Dwarf Seahorses

[reef-keeper]

These are captive bred and thrive on fresh hatched brine shrimp. Very easy to set up a couple hatcheries to accommodate them. And as a treat you can feed them newly hatched coepodes

[rayjay]

As dwarfs have a very short life span, it is much better to enrich the brine nauplii before using as food.
Their normal 1 1/2 yr lifespan might get over two years if done correctly and consistantly.
Grow out the newly hatched nauplii for a day (they cannot feed until they molt to the Instar II stage where the digestive tract is completed), and then enrich using new water and new enrichment for each of two 12 hour stages.
They would be considered gut loaded after one stage, but after the second, the enrichment will have become assimilated into the flesh providing more enrichment than just gut loading.
The best enrichment to use is Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com.
When I imported them a few years back I think the cost worked out to be in the $30's. Watch out for the brokerage fee when landed in Canada.

[reef-keeper]

Will be ordering in two weeks. Prices will be divided equally once I get a final tally. There will be an added cost depending on the amount of brokerage fees applied. I'm getting 15 for myself. I'm ordering from seahorsecorral.com if any body would like to check thing out. Plus I'm self clearing to save on the brokerage fees.

[reef-keeper]

New update!!! Just got the info on the cost of the the dwarf seahorses. If I ordered 25 it will cost with all permits and inspections $1300.00(CAD) roughly. If I order 100 horses the cost per horse will be roughly $30.00 dollars(CAD). This price does not include the clearing fees, duty or taxes. The cost might go up to $35.00 per horse. Do I have any body that is interested? They are captive bread and they do eat finely chopped frozen food. I'm ordering in first week of September. Please let me know as soon as possible.

[rayjay]

Was it Beth that told you they were eating finely chopped frozen food?
I got dwarfs from Beth at Seahorse Corral in Florida and they wouldn't eat enough frozen anything to survive. They would pick at some occasionally but they certainly couldn't sustain themselves long term.
A good life span for dwarfs is 1 1/2 to 2 years.
If you check on seahorse.org, I think you won't find anyone who has been able to get the dwarfs to sustain themselves on frozen foods of any kind, shaved or not.
I've always had to use enriched (with Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com) brine nauplii.
I believe Yvette is feeding hers enriched brine nauplii and possibly some of the copepods she is culturing.
This is from the seahorsecorral website.

Our dwarves will pick at frozen cyclops but to ensure really good health they require a feed of live baby brine shrimp daily

IMO, they should have at least TWO daily feedings of live enriched baby brine shrimp. Remember too that you have to grow the shrimp out for a day after hatching until they develop a full digestive tract. Up to then they cannot feed and thus cannot be enriched.

[reef-keeper]

Yes Beth said they are eating frozen food. But still need a daily feeding of live brine shrimp.

[reef-keeper]

Tank is almost ready!!! Will be ordering within the next two weeks. The more I have to order the cheaper they are!!! Please do your research If you are going to buy. They NEED 1 day old newly hatched ENRICHED brine shrimp to be happy @ twice daily. But they will also nip and finely chopped frozen but that will not sustain them. AS previously posted the cost for permit, vet and government inspections is quite costly when ordering under 100 horses.

[swill]

Do you plan on selling any once you get them in?

[reef-keeper]

You know I just might. But after paying for everything they might cost a very shinny penny.. cost me almost $60.00 per horse with all the fees and permits. And I expect delivery Oct. 1st. Thanks for asking!!!

[rayjay]

How many are you ordering? It didn't cost me anywhere near that and I'm sure Yvette's dwarfs came in at a much lower cost than that.