World Aquaculture 57 Fig 6. Grow – out seahorse culture H. come at 500 seahorse juveniles/ m3. As juveniles grow, this density is reduced to 200/m3 by the end of the rearing period. Most cultured species of seahorse in Viet Nam grow rapidly, reaching commercial size 7 – 10 cm in only three months. Survival rate from the birth to adult is normally more than 70 percent. During the grow out phase, the seahorse (Figure 5) are weaned to frozen feed (Mysis and Acetes) collected from the wild. The gradual weaning takes only about one week to complete. The feeding regime with frozen food is twice per day ad libitum. If available, adult enriched live Artemia may be used, but for best growth and survival at this phase Acetes combined with Mysis is used (Truong, et al. In Press). Fry, adult and broodstock are kept in a recirculation system with protein skimmers, ozone or UV lamps to prevent diseases. Tanks are siphoned daily to remove wastes, uneaten feed and feces. Complete water exchange (100 percent) is done once every month. Disease problems remain a considerable challenge for seahorse aquaculture and may be a major reason that large-scale culture has not yet been successful.(Heather and Martin-Smith 2010). Seahorse are easily susceptible to diseases from bacteria and viruses. Antibiotic treatment is not effective in many cases, so disease prevention is a primary concern. All cultured seahorse for export from Viet Nam are packed live in seawater with additional oxygen and transported at 10 – 20 seahorse/L. Exporters sell live seahorse to USA, European Union, China and Japan. When transporting live seahorse to farther destinations requiring transit time of more than 24 hours, the density is reduced to 3 -5 animals/L. Notes 1Institute of Oceanography, Nha Trang, Viet Nam References Cai, N., Q. Xu, F. Yu, X. Wu and G. Sun. 1984. Development of embryo of Hippocampus trimaculatus. Studia Marina Sinica 23:95–104. Chang, M. and P. C. Southgate. 2001. Effects of varying dietary fatty acid composition on growth and survival of seahorse Hippocampus sp. juvenile. Aquarium Science and Conservation 3:205- 214. Giles, B.G., S.K. Truong, H.H. Do and A.C.J. Vincent. 2006. The catch and trade of seahorses in Vietnam. Biodiversity and Conservation 15(6): 2497-2513. Heather, H. 2005. Syngnathyd husbandry in Public aquariums. ZSL.137p. Heather J. K and, K.M. Martin-Smith. 2010. A global review of seahorse aquaculture. Aquaculture (302): 131 – 152. Lourie, S. A., J. C. Pritchard, S. P. Casey, T. S. Ky, H. J. Hall and A. C. J. Vincent. 1999. The taxonomy of Vietnam’s exploited seahorses (family Syngnathidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 66: 231–256. Lourie, S. and R.H. Kuiter. 2008. Three new pygmy seahorse species from Indonesia (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampus). Zootaxa 1963: 54–68. Payne, M. F. and R. J. Rippingale. 2000. Rearing West Australian seahorse, Hippocampus subelongatus, juveniles on copepod nauplii and enriched Artemia. Aquaculture 188:353–361. Poortenaar C.W., C.M.C. Woods, P.J. James, F.M. Giambartolomei and P.M.Lokman. 2004. Reproductive biology of female big bellied seahorse. Journal of Fish Biology. 64: 717 – 725. Randall, J.E. and S.A. Lourie. 2009. Hippocampus tyro, a new seahorse (Gasterosteiformes: Syngnathidae) from the Seychelles. Smithiana Bulletin 10:19–21. Truong, Si Ky. 1998. Prospects for community – based seahorse aquaculture in Viet Nam. The third International Conference on the Marine Biology of the South Chinasea. 465 – 474. Trương, Sĩ Ky. 1998. Species composition of seahorse in Viet Nam. Collection of marine research works. VIII: 154-165. Truong, Si Ky, Thi Hoa Ho, Duc Lu Hoang and Vu Lang Pham. In press. Effects of different kind of food on the growth and survival rate of adult Tiger tail seahorse (Hippocampus comes). Collection of marine research works. XVIII. Vincent, A.C.J. 1996. The International trade in Seahorse. Ph.D thesis, 163p. Cambridge, UK: TRAFIC Internatinal. Woods, C. M. C. 2003. Effects of stocking density and gender segregation in the seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis. Aquaculture 218 :167-176.
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