Southern Knight Seahorse 10cm

Southern Knight Seahorse

The Southern Knight Seahorse can live up to 9 years, provided it has suitable conditions, environment, and food supply.

The more common colors for these seahorses are olive, gold to brown with dark spots throughout. Coloration will vary as seahorses mimic their surroundings to disguise themselves from predators.

Distinguishing the difference between males and females is quite simple. The male has a smooth pouch at the base of the abdomen and a less noticeable fin. The females, have a very obvious fin at the base of the stomach and are more pointed instead of smooth.

Adult pairs will perform a courtship dancing ritual to reproduce. The female deposits her eggs into the pouch on the male's stomach and he can give birth to up to 1,000 babies at one time.

Adults live among large rock pools at low tide in the seaweed, juveniles attach to drifting seaweed.

These Seahorses live in the coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand. They can range in size between 8-10in (20-25cm) and up to 14in (35cm) in the cooler conditions of New Zealand.

Tank Recommendations for Southern Knight Seahorse

The smallest size for your tank should be at least 40 liters for 4-6 seahorses. To allow for growth and at least 50 liters per adult pair of Souther Knight Seahorses is recommended. Due to their vertical stance, Seahorses prefer a taller tank as opposed to wider tanks.

Be sure to provide plenty of seaweed, vegetation, and environmental elements for the seahorse to mimic as it does in the wild.

The tanks can also include live corals, rock, and sand, but be cautious with the addition of invertebrates. The Southern Knight Seahorse is a cold-water fish and prefers to keep that temperature constant, this might need the use of a chiller. Seahorses are gentle in nature and so cannot compete for food.

They lack teeth and use their mouths like a vacuum cleaner to feed on small crustaceans, planktonic animals, copepods, and amphipods living among the seaweed. They are best kept in tanks with friends and not foes.

Suitable Tank Buddies

Due to the Southern Knight’s gentle nature and lack of defenses, Seahorses are not able to compete with other fish for food and should be isolated to their own tank if suitable buddies are not available.

Usually Compatible

Other Seahorses or Pipefish, will definitely make the best tank mates as they are all peaceful fish. However, Cardinals, Dragonettes, Gobies, and Hawkfish are also suitable as they do not offer any threat. Live corals are also usually ok.

Sometimes Compatible

There has been some success made with Anglers, Frogfish, Clownfish, invertebrates, and crustaceans adapting to Seahorse environments.

Rarely Compatible

Seahorse food supply is often eaten by several other types of fish, so it is best to avoid keeping competitors, aggressive, predatory or fast-moving fish in the same tank. Also avoid Angelfish, Anthias, Butterflyfish, Damsels, Eels, Filefish, Goatfish, Groupers, Grunts, Sharks, or Wrasse.

Feeding Your Southern Knight Seahorse

These tender creatures are carnivorous and will need to be trained in order to feed on frozen brine shrimp or plankton. Be mindful to give them a variety of krill, mysis shrimp, and mixed plankton and not solely brine shrimp. Southern Knight Seahorses have a small gut tract and will eat as they please, using their snouts like a vacuum. Be sure to clean out any uneaten food from the aquarium.