Anyone ever collect seahorses?

[AquaKnight]

Pretty sure I've found my next venture in aquaria, eventually will do a seahorse tank. Looking at locational maps for several speices, shows them well up the Atlantic coast. Has anyone here attempted to collect them? Any suggestions where to give them a shot?

 

[brynkal]

We have collected both dwarf and regular seahorses, in Sarasota Bay and the intercoastal. They're usually in 3-4' of water, in weeds (frequently turtle grass, but pretty much any rooted weeds). We just run a long-handled net along the bottom. Sometimes there are quite a few, sometimes none, so don't give up on a place if you don't find them the first time. They're there regardless of water temp, we've caught them in January (water temp probably 65) and August (water temp close to 90).

The full size horses usually eat frozen brine shrimp within a few days.

Do watch, there are toadfish and scorpionfish in the same types of habitat, don't go without shoes, and look at what you're taking out of the net!

Should mention a saltwater fishing license is needed...

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

I collected a bunch of dwarf's over under the sky way bridge at the north rest area last year. You will also find tons of snails and craps in the same environment.

 

[chrisstie]

If you're looking into making this an investment of your time, I recommend looking into aquacultured ponies and not the local varieties. Dwarves don't live very long, if I recall correctly, and can be very challenging to take care of considering their lifespan.

With a fine aquacultured pair you're guaranteed a better chance at healthier stock and could do some breeding of your own without impacting the local population- not to mention they're sure to be a tad more colorful

 

[Fuzzy]

I used to keep Seahorses, or should I say they kept me.
Those lil buggers were as much work as a big tank and a whole lot more demanding.

In my experience wild caught do not last long in captivity. Getting them to eat frozen PE Mysis is at best a crap shoot.
I actually had better luck raising black mollies in brackish water. Then gut loading the fry with Selcon before feeding the ponies.

If you are serious about keeping Seahorses I strongly recommend you read up on their needs.
Here are a couple of excellent sites as well as the Seahorse forum here on Reef Central:

Care Sheet for Seahorses:

http://www.syngnathid.com/

Additional Resources:

http://www.syngnathid.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

http://seahorse.org/

Good luck!

 

[orlandobrian]

I'm with Fuzzy. Live food only, low water current, all intakes covered so they dont get sucked up, etc. It was a pain. But the kids loved them!

 

[Fuzzy]

Also, no micro-bubbles in the tank.
There is nothing worse than a male with GBD. It is not fun trying to clean out his pouch.

 

[AquaKnight]

Thanks a bunch for the replies and links

Yea, not too interested in the dwarfs, was aiming for something like H. erectus, H. Reidi (probably this one), or H. fuscus. The thing is I'm having a hard time justifying CB horses (I never was considering paying for wild horses) because you pay top dollar for colors that will change. I would have no qualms about paying $125 for a red H. Reidi if it stayed red and not turn brown. I never really found a good site/place that just had "generic CB's."

Does anyone have an opinion on that? How likely are horses to change color?