Seahorses local??

[BCOrchidGuy]

Does anyone have any idea who sells sea horses locally? I am interested in getting some dwarfs.

[ron101]

I understand that all hippocampus seahorses are now on CITES endangered list. Think you'll have to look into ordering captive bred for an outfit like Oceanrider.com.

[Samw]

Not sure what the Cites deal is. Might not be a complete ban. Might just require a permit like corals. They aren't regularly stocked anywhere. However, I got my wild caught pair from King Ed about a month ago for my office tank. Still trying to get them to eat frozen food (Not easy). I've seen sea horses everywhere on occasion within the last 2 months including Big Al's, Aquariums West, Aqua Fanatics, King Ed, and J&L. J&L doesn't stock them but will special order them. The ones I saw there were the expensive Brazillian ones and they were already presold when I saw them. At the other stores, they were wild caught Kudas and Yellow Barbouris. Mine are Yellow Barbouris.

[Aquafan]

We have 3 Black Kuda right now.
They ignore dead foods but they have eaten some of my hermits.

I'd love to see them to a good home were they get the attention they need.
Normally I bring them in as a request only as well. I don't currently have the most ideal setup for them.

[Nullig]

I've seen them at Paul's Aquarium Supply - not sure of the address, but it's behind the Costco on King George Hwy and 74th.

Noel

[BCOrchidGuy]

Aquafan you have a private message.

[Diomedes]

PLEASE Don't buy wild caught sea horses. Right now wild populations are under a tremendous amount of stress from the asian folk medecine market. Just look in any Asian herb market, there are hundreds if not thousands of dried seahorses...it makes me sick to my stomach. Please only order tank-raised Sea horses. I can aquire some, but it is better to order from a dealer on line because I have to order through academic channels locally. For any other info send me a priv.

Stephen

[Samw]

BCOrchidGuy, sorry to hear about your tank disaster in that other thread.

Did you ever get the seahorses that you were looking for? I saw some big fat Kudas today that were eating frozen mysis shrimp at a store.

[saltcreep]

Seahorses have been listed as CITES appendix II as of November 2002. They will require permits to import, including captive bred, in May of this year.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Samw, no I haven't yet, I have a line on some but I haven't heard back as of yet. I have a 20 gallon and a 27 gallon tank that are free so they definately won't be going into the main tank.

[Samw]

Hi. YGPM.

[traco]

Bump up to the top.

Has anyone found a place that sells captive bred seahorses?

[BCOrchidGuy]

I found one place in Hawaii, but they won't ship to Canada... I used to have a post office box in Blaine and get my shippments delivered there and just drive across the boarder with them. I have been thinking of doing it again and getting half a dozen dwarf seahorses but I am out of tanks and space right now....

[EmilyB]

Some time ago, I went to visit a local sea horse importer (of captive breds).

Hers all came in from Australia and were 90+% success on shipping. We spent some time there, and bought the book, and I have been looking for it ever since this thread started.....

We just decided they were not really that interesting as a total tank focus. I can see now, however, they don't have to be.

[EmilyB]

Someone emailed me about this importer, so I dug up her webpage:

http://www.aquaparadice.com/

[BCOrchidGuy]

Thanks Emily I emailed her and got a reply.

[Quinn]

hippocampi are available regularly at a few albertan LFS', so they are obviously available somehow fairly easily.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Today I got two black kudas, they were wild caught unfortunately but, they are eating in my refugium. I tried to feed them frozen brine shrimp and frozen plankton but they didn't show any interest in it, as the pods came out to feed on the frozen food the seahorses perked right up and started chowing down.

I have a massive pod population so I think they will have enough food until they figure out how to eat frozen stuff.

In the mean time I am setting up my brine shrimp hatchery again, just incase they eat the pods faster than they can reproduce.

[Beverly]

hippocampi are available regularly at a few albertan LFS', so they are obviously available somehow fairly easily.

AI in Edmonton had a few different species of sea horses when I was there yesterday. Saltwater Fantasies sometimes has them too.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Emily gave me a contact in Alberta, she imports Seahorses from austrailia and then sells them in Canada. The bad thing is she is very expensive,$50 each for them. If it were easier to cross the border right now I would just order them from a breeder in Hawaii and have them shipped to a PO box in blaine and then carry them accross the border myself. I can get real nice Pygmys from a breeder in Hawaii for a song, for $50US I could get a breeding pair with their offspring.

Shipping would probably be expensive though.

[Samw]

This place just started up for captive bred seahorses in Canada. Been seeing posts on seahorse.org

http://www.seanic.ca/

[BCOrchidGuy]

Thanks so much I appreciate the link.

I've got a source on half a dozen more kudas so I will probably get them but I think I would like to get a few more horses, maybe something different.

Seahorses are now cities II I believe. In 3 months the export of wild caught seahorses will be illegal, (maybe 6 months)

[DBM]

CITES II means the seahorses aren't illegal, just that the trade in them is regulated. I'm sure kuda's will still be coming in with Indonesian coral shipments since the permit is already paid for. CB is obviously the better way to go though.

[BCOrchidGuy]

It's all very confusing to me, I was told that indonesia's cites permit expired and it would not be renewed because of over fishing.... I was also told that all wild caught seahorses are now considered endangered and the suppliers have only a few months to ship them before it is banned.....

I wish it were easier to get valid information.

[DBM]

I understand there has been quite a delay for some companies in Indonesia in getting their CITES permits. I've spoken with several Indonesian exporters and haven't heard anything about it being closed to coral exports. Some have been waiting a long time to get their permits renewed, but nobody has mentioned an actual closure on exports.

Rumours spread quickly in this industry, remember the rumour of Fiji losing their CITES?

[BCOrchidGuy]

Nope can't say I remember that at all.... Like I say I wish it were easy to get good, hard facts.

[saltwaterseahorses]

k, theres some at J&l aquatics in Burnaby, some at petlovers in abbotsford, and sometimes they get them in at Big Al's

[VFX]

You just replied to a post from 2003...

[saltwaterseahorses]

ya but just in case he/she is stilll looking!