Sea Dragons?

[Saltydrip]

Are they available and/or doable in a tank?? Girlfriend is getting ideas....

 

[altolamprologus]

They're doable but pretty difficult to take care of and are really only for the advanced aquarist. Leafy sea dragons are like $10,000 and pretty much impossible to obtain except by public aquariums. Weedy sea dragons are only like $500 if you can find one.

 

[rayjay]

And, they are a lot more difficult to keep successfully than seahorses.

 

[Cirrhitichthys]

And they need pretty large tanks(6' tall was something I remember hearing, that may have been for a proper spawning rise though), which means equally large equipment to keep up with the water volume and potential bioload of all the food you put in.

And even with a perfect setup, you may not be able to find one, and if you do and can't keep up with its nutritional needs then it will starve, maybe slowly, maybe quickly. Either way, not something you want happening to a $500 fish. IMHO, seahorses are just as cool, and much more doable. H.ingens is a larger(and more elegant, IMO) species than the more common erectus, barbouri, reidi, and would make an excellent species for a larger display.

 

[Saltydrip]

Sounds good to me. The plan was for a 40B seahorse tank and that's what we wil stick too. Thanks for the info.

 

[rayjay]

A 40B is not deep enough if you wish rear fry IMO.
I also wouldn't consider H. ingens for the tank even if you aren't concerned about producing fry.
It would be better to have H. Barbouri or smaller seahorses with that depth.

 

[Jan B]

Sea Dragons are gorgeous. I have only seen in them in large aquarium facilities(zoos and Scripps). I believe that they are available for sale to the public in Australia, but I do not believe you can purchase them in the states.

 

[kudagirl]

Sea Dragons

Sea Dragons

Hi,

You will not buy sea dragons for the home aquarium, its only for the public aquariums. Australia would not sell them to you either.

 

[dputt88]

Hi,

You will not buy sea dragons for the home aquarium, its only for the public aquariums. Australia would not sell them to you either.

they are rarely available in the trade, but not impossible.