A Visit to the Audubon Aquarium

New Orleans is home to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, and since I love aquariums, I decided to pay this one a visit during my final afternoon in New Orleans (I’m here attending Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, which ended Sunday.) One thing that sets the Audobon Aquarium apart is its emphasis on freshwater species, and species native to North and South America. The exhibits include a display of plants that grow in the Amazon rain forest … A special section with Louisiana-themed exhibits even includes a tasty local favorite…the crawfish. To the giant potbelly seahorses – they’re not pregnant, despite those

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On Choosing a Seahorse

Many people don’t realize that there are over 40 different species of seahorses, ranging in size from half an inch to almost a foot in length. I keep Hippocampus erectus, the lined seahorse, which averages 6-8 inches in length at maturity and tends to be one of the hardier (read: easier to keep) seahorse species. H. erectus can also be bred entirely in captivity, meaning my seahorses don’t reduce or threaten wild populations in any way.

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Corals Are Smarter Than You Think.

Reefkeeping poses many challenges, chief among them the need to integrate species that live in different natural environments–sometimes thousands of miles apart–and although good reef keepers know to stock only compatable species within a single tank, sometimes even compatable fish and corals need to learn how to get along. Some corals are photosynthetic, others eat plankton, and others eat larger, meaty foods (including fish — another reason to be careful what you stock in your captive reef). Since corals lack eyes, brains, and complex nervous systems, they react to the environment immediately and without considering consequences. Some sting, while others produce

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The Secret Language of Seahorses

Seahorses are entirely non-verbal (meaning they make no known communicative sounds) but that doesn’t mean they don’t communicate. On the contrary, seahorses develop complex and important relationships that range from aggressive to friendly and romantic, and they spend a lot of time interacting with other seahorses in their environment. Curiously, the adults show similar patience with my smallest seahorse, Magellan, who has a physical disability that stunted his growth. Although the same age as the larger seahorses, Magellan remains about the size of a six-month old juvenile, and the adults allow him to hitch to them, grab them, and interact with them

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Weeble (the Ambassador Seahorse) Gets a Pouch

In December 2015, I acquired a group of new seahorses for my reef aquarium.  One of them arrived with an illness that should have claimed his life, but after 6 weeks in a hospital tank, little “Weeble” (click here for his full story, with photos) joined the reef. I used him in my keynote speech at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2015 Colorado Gold Conference, as an example of perseverance–nobody told him he could not live, and he lived because he refused to surrender. Now, he’s thriving, because of his own determination and because of the other seahorses who came around him,

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Spotlight on Magellan

I’ve owned a few seahorses over the years, and all of them are special-needs pets, but none is quite as special (or as needy) as Magellan. When my seahorses arrived from the breeder early last December, I didn’t notice right away that one of them was different. Seahorses often eat poorly the day they arrive from the breeder, and since three of the four had similar snakeskin patterns it was hard to keep them straight that first afternoon. By morning, however, it was clear that one of the baby seahorses wasn’t “normal.” Unlike the others, who snicked up food as quickly as I

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Spotlight on Moya

The last two weeks’ Tuesday Tank posts have spotlighted Kirin (who, sadly, passed away unexpectedly over this last weekend) and Vega, two of my female seahorses. Today, I’m giving the boys a chance to shine, with the story of Moya.   Moya wasn’t one of the four baby seahorses I bought from the breeder last December to re-populate the reef. He actually arrived the following January. When the breeder learned that one of the four original seahorses had a birth defect, they sent a replacement–a shy little seahorse I named Moya:   After only a few weeks in the reef, I realized Moya was male, but

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Seahorses: Spotlight on Vega

Last week’s Tuesday Tank post focused on Kirin, my largest and most dominant female. Today, I’m introducing Vega–Kirin’s sister and broodmate. When the seahorses arrived from the breeder last December, Vega was the only one who stood out instantly; she was black, while the others had snakeskin patterning.   According to the breeder, Vega was the largest and strongest of the more than two hundred baby seahorses in the birth group. She was also one of the few who took on solid coloring early in life, which also distinguished her from her mottled siblings. She was the first of the babies to leave

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How Big Are Those Seahorses, Anyway?

People often ask about my seahorses–starting with the obvious “why” and branching out from there. One of the common questions that follows is “How big are they?” (An alternate variation is, “How big is your tank”–the answer is sixty gallons.) There are over 40 species of seahorses, all members of the family Syngnathidae (which includes seahorses, sea dragons, pipefish, and pipe horses) and the genus Hippocampus (which translates “sea-monster horse”). The smallest seahorses are Pygmy Seahorses, which reach an average size of 0.6-0.8″ (yep, that’s not a typo–the adults are under an inch in length). They can be kept in captivity, but they’re among the most difficult seahorses

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