher than juveniles fed fishmeal (1.42±0.12 g, 2.08±0.03, and 76±3.0%, respectively). Although there were insignificant differences in growth and survival between juveniles fed the combination and those fed Mysids or Artemia, the combi- nation diet was best. This easily available feed can be used in ornamental aquaria.