Well I'm sorry too as I'm looking to buy 8 kuda to add to my stables.
Unfortunately the term captive bred is too often misused and misunderstood in the seahorse trade, and not knowing the breeding source makes this proof unable to attain.
I'd like to explain, just in case you are not in the know.
Most seahorses brought into Canada in the last few years are considered to be tank raised or net pen raised. These are seahorses bred mostly offshore, but sometimes on this continent, but are basically raised in ocean water that is not sufficiently treated and filtered for pathogens naturally contained in that ocean water and as such, need to be put through a 3 drug, nine week protocol to remedy this and make the chance of success much greater and comparable to, seahorses that are truly considered to be captive bred.
Unfortunately, some seahorses don't survive the deworming protocol.
True captive bred seahorses come from breeders using properly filtered and treated ocean water, or, using water prepared from commercial salts, and as such, are much more expensive than the tank/net pen raised seahorses.
The cheap price of the tank/net pen raised seahorses is made possible because the breeders are primarily breeding for the Chinese medicine trade, where there is no need to take care of the pathogens the seahorses inherit from the ocean water. They simply siphon off a very small percentage of the hatch to sell to the aquarium trade.
Stores here in Canada, including sponsors of Canreef, who are selling true captive bred seahorses, like ones from Aquamarine International, benefit from advertising the breeding source because it speaks of better quality and better chances of success for the hobbyist.
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