Estimation of live food consumption for Hippocampus barbouri and Hippocampus kuda

Seahorse is found worldwide in marine habitats such as the seagrass beds, coral reefs, mangroves and estuaries. Among all the seahorses, Hippocampus barbouri and H. kuda are the most traded species. In recent year, worldwide attention strongly supports the establishment of seahorse aquaculture as to provide an alternative source of seahorse. However, the main bottleneck in succeeding seahorse aquaculture at the culture of early stage, is the diet. The selection of suitable diet will contribute to the success in the larval rearing of seahorse. In this study the consumption of live food by newborn, juvenile and adult seahorse were investigated. H. barbouri and H. kuda commenced feeding at birth. The used of live food, namely the newly hatched Artemia nauplii was able support the growth and survival of newborn and juvenile seahorses in specific tank systems. The results shows an increasing trend, with average numbers of Artemia nauplii consumed increase as the age and size (height) of seahorse. The minimum numbers of nauplii consumed by H. barbouri and H. kuda at 3 day after birth (DAB) with height 14.24±0.14 mm and 10.71±0.13 mm, were 7 and 5 nauplii per feeding respectively. This study showed that Artemia nauplii can be used as live food for newborn H. barbouri to 28 DAB, while for H. kuda from newborn to 42 DAB. At 90 DAB onwards, the used of adult Artemia instead of nauplii is highly recommended for H. barbouri,