Overrun with seahorses

[cowfishpro]

Way back in the 2000's time frame, I was trying to sell corals online, mainly high price SPS frags. I certainly know what you mean. You just have to take time off of work to package and sell. I even restrict shipping to 1 day per week only and have to shut it down because my time is valuable, I can make a lot more money working than selling corals.
I also ended up with over 1000 baby clowns after several successful broods. It took me 2 years to get rid of them all. I was driving all over Texas selling clowns.

You definitely know my pain!!! I'm not quite ready to retire yet. ;-)

 

[bikerbutter]

Hello everyone. I’m trying to reply through the app and I’m really struggling. First, thank you all so much for chiming in with great suggestions. I really appreciate it. Although I appreciate the idea of shipping from work, my job is of a nature that is very unpredictable. I do not dare bring in live Seahorses and expect to get them shipped out that day.

I’m going to try to upload a couple of photos through the app and see if it works.

Chi, yes, Elgin, Illinois. We should definitely connect.

I reached out to Alyssa and she is trying to give me some suggestions. But I don’t think it’s much different than things I’ve tried already so far.

I did have one person reach out to me who I am trying to connect with,

willing to buy multiples. So we’ll see how it goes. Thank you all so much for your thoughts. What a kind, friendly, and supportive group. View attachment 4166187

Awesome!! We have family in Chicago. On occasion we go to see a cubs game and we stay with them. Saves a fortune on hotels!!

 

[gerdy314]

Thanks, Gerdy. The thought has crossed my mind. Your and another's comment may have pushed me over the edge to reach out to her. Thanks for the PUSH. :-)

You're welcome, if she isn't interested there are other places that raise and sell sea horses. Those are my dream fish, maybe someday.

 

[gerdy314]

Thank you for the suggestion. Maybe when I’m eligible I will also post on the marketplace. Like Facebook, craigslist does not allow the sale of life animals.

Craigslist in my area allows animals sales. It's Facebook you have to be creative in your wording and never put prices, always have people pm you.

 

[gerdy314]

Hello everyone. I’m trying to reply through the app and I’m really struggling. First, thank you all so much for chiming in with great suggestions. I really appreciate it. Although I appreciate the idea of shipping from work, my job is of a nature that is very unpredictable. I do not dare bring in live Seahorses and expect to get them shipped out that day.

I’m going to try to upload a couple of photos through the app and see if it works.

Chi, yes, Elgin, Illinois. We should definitely connect.

I reached out to Alyssa and she is trying to give me some suggestions. But I don’t think it’s much different than things I’ve tried already so far.

I did have one person reach out to me who I am trying to connect with,

willing to buy multiples. So we’ll see how it goes. Thank you all so much for your thoughts. What a kind, friendly, and supportive group. View attachment 4166187

Your seahorses are gorgeous . I don't know about pricing exactly but I do know from ones I have seen for sale that if they have a lot of ciri they charge a lot more!

 

[gerdy314]

Another photo.

Is your whole tank filled with Macroalgae?

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

Another photo.

Those are beautiful! Very cool.
I’m curious what the tank looks like too. Any full tank shots?

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Talk you your mail carrier. USPS will pick up your packages for free if you decide to ship. It were me, I would list them online and have a designated shipping day if possible. Seahorses are going to be tough to unload locally unfortunately, most lfs I know only get them in as special orders.

 

[iannarelli]

reefcleaners uses USPS, and I've never had an issue with them shipping overnight. Maybe it's location specific?

I don't think this is true anymore. The only option I see is UPS overnight now.

 

[jeremym]

Thank you for the suggestion. Maybe when I’m eligible I will also post on the marketplace. Like Facebook, craigslist does not allow the sale of life animals.

Do it under community >pets not in the for sale section

 

[reefernc02]

Hello!

Today is my first day here. I currently have a 300 gallon aquarium with 5 adult Erectus seahorses. I have had these seahorses for more than a year, but I am facing an interesting challenge, so I was curious what others do.

One of my males is extremely prolific. I have raised a number of fry in the seahorse nursery and transitioned them to the 300g. The 300 now contains dozens and dozens, maybe into the hundreds of seahorse fry and juveniles of different ages and sizes.

I know that even a 300g aquarium will not host so many seahorses in the long run. I have a good amount, probably around a dozen, large enough to sell off. I'm interested in suggestions for selling without having to ship or travel. I reached out to some LFSs in my area, but the best I have accomplished is them taking my information to refer their customers to.

I work a very busy, full-time job, and I just can't ship or attend shows right now. I would have to do local pick-up. So I really appreciate suggestions. I also appreciate thoughts on how much to ask. The older juveniles are fully captive bred, born and raised in my home aquariums, and eating both Hikari Bio-Pure and PE frozen mysis.

Thanks for taking the time to read and potentially offer suggestions.

Where are you located

 

[Johnd651]

+1 on pirateship.com. It gives a discount, and lets you do everything from home.

 

[tbrown]

@fishguy242

 

[tbrown]

Fun fact: I was raised in Elgin (for 3 months!). My dad worked at GTE back in the day and they transferred him to the AZ location 3 months after I was born.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I don't think this is true anymore. The only option I see is UPS overnight now.

Reef Cleaners stopped using USPS - it's too slow, even for CUC. I would never ship fish by USPS, even Priority Mail is too slow. UPS overnight seems to be the best way to go for fish, aside from Air Cargo.

 

[tbrown]

Reef Cleaners stopped using USPS - it's too slow, even for CUC. I would never ship fish by USPS, even Priority Mail is too slow. UPS overnight seems to be the best way to go for fish, aside from Air Cargo.

Especially in the summer time.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Elgin represent, lol! I'm in Elgin too.

If you haven't tried them already:

Zooxae
Sea Escapes
Beyond the Reef
Fish Island

I'd start with Zooxae, it's right here and in my experience they're great. I'd talk to Scott if you can, in my experience he's generally available.

On the wholesale side you have Global Reef Supply / Aquanexus, as well as Apet, and some other upstarts (try google).

I recommend calling some of these places and starting the conversation. It's a really neat thing you're doing.

 

[xclusive252]

Another photo.

These seahorses look like the wild ones we get here in NY when in captivity they loose the horn like features in a few weeks. These end up being wonderful pets because they will eat frozen food. Good luck with the sale

 

[randomfishdude]

 

[BCSreef]

If you decide to ship, try go.finiship.com. They ship via UPS oversight at a discount. I use them to ship frags. I print out the UPS label and drop the box off at a UPS store late in the day. Let me know if you need help with any of the details.

Cheers, Bob