Sea-horses are often the first marine animals that the novice marine aquarist chooses for his tank. These fishes are undoubtedly of equestrian appearance, caused by the horse-like form of the head and their deportment. The latter characteristic is produced because the normal posture of the body is in the vertical plane and the head held at right angles.

Throughout recorded history these unlikely looking animals have excited the curiosity of all who have seen them. Sea-horses have featured on coins, on the signet-ring of a Roman Emperor and on the coats-of-arms of individuals and civic bodies. They feature in the collections of fishes of almost every marine aquarist – until their several disadvantages become apparent. Prime among these were (i.e. until the introduction of gamma-ray irradiated Mysis shrimps, their refusal to eat anything except living Artemia shrimps. However, aquarists are advised against purchasing these animals, unless:

1. their dealer maintains stocks of frozen gamma-ray irradiated Mysis shrimps, as this is the only non-living food which all sea-horses readily accept, and
2. a sea aquarium is available whose only other occupants are invertebrates or other equally slow fishes, e.g. pipefish, dragonet, etc.

Related pipefishes from the South Pacific are certainly more active and entertaining to observe in a natural system marine aquarium than sea-horses, but again they are essentially macroplankton feeders with the same demanding food requirements.

Some specimens of the Banded Pipefish will often show a greater degree of adaptability under aquarium conditions than others. For example, if three pipefishes from the same area are imported from the same dealer, it is quite likely that one or even two will learn to eat gamma-ray sterilised Mysis whereas the third one might starve to death unless the post-importation ‘disinclination-to-feed’ syndrome is broken.

Caution living sea foods should only be used in systems where medications such as ‘cuprazin’ (protozoan infections), ‘myxazin’ (general disinfectant and bacteriocide) or ‘sterazin’ (fluke and worm infestations) may be used if needed to treat the disease outbreak which will usually follow. Coralfishes have little or no resistance to North Atlantic pathogens.