Leafy Seadragon

[gillesec]

I've been driving towards getting a seahorse tank going for some time and I came across the Seadragon. Very, very interesting creature, but does anyone know if it is possible to get ahold of one of these for a home aquarium and possibly a website that gives suggestions on keeping them.

Thanks for the responses
~E

 

[Tylt33]

My understanding is that if you have $5000 to $15000, a license to keep one, and connections with a public aquarium, you may be able to purchase one.

 

[gillesec]

Interesting ... I wonder if the government would take my living room as a preserved habitat for endangered aquatic species and then I could have it for free!!!!!!!!!

 

[philter4]

You don't need a permit to keep one, only to import them, occasionally they come into the hobby, and they are expensive, but I've seen them for less then a grand within the last year. I've also heard of $10,000 for captive born ones in the U.S.

 

[gillesec]

Is the weedy seadragon more available/resonable or are they along the same lines of importing and price

 

[ReefNutPA]

The price of either is small compared to the amount of money you will need to afford their huge tank (hundreds of gallons) and huge chiller. Not to mention their live food. If you're able to afford their housing, then the price of the animals is irrelevant.

Tom

 

[gillesec]

I understand the need for the chiller, but why hundreds of gallons. From what I have read they are not good swimmers and I assumed fairly inactive. I realize you would need more than 10g, but maybe a 125?

 

[ann83]

No, several hundred gallons. While slow, they are very active, and constant swimmers; they are also vulnerable to injury if they bump into corners, decorations, etc. on a tank. I truly believe that if you don't have experience in syngnathids, and you don't already know the requirements for keeping a seadragon, that you'll be wasting your money trying to keep one. They are far more demanding than seahorses.

 

[pledosophy]

I only know of one hobbyist keeping weedy's succsessfully long term. IIRC his tank is 3000g and he has another 1000g or so in filtration and refugium.

In a 125g the fish wouldn't be able to turn around, it would have to always face the same direction as an adult, seriously.

They are better left in the ocean.

 

[workstoomuch]

I was just at the tampa aquarium this past weekend, the tank they were keeping the seadragons in couldn't have been more than 60g tops.

 

[ann83]

I haven't been to the aquarium; but I would hope that your estimates are wrong or you are speaking of a tank housing juvenilles. A 60 cube is 2' x 2'; and sea dragons can reach 15" - 18". A 60 would be incredibly small and cramped for a single full-grown adult, much less multiple specimens. You'd have more room to move in a coat closet.

 

[gillesec]

Thanks for the info. Maybe that will be top on the list to do after I hit it big

 

[ezcompany]

The long beach aquarium houses theirs in a cylinderical tank. i believe the diameter is a good 6-7 feet and around 5 feet tall.

 

[workstoomuch]

Well they had two different tanks set-up. Neither of them were housing adults, judging from the size of the seadragons.

I'm not that good at guessing the size of tanks, but the smaller of the two could have only be in the 60 to 80 gal. range. The other one, I don't know, say a cube about 3' by 3' and 4' tall. May have been a little wider and longer, but not by much.

 

[ann83]

Even 3 x 3 x 4 would be 270 gallons... big difference from 60, and it still didn't house adults.

 

[Sherry13]

I saw a group of these eating live food at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was about a 48" diameter round tank x 36" tall aprox. if my memory serves me right. It was at least five or six years ago. If you can get your hands on some ethylene dichloride you could maybe work the acrylic yourself.

 

[JHemdal]

Gillsec:

Weedies and Leafies are fun to dream about, but they really aren't going to ever by a suitable home aquarium fish. While some people are taking wild guesses here and really overestimating the size of the tanks these fish need, (I kept a weedy for 8 years in a 120) there are other limiting factors: They require a chiller of course. But chillers fail with all too much regularity - so you'll need two. While most seadragons can be adapted over to frozen mysids, they'll need live mysids to start, and then if (when) they become ill, they'll need live mysids to perk up their appetite. Of course they are expensive ($2500 each for the last leafies I bought in 2005, and this has gone up greatly since then. Weedies are still running about $700 FOB Australia).
Well, then there is the disease issue - Mycobaterium and Uronema. The first can't really be cured and the second is almost always fatal.

My advice? Go to a public aquarium to get your seadragon fix and get to work on setting up your seahorse tank(grin).


JHemdal

 

[clownFish1313]

JHemdal

JHemdal

JHemdal
do you still have leafydragons? What size tank do you keep them in? i live in ohio to and never heard of Leafy Seadragons

 

[mhltcob]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11938520#post11938520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by workstoomuch
I was just at the tampa aquarium this past weekend, the tank they were keeping the seadragons in couldn't have been more than 60g tops.

Just for clarification, the aquarium in question is 48" x 48" by 42" or 419 gallons. Tanks look smaller when they are in the company of aquariums as large as 500,000 gallons

 

[gillesec]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11969392#post11969392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JHemdal
Gillsec:

Weedies and Leafies are fun to dream about, but they really aren't going to ever by a suitable home aquarium fish. While some people are taking wild guesses here and really overestimating the size of the tanks these fish need, (I kept a weedy for 8 years in a 120) there are other limiting factors: They require a chiller of course. But chillers fail with all too much regularity - so you'll need two. While most seadragons can be adapted over to frozen mysids, they'll need live mysids to start, and then if (when) they become ill, they'll need live mysids to perk up their appetite. Of course they are expensive ($2500 each for the last leafies I bought in 2005, and this has gone up greatly since then. Weedies are still running about $700 FOB Australia).
Well, then there is the disease issue - Mycobaterium and Uronema. The first can't really be cured and the second is almost always fatal.

My advice? Go to a public aquarium to get your seadragon fix and get to work on setting up your seahorse tank(grin).


JHemdal

Thanks for the response. I figured something that exotic would have so serious limitations. They are spectacular creatures. I'll have to find an aquarium with one that is close to me.