Re:Mustang pictures

Dear Laurie:

Thanks for sharing — it’s good to see that your seahorses are doing so well and it sounds like you did a wonderful job of training them to eat from a feeding station! That’s a great way to prevent wastage, provide your seahorses with a sanitary place to eat so that they are not slurping up frozen Mysis from a germ-laden substrate, and safeguard your water quality. Well done!

And it’s neat that your seahorses are displaying some color phases and different color patterns now. As you know, the first pair of captive-bred seahorses I ever owned were Mustangs, and my ‘stangs also quickly learned to recognize me as their feeder, whereupon they would often interact with me at dinnertime by turning on their greeting colors. My original pair are still going strong several years later, and I have watched them go through a number of color phases from month to month. One has settled on gray-green as its base coloration for the moment, and the other ranges between rust, burnt umber, and orange, but always with contrasting beige bands. Last season, the male adopted a rich ochre yellow as his everyday attire (still with the same beige bands, though), while the female displayed a dark purplish ensemble with definite greenish highlights. When courting, they consistently brighten to a pearly white and a creamy yellow respectively. They make a handsome couple, and I find my erectus to be very attractive specimens in all their guises.

For more information about how and why seahorses change color, please check out the a two-part article on coloration in seahorses that I recently wrote for Conscientious Aquarist online magazine. Part two is loaded with tips and suggestions to help keep your seahorses looking their best and brightest. You can read the articles at the following URL’s and enjoy Leslie Leddo’s magnificent photographs:

part one:
<http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I1/hippocampus_color/Color_In_Hippocampus.htm&gt;

part two:
<http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I2/hippocampus_color2/Color_In_Hippocampus2.htm&gt;

Best of luck with your new seahorses, Laurie!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna