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| Name: |
Hoover
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Age: |
Two years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Seahorse (hippocampus kuda)
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| Home: |
California, USA
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Whatever
you do, don't let Hoover hear you say that fish have no
personality! Hoover is indeed correctly termed a fish, wearing his
skeleton on the outside of his body. He was named after a brand of
vacuum cleaner, which is sort of what seahorses mimic when they eat.
The food is sucked up rapidly into what appears to be his snout, but
which is actually his mouth. He eats live brine shrimp and arthropods
found in the ocean. His brothers are Kirby (also named for a vacuum
brand) and Whinney (hey, they are seaHORSES!)
The males actually carry and give birth to their young. Hoov loves to
attach his tail to my finger when he swims by it. Grasping coral or
plant life in the ocean gives them stability against the flowing
currents in the sea and they retain this instinct in captivity. Their
life span is about three years in captivity, longer than in the wild due
to predatory and environmental conditions. But they are very
sensitive fish and are not easy to keep! Their habitat must be
closely monitored and duplicate the conditions of nature. (Without
the harmful aspects, of course!)
Hoover was in an aquarium store with his brothers when I walked in to
kill some time while waiting for the store next to it to open. Once I
laid eyes on them, I'd forgotten about my other task and spent an
hour on the floor next to their tank. I'd always wanted fish, but was
struck by the beauty and gracefulness of the seahorse. That was it; I
was sold. I bought a huge amount of supplies based on the technical
expertise of the store manager and waited a month to prepare the tank
for its new inhabitants. (You must make sure you have grown some good
bacteria and stabilized the environment in the tank before
introducing your new fish.)
I couldn't decide whether I wanted one horse or two, but I figured
that out fast enough. If you practice anthropomorphism, hehe, the
decision is easy. If I bought one horse, it would be lonely. If I
bought two of them, the third left in the store would be lonely. I
bought all three. Case dismissed. :o)
Seahorses are extremely difficult to keep, as the water quality must
be perfect at all times. This includes temperature, saline level,
cleanliness and PH balance. There are many other concerns, but I'll
spare you the novel at this time. They are probably the most
sensitive fish in the ocean.
Hoover is probably the least active of the three, but he has touched
my heart in ways no human can. He hovers near the bottom of the tank
most often, gazing around for an unsuspecting brine shrimp to cruise
by. Everything a seahorse does is slow, except eat. They move very
slowly toward the shrimp and, when they're quite ready (and not a
second before), they'll jerk their snouts outward and suck the shrimp
up faster than you can blink. Honest, you can't see the shrimp
disappear!
There's no real pecking order between my boys. As I said, they're
peaceful and totally noncompetitive, which is why, if one is to keep
seahorses, that must be the only species in the tank. They'd starve
if put with other animals. They are quite passive.
Sometimes, they'll all link tails, but it is my understanding that
this is not a sign of affection, it's simply something to link a tail
to. Their tails are "prehensile," which means it can wrap
around plants, coral, or just about anything small enough to grab. My
guys are approximately five inches long, but there are varieties as
small as one inch and as large as twelve inches! The males, as I
mentioned before, give birth to about 3000 (yep, three thousand!)
young, but unless those babies are removed immediately, they become
food for mom and dad horse.
I strongly discourage keeping seahorses unless one is determined to
be completely dedicated, in the form of time, effort and education,
to their care. I was fortunate enough to become friends with a marine
biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco who provided me
with a wealth of information on their care. I became the
"seahorse consultant", if you will, of all the local
aquarium stores.
I'm sorry I don't have any "exciting" news to report on
their activities. At the risk of being redundant, they're passive,
slow-moving, graceful and peaceful.... quite mezmerizing, but not
acrobatically inclined.
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