sea horses

[blissfull]

i heard someone today in my local pet shop asking if they sell seahorses, i thought that it was against the law to have them as pets or am i totally wrong

[rum&coke]

you can get sea horses in most good fish shops I dont think there is any law to say you cant

[blissfull]

must just be me being blonde again then thank you

[TUBBS]

your not allowed natives and certain species are just really hard to get

[Richyroo]

my local fish shop sells seahorses, not sure what type but there yellow ones!!!!

[tinks30]

Just wanted to add these are ment to be dame hard to keep, you have t hand feed each one! Same as pipe fish. Shame as i love them!

[rum&coke]

yes they are pretty hard to keep and best to keep them alone or with other sea horses as any other fish will eat all the food before they get a look in

[AshMashMash]

Originally Posted by rum&coke

yes they are pretty hard to keep and best to keep them alone or with other sea horses as any other fish will eat all the food before they get a look in

Aye. Kept alone, and with the right water current and food, they do very well. I haven't kept them personally, but looked after them.

[TUBBS]

by alone you mean with other species tank with other seahorses right? seeing as they do best in groups

they do well with pipefish and mandarins as well as other slow methodical feeders, and ou dont need to hand feed as such as you cant really hold singular mysids between the fingers, just feed regular small amounts several times a day

[Choggie]

All seahorses are governed by CITES Import/Export Restrictions whether they are wild caught or captive bred.

We specialise in the supply of captive bred seahorses and currently offer the following species

H. Abdominalis
H. Angustus
H. Barbouri
H. Comes
H. Erectus
H. Kuda
H. Reidi
H. Reidi - Giant Brazilian
H. Taeniopterus
H. Zosterae

All captive bred seahorses are trained to eat frozen food and by no means do you have to feed them by hand. If you have a gentle powerhead aimed at the surface water it creates motion in the tank and the seahorses are able to snick the food out of the water column.

There are quite a few different fish/invert companions that can be kept with them, scooter blennies, mandarin fish (loads of live rock needed), clown fish, dwarf angels to name but a few. You can train your seahorses to eat out of a feeding bowl as well. If you feed your fish at one end of the tank, feed the seahorses at the other. When I had my marine tank at home I had eight pairs of seahorses and a collection of fish and inverts and it worked really well. Keep on top of water parameter, paying particular attention to the salinity and temperature and the correct feeding, your seahorses will thrive. At no time do we ever feed live food, the major source of live food is artemia and this has no nutritonal value for the seahorses, frozen mysis and chopped frozen krill enriched with a vitamin supplement once a day keeps them healthy. 10% water change once a week adds all the necessary trace elements and adding a cap of liquid calcium on a weekly basis keeps the calcium levels nice and high (450ppm) which is ideal for seahorses.

We have imported wild caught seahorses but these have gone to different sea life centres for them to start their own captive breeding programmes which is vital in our opinion and for the few that are taken from the wild (under the correct CITES requirement) makes no dent on the amount that are taken for the use in chinese medicine or the curio trade.

We have been extremely lucky to be able to work with our seahorse breeding facilities and the work and dedication they put into raising these is astonishing and they deserve all the recognition we can give them.

Take a look at the pictures on www.simplyseahorses.co.uk to see the actual seahorses we have been lucky enough to have in stock.