A Co Londonderry man is delighted to be saddled with scores of tiny seahorses which he is breeding in his own fish tanks.

Richard Peoples believes he is first past the post as the province’s winning seahorse breeder, having produced the minuscule marine creatures in abundance.

The winsome little fellows were born at Richard’s pet shop ‘The Fish House’ in Coleraine this week and he is convinced they are a Northern Ireland ‘first’.

“It’s a tricky business,” Richard told the Belfast Telegraph. “The water quality and the feeding regime have to be spot on. I had a go at breeding them last year, but didn’t succeed.”

He explained that seahorses have a rather stable relationship, mating for life, and have a strange little snuggle in the mornings when they link tails, give each other a hug and trot gracefully on their loving way for the day.

But unlike most animals, it’s the male who gives birth! The female, of course, produce the eggs, then she transfers them to the male, he fertilises them, carries them in a special pouch over a gestation period of two to four weeks, when he expels them into the water.

Records show that anything between one and 2,000 are born in the race for life among the world seahorse species.

Richard has four breeding pairs in his tanks, with 40-60 born at a time, and they have become quite an attraction at Coleraine’s Causeway Enterprise Centre where ‘The Fish House’ is based.

“I’ve always been interested in fish,” he said. “As well as the seahorses, I have multi-coloured starfish in my tanks and the children equate it to a scene from Disney film.

“The baby seahorses are just a couple of centimetres long and I’m delighted with them.”