Hippocampus Kuda

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Paradise3

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Common Name: Common Seahorse, Spotted Seahorse, Yellow Seahorse, Black Seahorse, Vietnamese Seahorse.
Latin NameHippocampus kuda
Family: Syngnathidae
Maximum Size: 6in(15cm)
Natural Range: Indo-Pacific.
Minimum Tank Size: 21G(100L) bare minimum but 26G(120L) is much more preferred.
pH: 8.1-8.4
Salinity: 1.025-1.036 but 1.032 is the general accepted Salinity.
Temperature: 22C-25C(71F-77F)
Feeding: As with all seahorses, H. kuda must be fed live or vitamin enriched frozen mysis shrimp a minimum of 4 times a day. Brine shrimp lacks the nutrition they need and they slowly starve when being fed Brine Shrimp only.
Reef Safe: No. Not because they themselves will attack corals/anemones but because the corals/anemones may attack them if they try to hitch onto them. The only corals that should be kept with seahorses are non-stinging corals such as mushroom corals or zoanthid corals.
 
Colour: H. kuda range in color, they can be anywhere from black to orange to yellow and, very rarely, even white. Black colouration is usually accompanied by silvery-white markings and yellow specimens are sometimes spotted with red, orange or black. Like most seahorses, H. kuda possess the ability to change their colour to match their surroundings.
Care Notes: Seahorses in general are very difficult to keep alive as they need very clean water and a strict water-change regime. They are messy eaters due to being fed multiple times a day and therefor care must be taken to either have a great CUC or siphon the uneaten food out after 30 minutes. Seahorses do not possess scales, instead they are covered in skin that is stretched over armored plates as can be seen by looking closely at the seahorses body. Seahorses possess 4 fins total. One each behind each "cheek", one at the base of their spine and one under their midsection. They use three of these four fins to swim, the two on their head and the one at the base of their spine. Male seahorses possess a pouch in which they hatch their babies. Once the baby seahorses have hatched they are ejected from the pouch and are left to survive on their own.
 
Photograph(s): Darksoul996's pair of H. kuda. Sorry that they aren't the best, seahorses are surprisingly hard to photograph.
 
The Male showing off his pouch.
Hippocampuskuda_zps0df72f6d.jpg

 
The Female.
DSCF2008_zpsc0048eda.jpg

 
The Pair - The Female is much smaller right now.
Seahorses3_zpscbf2e81b.jpg
 

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