Sea dragon collecting...

[sea_dragon]

so how did California get them... and they are breeding them....

 

[khacken]

I did some Googling and found that apparently aquarium sea dragons are raised in captivity, then exported from Australia after reaching about half their adult size - they will reach full size in one to two years. Phycodurus eques may grow to around 16"/41 cm in length.

"One barrier to their acquisition by aquariums is the tremendous expense of feeding them - they feed on tiny live mysid shrimp by the hundreds, and one public aquarium biologist told me the tiny mysids cost up to 85 cents (U.S.) each to purchase."

http://www.divegallery.com/Leafy_Sea_Dragon_3.htm

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, "leafy sea dragons are protected in both South and Western Australia, and additional laws are being considered to provide further protection from harassment. The South Australian government allows one brooding male to be collected each year. The captive-bred hatchlings are sent overseas for education and research programs..."

The big problem is not the cost of the food, it is getting them to eat it. Also, the water quality must be absolutely pristine for the sea dragons.

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/mysidshrimp/

 

[archman]

Well, since the sea dragons are only found in South and Western Australia, I would think that whatever laws they have can be enforced with regards to collecting.

Oops, right you are. Australia-only. My seahorse knowledge is truly pitiful.

As for collecting enforcement, Australia's better than most, which probably means they could locate maybe 10% of ornamental collection violators, 25% tops in high-value zones. 10%'s a pretty good number when compared against most designated marine protected areas found in the world.

 

[archman]

The big problem is not the cost of the food, it is getting them to eat it. Also, the water quality must be absolutely pristine for the sea dragons.

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/mysidshrimp/

Pristine water's not hard to do anymore; it's a requirement for most coral reef setups. A moderately competent reef hobbyist has the necessary skill, and good filtering equipment's easy to come by nowadays.

Yeah, the food's a pain in the butt. Everybody I know that keeps seahorses and pipefish complain about this endlessly. Even maintaining constant brine shrimp cultures is irritating.

 

[Vie]

so how did California get them... and they are breeding them....

I would assume from the Australian...

 

[sea_dragon]

i guess thaat would be it....lol i wouldn't mind just to see one in the wild.... i don't think i wouldn't even attempt to collect one...

 

[isurus]

If memory serves one or two pregnant males are collected each year and the babies are raised and distributed to other public aquaria.

The problem shouldn't be feeding the young as we can now easily feed much smaller seahorses. I believe I read that their spawning dance required a rise through the water column and so it was suggested most aquaria displays had been too small to allow this.

 

[_Bella_]

I did some Googling and found that apparently aquarium sea dragons are raised in captivity, then exported from Australia after reaching about half their adult size - they will reach full size in one to two years. Phycodurus eques may grow to around 14-16"/35-41 cm in length.

"One barrier to their acquisition by aquariums is the tremendous expense of feeding them - they feed on tiny live mysid shrimp by the hundreds, and one public aquarium biologist told me the tiny mysids cost up to 85 cents (U.S.) each to purchase."

http://www.divegallery.com/Leafy_Sea_Dragon_3.htm

According to the Aquarium of the Pacific:

"Our seadragons are now fed frozen mysid shrimp, but it has taken some time to convince them that frozen are as good as fresh."

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, "leafy sea dragons are protected in both South and Western Australia, and additional laws are being considered to provide further protection from harassment. The South Australian government allows one brooding male to be collected each year. The captive-bred hatchlings are sent overseas for education and research programs..."

Are you allowed to take pics of the juveniles? I would love to see them if you can. Monterey is just a little off my beaten path

 

[MarkH]

I can't imagine why mysid shrimp would be so expensive. We have swarms of them up here so thick, they wreck the vis over a large area. I'm sure if an aquarium can breed seadragons, they can culture mysids. And are the dragons so picky that you can't substitute brine shrimp (which you can get live in pet stores for a couple of dollars a jar)? It's a good thing they're not keeping fire-breathing dragons. Feeding them would be insanely expensive, considering the price of princesses nowadays.

 

[MarkH]

By the way, I saw some in the Seattle aquarium a few years ago. Very cool looking. I tried to see some underwater when I was in Sydney, but no luck.