Seahorses do make good pets if they are cared for properly and healthy when purchased. Unlike typical fish seahorses are a little more difficult than other marine fish. The wild caught (wc) seahorses are captured from the wild, put in a bag to be shipped and possibly starved before getting to the store in which they will be sold, the local fish store (lfs). Since they are from the wild, seahorses and related species have different needs than other marine fish. If buying a wc seahorse, please refer to our care guide:

http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/SeahorseFactsAndInfo.shtml

There is an alternative to buying wc seahorses, captive bred (cb) seahorses are available through many sources. CB seahorses are much easier to keep than wc seahorses. Captive bred seahorses are trained to eat frozen foods, which when supplemented with vitamins and carotenoids and essential fatty acids offer a complete nutritional profile and that means that live foods are not absolutely necessary. Like any other fish you should still research the specific temperature and tank mate requirements before you buy. It is also not advisable to mix wc and cb seahorses together as the wc seahorses may be a symptomatic carrier of disease that could decimate CB seahorses that may not have resistance to the disease.

Healthy seahorses in a well setup home aquarium can be a sight unlike any other. Seahorses can be very personable animals and can respond to their owner by dancing at the front glass or doing color changes for him or her. They are beautiful and mystifying creatures.