<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8272696#post8272696 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CeaHorseMaShell
as far as I know they are illegal and endangered
They are legal in every country except Australia, and they are 'data deficient' - meaning there is not enough known about them to list them as endangered or not.
Having said all that:
They are avalable to non-institutional organisations ( ie private keepers ), and the prices are coming down as more and more people are successful with them. In the USA you are now looking in the region of $2000 each.
They need deep more than big, but the current recommendations are 6x6x4, although I personally know a pair kept in an 8x4x3 for over 18 months.
They usually convert to frozen very easily. Sealife centres convert them in about a week. This diet is not adequate, and should be suplemented with live foods fed with stuff like spirulena flakes. Ghost shrimp /river shrimp injure them, so soft shelled shrimp are best.
They do try to breed if they have 5 foot or so, but they dont seem to be able to get the eggs to stick to the male. This appears to be something to do with depth - they need more time to get it right, and time = depth.
Fry are born about an inch long, and eat mysid shrimp, conversion to frozen is also fairly easy, and typical survival rates from captive bred are around 20% whilst the survival from while caught males is around 90% so there is something missing in the aquarium setup.
They like dark tanks with little (no) current, as they scare themselves to death if they bump into the glass walls. The successful breeders seem to keep them in tanks with solid walls so they can see clearly where their boundaries are. Sudden light changes are detramental, as are sudden noises transmitted into the tank.
They appear quite hardy, then suddenly die. So it is a chance you take. Temperature is critical. Sealife centres had sudden massive losses one week after a power outage caused the tank temperature to get to 21c. So a powerful chiller with powerbackup is a requirement.
The costs of keeping them equate approximately to those costs of the massive reef systems of 500 gallons up. ( except the dossing and lighting bills... )