Question: Ocean Rider and You....

[ssantac]

Hi all,

I was wondering how many people have purchased ocean rider horses and added them to your existing seahorse tank and had good success?

I was wondering in particular about carrying diseases. I heard they use ocean water to tank raise their seahorses, and my concern is that those horses might be immune to something they are carrying and will infect my horses...or vise versa.

One of my LFS have some horses from there that are just beautiful, and I was thinking of investing but kinda scared myself off.

Thanks..and Happy Easter!

 

[rayjay]

If they are at an LFS, are you sure they are Ocean Rider and not ORA seahorses? Ocean Rider seahorses are pricey.
Are these horses coloured? If so, they probably won't remain the same when you take them home.
Check out the links at the bottom of "MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING" page for information on the best way to keep seahorses.
Better pricing can be had from seahorsesource.com, pekasponies.com, and seahorsecorral.com with excellent true captive bred seahorses

 

[FlaJohn]

Hi all,

I was wondering how many people have purchased ocean rider horses and added them to your existing seahorse tank and had good success?

I was wondering in particular about carrying diseases. I heard they use ocean water to tank raise their seahorses, and my concern is that those horses might be immune to something they are carrying and will infect my horses...or vise versa.

One of my LFS have some horses from there that are just beautiful, and I was thinking of investing but kinda scared myself off.

Thanks..and Happy Easter!

In past ten years I've had about 8 or so OR (Sunbursts) .

I always had problems with the males not gaining weight even after de-worming. They never ever bred and produced fry even thou they were sold as (mated pairs). I did have one live to be 6 years old.

Some LFS do carry Ocean Rider seahorses in (CA) but going with Ray's guess that they are ORA. Never have raised ORA'a so no help here.

 

[namxas]

If you're going to mix SH from different sources, even same species, you'd do well to give them a long QT (at least 4 months), but then only if you can confirm their origin.

Personally, I've never had much luck with SH from an LFS (they've always been much shorter-lived and had more problems than my SH from a breeder). FWIW, we mixed some OR SH with some home bred/raised SH and had to euthanize all of our home bred SH soon after. I'm not saying it was the OR stock (nor can I prove it), but it's a heck of a coincidence.

 

[ssantac]

Well the store is Aqua Touch, and they are here on RC. I feel that they are reputable and they are the only LFS I 'trust'. My horses are from one of the breeders that supplies AT. When I went there for a few things the other day they said the ones they have right now are from OR. They are bright orange and Pink. They said they may keep that color pretty well. The tanks they are in dont have anything orange or pink at all and in 2 weeks they color hasnt changed.

Flajohn and namxas...thanks for sharing. Thats what I was looking for cuz I'm happy with my horses, and they breed well, and the babies are usually born strong. I was planning on doing a QT for them/it, but I was still scared of something like what happened to you. I'm sure those horses are totally healthy, and a QT would prove that, but what they are immune to and carrying is the problem. I just thought it would be cool since I have 2 famales and a male (mom/dad/baby) I could get another male and kinda be sure to expand the gene pool if you will. Plus that color is hard to resist!!!

 

[CCall]

The horsies at Aqua Touch are from Ocean Rider. The owner knows the people at Ocean Rider.
With any horsies bought from anyone should always be qt even if it is from the same person. I would just raise the babies and keep a few that you raised.

 

[CCall]

We have 2 people breeding erectus' here in the valley that when they can supply the LFS. One of them is a popular clownfish breeder Bob- Reefstew on here.

 

[DanU]

FWIW, not weighing in on who is better and who is not, don't be thrown off by the use of ocean water. Many, if not most, aquaculture facilities near the ocean use natural sea water as it is much more cost effective. While different facilities employ slight variations in their techniques of filtering and sterilizing, flow through and recirculating, it is usually much better than synthetic water in recirculating systems. Some of the other companies named use natural sea water as well.

Dan

 

[TwistedNerve]

From what I read on OR site, they run the ocean water through a series of filters and a UV system.

 

[rayjay]

That's fine for what they raise themselves, but I would have concerns for seahorses raised by others, and sold through OR, that MAY NOT have ANY proper filtering or treatment of the ocean water, similar to offshore systems that raise seahorses for the medicine trade and siphon off some seahorses for the hobby trade.