Does anyone know of a good store to buy seahorses and a good online tutorial on raising them?

Question

I am looking at buying a couple of sea horses and wanted to know a little more information.

Answer 1

Seahorse's are extremely delicate and require a LOT of care and a supply of fresh food, usually brine shrimp. Only a few can thrive on frozen. So this requires a seperate tank set up for hatching food.

This is an excellent site.
http://www.oceanrider.com/
And they even have a "set-up" you can buy to ensure you are getting all the set-up right.
The are actually having a first time buyers sale right now

Answer 2

No GOOD store will sell you a seahorse. Just like any reputable on line dealer. I won't go thru all the reasons why you should not buy them or attempt to keep them since you will get them if you want them anyway.

With that said, Know that seahorses do not ship well and most that are are in very poor health. If you have a mature tank, (more than a year old) you can buy them, more than not on line only. They also do not live past two years in a home aquarium even under the best conditions. (Depending on type)

Wetpets.com has a variety and will guarantee shipments.
Saltwaterfish.com also guarantees fast FedX shipments

I would strongly discourage keeping sea horses. I have had salt tanks for over 30 years and would not keep one of these endangered species. Please, if you are not an experienced aquarist, rethink keeping them.

Monterey bay aquarium has this site for why not to buy seahorses.
www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_se/se_ssh_saviors.asp

Answer 3

Last time I saw seahorses was a GREAT aquarium store in Washington state, and they were quite expensive- $250.00 is stuck in my head- not sure if that was for one only or the pair. They also require a salt water tank and a LOT of care. That being said, they are extremely cool.

Answer 4

There arent many places that sell seahorses,as Im sure you know,but youll find them at exotic fish shows for sell.And i dont know about the tutorial.

Answer 5

I found a website called Marine Depot Live.com.

Seahorses are for the experts. They are hard to keep alive. The site was very informative about the little creatures.

Answer 6

I think you can't find seahorses. I think they are extremely difficult to keep.

Answer 7

www.petsolutions.com
They have great prices (i only buy filter supplies), gaurantees
because living un MX, I just fish them out from the tide pools (with star fish & more).
Good lick

Answer 8

ebay? lol always a good resource

Answer 9

A new era of captive care of seahorses has dawned with the introduction of aquacultured seahorses from ORA. The wild-caught seahorses available in the past were notoriously difficult to feed and care for in aquariums. Even the most experienced aquarist had difficulty providing the live foods necessary every day to maintain them. There were also a number of seahorse related diseases that proved very difficult to cure. All of these difficulties have been overcome, and the danger of extinction diminished, with the successful breeding, rearing and frozen-food training of these incredible and lovable creatures.

Recently all Seahorses were placed on the Appendix II list of endangered species by CITES (Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species). This severely restricts the legal import and export of seahorses, dead or alive. This is a welcome measure for seahorse conservation worldwide, and has nearly eliminated the wild seahorses available in the aquarium trade.

In nature most seahorses are found in the lagoons and grass flats inside the reef. Because of this environment, seahorses may encounter larger variations in water temperature and salinity. Seahorses may adapt to a wider range of water conditions than the reef fish commonly kept in aquariums. ORA seahorses are typically raised at a specific gravity of 1.020-1.023 and temperatures range from 75-85 degrees. All the seahorses raised at ORA are of the tropical variety, not the cold-water (temperate) species.

The greatest advance in seahorse keeping has been the ability to train the juvenile captive-bred animals to eat frozen mysis shrimp. With few exceptions, wild seahorses would eat only live foods. Now that they can be taught at an early age to accept frozen food, one of the biggest obstacles in caring for them has been overcome. Seahorses should be fed defrosted mysis two or three times a day. As the frozen shrimp are moved around by the current in the tank, the seahorses will respond and chase and eat them. If the food hits the bottom and is trapped by decor, the seahorses may not find it and the decaying shrimp can foul water quality. It is important to set up the seahorse display so that a sweeping current flows across the bottom, and un-eaten food is not trapped.

Seahorses should not be kept with other fish as tankmates. This is due to the fact that they cannot compete with the fast moving fish for food. They are best kept in a small (10-20 gallon) aquarium by themselves. Of course they will need some "Seahorse Trees" such as artificial branching coral, gorgonians, or other objects to latch onto with their prehensile tails.

The common types of parasites and disease usually associated with aquarium fish do not affect seahorses. They are susceptible to a number of diseases specific to seahorses. In wild-caught seahorses the stress of capture, transport and starvation in captivity caused disease and death. The aquacultured seahorse is not exposed to these stressful conditions, and diseases are much less common.

With the right aquarium set-up, proper feeding and care, aquacultured seahorse may live for many years. Average age for many of the tropical seahorses is about 4-6 years. They will reach sexual maturity as early as 4 months, and pairs will readily spawn in aquariums. Seahorse reproduction is well known for having the male give birth to live young. Fertilization actually takes place in the female and then she passes the fertile eggs into the male pouch where they develop for two to four weeks, and are eventually released. Typically 50 to 150 juveniles may be born over the course of many hours.

Raising newborn seahorses presents many difficulties, including the necessity of using large amounts of live food. Unless very well prepared, most hobbyists would not be able to rear the young properly. Sometimes it is better to keep two males or two females in order to avoid the inevitable situation of watching the juveniles perish. The smooth brood pouch present in the male can easily distinguish males from females.

Seahorse may change color with mood, water quality or color of the aquarium background. Colored seahorses may turn black, or vice versa, as they try and match their environment. Changing the aquarium décor, water changes and eliminating stressful conditions may affect the color they display.

SEAHORSES SPECIES AVAILABLE FROM ORA

Yellow Kuda Seahorse - Hippocampus kuda

ORA is presently culturing an Indo-Pacific species of seahorse known as Hippocampus kuda. There is some debate as to the classification of seahorses and H. kuda may represent more than one type. This species can range in color from black to yellow and orange. The may also be black with silver bars or other markings on the body. Yellow Kudas are a slender-bodied seahorse, and live in shallow grass flats, lagoons, and bays

ORA selectively breeds this species to display the yellow color form. They are much less likely to change color, although under certain condition they may darken. They are ready for sale at about 2 _ inches in size, which is close to the sexually mature age. They will grow to about 6 inches maximum size.

Brazilian Seahorse - Hippocampus reidi

Brazilian Seahorses are actually an Atlantic species with a wide range. They occur from as far north the Carolinas, Bermuda and south to Brazil. They are known in the hobby as Brazilian Seahorses because in the past many colorful wild specimens were imported form Brazil.

The Brazilian variety of H. reidi is one of the largest seahorses species known, growing to over 8 inches in length. They have a range of color variations from black to yellow, orange and red. ORA currently aquacultures the black and yellow varieties.

Answer 10

Don't get too attached--they die so easy... :(