Lined seahorse

Care at a glance

The seahorse is one of the few fish that swims upright, with a prehensile tail it uses to grip algae and branches. Remarkably, it is the male that becomes pregnant: the female deposits her eggs in his brood pouch, after which he carries the young and gives birth to them.

In the aquarium it needs gently flowing water, plenty of hitching points and several feedings a day; its gut is too short to go long without food. Never keep it with fast fish or grabbing shrimp, and buy captive-bred stock only, as wild-caught animals rarely last long.

Good to know

• Hard to wean onto dry food
• Needs a mature, stable tank

Best not combined with

• Six-line wrassePseudocheilinus hexataenia
• Flame hawkfishNeocirrhites armatus
• Coral banded shrimpStenopus hispidus

Related species

• Dwarf seahorseHippocampus zosterae
• Volitans lionfishPterois volitans
• Marine betta (comet)Calloplesiops altivelis
• Yellow boxfishOstracion cubicum
• Dogface pufferArothron nigropunctatus
• Painted frogfishAntennarius pictus