I was curious as to how they claim the sunburst to be smaller than their mustangs.... Sorry this is long but I want to have it looked over. This is a piece of the email from Ocean Rider:
Dear Matthew:
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Yes, sir, I would be happy to help you make an informed decision as to which species of seahorses would be best suited for your reef tank. As a matter of fact, Matthew, several years ago, I wrote a two-part featured article for TFH magazine on "Seahorses in the Reef Tank" that addressed that very topic.
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There are two popular species of seahorses that can be described as coral reef specialists, and which would do well in a reef tank that was modified to accommodate seahorses "“ namely Tigertail seahorses (Hippocampus comes) and the zebra snout seahorses (Hippocampus barbouri). The natural habitat for Hippocampus comes is coral reefs in the Indo Pacific and they would be well suited for a reef tank with stony corals and soft corals. Hippocampus barbouri is famous for its well-developed spines and it is said that the barbs are impervious to the stings of corals, making them a good candidate for a reef tank that includes stony corals. Both of these species can also tolerate somewhat warmer water temperatures than many of the other greater seahorses, so they are good choices for reef tanks that run a bit on the warm side, in particular.
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However, I do not believe either Hippocampus comes or Hippocampus barbouri would be the best choice for you, Matthew. Neither species is currently being cultured and raised in the United States as aquarium specimens, and therefore any Tigertail or zebra snout seahorses you might be able to obtain would be delicate wild-caught specimens that would be challenging to keep under any circumstances.
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Secondly, even the wild Hippocampus comes and Hippocampus barbouri are very rarely seen in this country anymore since the entire genus Hippocampus is now protected under the new CITES regulations covering the import and export of seahorses. So even if you are willing to gamble and try your luck with the delicate wild-caught specimens, Matthew, it's very unlikely that you would find any barbs or Tigertails available"¦
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Ocean Rider is still working all of their lines of captive-bred-and-raised seahorses, Matthew, which includes more species than ever (several varieties of Hippocampus erectus, as well as H. reidi, H. barbouri, H. ingens, H. fisheri, H. zosterae, H. capensis, H. whitei, H. procerus, etc.), but most of their strains are no longer being raised in commercial numbers for the aquarium market consistently.* Rather, they are merely raising enough of the most of the species to maintain their broodstock and to eliminate any concerns about inbreeding, and to provide display animals for the aquaculture facility and the ever-popular tours, but they aren't raising enough surplus specimens to offer them to hobbyists at all times anymore.* The lines for all of these species are being improved and maintained nonstop, but they are listed as "out of stock" on their website for hobbyists purposes. (This includes the Ocean Rider strain of Hippocampus barbouri, sir, which are still being cultured and raised as part of Ocean Rider's living gene bank of seahorses, but which are no longer being offered to the general public.)
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For the home hobbyist, they are instead concentrating on raising lots and lots of their various strains of H. erectus, which are there bread-and-butter items.* They made a conscious decision in that regard and feel that the H. erectus are by far the hardiest seahorse species for the home hobbyists, particularly first-time seahorse keepers, so those are the seahorses they now make available to home aquarists, primarily.* Mustangs and Sunbursts are always in stock, and Pintos and Fire Reds are also provided for those who can afford them.* But other than their H. erectus morphs, nowadays they only make the other seahorse species available to hobbyists sporadically, when their numbers build up enough that they need to reduce their surplus. In other words, Matthew, to my knowledge, Ocean Rider has no plans to make more Hippocampus barbouri available to hobbyists in the foreseeable future.
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In addition to their colorful varieties of cultured H. erectus, Ocean Rider is also offering their strain of equally hardy Hippocampus abdominalis to home hobbyists who maintain temperate or coldwater aquariums. Commonly known as potbellied seahorses, Ocean Rider markets their line of extremely adaptable H. abdominalis under the name of Brumbries, and these giant seahorses (the world's largest) are also always available to the public.
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Of course, seadragons are demanding more of Ocean Rider's time these days as they work to develop a Seadragon exhibit at the aquaculture facility.* As you can imagine, the seadragons are challenging to work with and that means less time for raising all of the other seahorse species in mass quantities.
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In addition, Ocean Rider is also developing new strains of marine fish such as their captive-bred-and-raised Red Banded Pipefish (Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus), which are now being offered to home hobbyists for the first time. Besides their new strain of hardy banded pipefish, Ocean Rider is also planning on offering more of their Gigantes (Hippocampus ingens) to the public before long, but they have no plans to release more of the Hippocampus barbouri to hobbyists in the immediate future.
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But that does not mean there are no hardy, highly domesticated Ocean Rider seahorses available that would be good choices for your 34-gallon Solana reef system, Matthew. Quite the contrary "“ as long as you have a chiller on the 34-gallon reef tank so that the water temperature is suitable, either the Mustangs or the Sunbursts (Hippocampus erectus) would thrive in a suitable reef tank, where they would benefit from the optimum water quality, natural surroundings, and abundant copepods and amphipods in a well-established reef system.
