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It depends on a few factors, such as size and whether or not it is Captive Bred or Wild Caught. Whatever the size/kind, their food is going to be any shrimp like crustacean that will fit in their mouths. Generally speaking, they'll eat any live shrimp up to the size of their snout. Some foods include ghost shrimp, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, larval food shrimp, red shrimp, and amphipods. (Note: Brine shrimp is not an appropriate food for seahorses as it has virtually no nutrional value). Dwarf seahorses, because of their size, eat copepods and newly hatch brine shrimp, and may eat rotifers.
Now, whether or not you can feed them frozen versions of these food items, or if it has to be live, depends on the origin of the seahorse. Most wild caught seahorses will not take frozen food. Most will not eat live brine shrimp. Some can be trained to eat these foods, but many will refuse frozen food. Growing up in the wild, they learned that food moved and skittered along - and they usually aren't even capable of recognizing dead food as food at all.
Captive bred seahorses, on the other hand, are usually more than willing to eat frozen food. Some will even eat chopped up meat foods that don't come close to resembling shrimp. Most people feed their captive bred seahorse a diet of mysis, although there should be a variety of foods offered to make sure they have a complete and balanced diet. Some live food occassionally will also help balance their diet as well as giving them some mental stimulation. Related Topics:
Feeding
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