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Originally Posted by saltcreep
Any item that is harvested in a sustainable manner should be okay for sale, in simplistic terms. Maybe these horses came from a certified supplier and were certified through their facility. Shouldn't be a problem to me.
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One of the problems of keeping wild caught SHs is that they are hard to feed. Initially, they need live food which may not be readily available to many hobbiests. Brine shrimp, while easy to cultivate at home, are not a nutritious meal for SHs. Pods that have been given the opportunity to grow in a refug may be good for the short term, but WC SHs, who are great if slow-moving hunters, will quickly consume them.
Training WC SHs to accept dead food, such as mysis and PE mysis in particular which is highest in HUFAs, is hugely time consuming and often frustrating. Not every hobbiest will have the patience or perhaps even the knowledge to know how to train WCs to eat dead foods.
Unfortunately, too, WC SHs can come with difficult to diagnose health problems.
Ultimately, both lack of proper feeding and inability to treat possible illness can easily lead to the death of WC SHs for many new hobbiests.
I know many of us have inadvertently killed marine fish through ignorance. I know I have and that sucks to me
SHs are more specific in their requirements than, say, clownfish or even angelfish, therefore much more thought must be put into the acquisition of WC SHs than with "normal" marine fish, or with CB SHs that are already trained to eat dead foods.
IMO, wild caught seahorses should be left to those who have studied in great detail the care of the species they intend to keep and be well prepared for difficulties in caring for them.