Designer "unicorn" seahorses possible?

Betta132 · 03/17/2015, 10:53 PM

Theoretically, would it be possible to breed one of the knobblier seahorse species to have a "horn" growing out of its forehead? I mean, some of them already have a little point there. And wouldn't that be awesome?

hotelbravo · 03/18/2015, 05:24 PM

Might have a higher response rate in the sea horse section. Sea horses are unexplored territory for me.

ichthyogeek · 03/18/2015, 07:16 PM

I know that you can breed "snowball" seahorses (fusedjaw). But the seahorses you're talking about....might take many, many, many generations to achieve a tiny horn. Also, you'd have to worry about the babies getting ejected out of the male's pouch, a horn would not let them get shot out easily. Eventually (as in, 3-4 lifetimes), you might get a horn, but you might also get a prickly seahorse, with 'horns' all over the body. You also have to take in the ethics of it as well: such seahorses would have a hard time starting out, and they'd have to eat more in order to get a bigger horn. The time to establish a new "breed" of seahorse would be further increased depending on how big of a horn you wanted per seahorse.

It would be really cool for them to have a horn. Of course then they wouldn't be called sea-horses. They'd be called sea-unicorns. Every fishkeeper's 6 year old daughter's dream.

03/17/2015, 10:53 PM	#1
Betta132 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2,239	Designer "unicorn" seahorses possible? Theoretically, would it be possible to breed one of the knobblier seahorse species to have a "horn" growing out of its forehead? I mean, some of them already have a little point there. And wouldn't that be awesome? __________________ When you put an animal of any kind in a situation where it can no longer fend for itself, such as an aquarium, it's your job to care for it to the best of your ability. It's that simple.

03/18/2015, 05:24 PM	#2
hotelbravo Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 2,175	Might have a higher response rate in the sea horse section. Sea horses are unexplored territory for me. __________________ -Hodge Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.

03/18/2015, 07:16 PM	#3
ichthyogeek Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 742	I know that you can breed "snowball" seahorses (fusedjaw). But the seahorses you're talking about....might take many, many, many generations to achieve a tiny horn. Also, you'd have to worry about the babies getting ejected out of the male's pouch, a horn would not let them get shot out easily. Eventually (as in, 3-4 lifetimes), you might get a horn, but you might also get a prickly seahorse, with 'horns' all over the body. You also have to take in the ethics of it as well: such seahorses would have a hard time starting out, and they'd have to eat more in order to get a bigger horn. The time to establish a new "breed" of seahorse would be further increased depending on how big of a horn you wanted per seahorse. It would be really cool for them to have a horn. Of course then they wouldn't be called sea-horses. They'd be called sea-unicorns. Every fishkeeper's 6 year old daughter's dream.