Hippocampus barbouri - T.B.

Hippocampus barbouri, commonly known as Barbour's seahorse, is a medium-sized seahorse. Their basic colour is variable from cream-white to yellowish to orange or grey-brown, often with light coloured patches and orange to even brownish-red spots. Their snout all the way to behind the eyes is striped. Males and females can be differentiated because males have a brood pouch and are slightly larger than females.

H. barbouri can be found in shallow water all the way to brackish estuaries. They attach to (often calcerous) seaweed with their tails looking for zooplankton drifting by. Because seahorses don't have a stomach they need to eat the entire day. Baby seahorses have been observed to eat over 3000 pieces a day and adults usually eat 30-50 times a day. This also makes up the biggest challenge in keeping seahorses, you need to make sure they can eat all day. And because they usually only eat live or frozen food, this is hard to automate.

Besides their constant need for food, their swimming ability also needs to be kept in mind. Seahorses can handle quit some flow, but they lack stamina, so they do need zones with little flow and something to hold on to, so they can rest. Also try to prevent strong stinging corals like Euphyllia and some other LPS and anemones. Most soft corals and SPS are fine though. The other way around, because seahorses hold on to the corals they sometimes can irritate/damage the corals, especially if they always grab on to the same spot. This seahorse is known for clinging onto stony corals so keep all this in mind when setting up a seahorse aquarium and they'll be the stars of the aquarium!

This fish is Tank Bred and will adapt to your aquarium easier compared to a wild caught specimen!