Any Seahorse Breeders in Sydney - Australia

[schoemana]

Just wondering if there are any seahorse breeders in Sydney. I have a pair of H.Reidi who provide me with very viable fry regular as clockwork (every 15 - 18 days) I have tried a number of setups to try and raise the fry and and seem to be having some success, as I have 12 fry at about 8 weeks old now (2-3cm) and another 70 or so at 2 weeks from my last batch. (Had two failed batches with total loss in between these) I designed and built my own Kreisel and learnt a lot during a behind-the-scenes tour at the Sydney Aquarium which I believe has set me on the path to success. I grow my own green water, rotifers, copepods and artemia and feed the adults frozen mysis plus some of the larger live artemia.

Question is now: What do I do with them once they grow up - assuming I can get them to start eating frozen mysis? There does not seem to be much of a market for seahorses in Sydney and I really don't want to simply sell them to people who may not appreciate the amount of work that goes in to keeping H. Reidi

Also, would be great to share some ideas and experiences with somebody going through the same experience as me.

 

[rayjay]

There are a lot of seahorse keepers in Australia. A big source though is a commercial entity, Seahorse Australia. They are probably the major supplier of various species in Australia.
Reidi were my first seahorses a couple decades ago and it took me a while to succeed with raising the fry. It got to be too successful though and there wasn't enough stores and individual customers to take all I produced.
Reidi, being pelagic and not benthic like erectus, don't hitch right at birth, have smaller fry and it's much better if you can provide smaller food like copepods in the first couple of weeks. Benthic fry are much easier to raise.
A major thing with fry raising is cleanliness. Water, tank and any contents therein. A bacterial film develops and causes the fry to die off so it's constant wiping down everything and doing frequent water changes.

 

[schoemana]

There are a lot of seahorse keepers in Australia. A big source though is a commercial entity, Seahorse Australia. They are probably the major supplier of various species in Australia.
Reidi were my first seahorses a couple decades ago and it took me a while to succeed with raising the fry. It got to be too successful though and there wasn't enough stores and individual customers to take all I produced.
Reidi, being pelagic and not benthic like erectus, don't hitch right at birth, have smaller fry and it's much better if you can provide smaller food like copepods in the first couple of weeks. Benthic fry are much easier to raise.
A major thing with fry raising is cleanliness. Water, tank and any contents therein. A bacterial film develops and causes the fry to die off so it's constant wiping down everything and doing frequent water changes.

Thanx Rayjay - that does confirm my concerns re there not being many options available as to what to do with the fry should I be successful in raising them. At this stage, I suspect my best option would be; to separate the males (including the adult male) from the females and stop the reproductive process, which is sad ....

Thank you also for the advice on how to raise the fry I already have. I have been using MIC-F Probiotics to counter bacterial growth but will also step up the water changes and wiping down of surfaces.

Thank you again

 

[saige]

There are a lot of seahorse keepers in Australia. A big source though is a commercial entity, Seahorse Australia. They are probably the major supplier of various species in Australia.
Reidi were my first seahorses a couple decades ago and it took me a while to succeed with raising the fry. It got to be too successful though and there wasn't enough stores and individual customers to take all I produced.
Reidi, being pelagic and not benthic like erectus, don't hitch right at birth, have smaller fry and it's much better if you can provide smaller food like copepods in the first couple of weeks. Benthic fry are much easier to raise.
A major thing with fry raising is cleanliness. Water, tank and any contents therein. A bacterial film develops and causes the fry to die off so it's constant wiping down everything and doing frequent water changes.

if you are still selling seahorses, either of you i am interested in buying as long as not to expensive. also, do you have any spare tanks that i could buy at discounted price because they are used? For the seahorses would 45 us dollars be a good price for a pair or a few juveniles? for the tanks it depends how many gallons they are. please reply if you are willing to sell seahorses or tanks.

 

[rayjay]

As the OP is from Australia, and I am from Canada, neither of us would be of any help to you for tanks or seahorses.
First of all, keeping seahorses is NOT, IMO, a task to try to do on the cheap.
I'd suggest first that you do some research into what todays best methods are to try to achieve long term success with seahorse keeping and you can start with the "Files" section of Seahorse Source's Group on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/Seahorsesource/files/files
Any questions you have after doing the research can be readily answered on the Forum of Seahorse Source's Group.
I'd also recommend buying livestock from a reputable breeder rather than from an LFS. The one currently best recommended in the US is https://seahorsesavvy.com/

 

[schoemana]

As the OP is from Australia, and I am from Canada, neither of us would be of any help to you for tanks or seahorses.
First of all, keeping seahorses is NOT, IMO, a task to try to do on the cheap.
I'd suggest first that you do some research into what todays best methods are to try to achieve long term success with seahorse keeping and you can start with the "Files" section of Seahorse Source's Group on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/Seahorsesource/files/files
Any questions you have after doing the research can be readily answered on the Forum of Seahorse Source's Group.
I'd also recommend buying livestock from a reputable breeder rather than from an LFS. The one currently best recommended in the US is https://seahorsesavvy.com/

Thanx Rayjay. Totally agree. Seahorses require a lot of time and commitment however can be really rewarding as they are quite intelligent

 

[schoemana]

if you are still selling seahorses, either of you i am interested in buying as long as not to expensive. also, do you have any spare tanks that i could buy at discounted price because they are used? For the seahorses would 45 us dollars be a good price for a pair or a few juveniles? for the tanks it depends how many gallons they are. please reply if you are willing to sell seahorses or tanks.

Hi Saige. In addition to me reply to Rayjay. Here in Australia keeping Seahorses is not very popular, mostly I suspect due to the effort required to keep them. That being said, seahorses are also quite expensive, selling for about AUD 90 each. Have a read through the forum to see what people say. I really enjoy my seahorses and wish there were more people willing to take the time to keep them. All the best if you do decide to get some.

 

[Clockie]

Just wondering if there are any seahorse breeders in Sydney. I have a pair of H.Reidi who provide me with very viable fry regular as clockwork (every 15 - 18 days) I have tried a number of setups to try and raise the fry and and seem to be having some success, as I have 12 fry at about 8 weeks old now (2-3cm) and another 70 or so at 2 weeks from my last batch. (Had two failed batches with total loss in between these) I designed and built my own Kreisel and learnt a lot during a behind-the-scenes tour at the Sydney Aquarium which I believe has set me on the path to success. I grow my own green water, rotifers, copepods and artemia and feed the adults frozen mysis plus some of the larger live artemia.

Question is now: What do I do with them once they grow up - assuming I can get them to start eating frozen mysis? There does not seem to be much of a market for seahorses in Sydney and I really don't want to simply sell them to people who may not appreciate the amount of work that goes in to keeping H. Reidi

Also, would be great to share some ideas and experiences with somebody going through the same experience as me.

Hi,
I am in Sydney and would like to add to my two seahorses if you have any for sale that are feeding well on frozen food.

 

[schoemana]

Hi,
I am in Sydney and would like to add to my two seahorses if you have any for sale that are feeding well on frozen food.

Hi Clockie
I have not yet been able to get my fry to feed on frozen food - I'll reach out to you once we cross that bridge.