Sea dragon collecting...

[archman]

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)?

There are many things I once *imagined* as being easy. Maintaining continuous feeder shrimps cultures was one of these.

Fishes are usually much easier to care for than invertebrates.

 

[maractwin]

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)?

Adult brine shrimp have very little nutritional value, so cannot be used as a staple diet for any fish. Baby brine are nutritous only until they consume their yolk sac. Some frozen brine shrimp fish foods are enriched by feeding the brine shrimp special foods right before they are flash-frozen. Most of the nutrition comes from what's in their stomachs, not the shrimp themselves.

Even through live brine shrimp seems relatively cheap at the pet stores that have it, it is not practical as a constant fish food. The shrimp will only live well for a few days without being fed. So you have to buy it multiple times a week, or setup the equivalent of a culture facility at home just to keep it.

I've only used live brine as a treat now and then for my fishes. And generally hatched at home. But many fish don't notice food as small as baby brine shrimp. That would be true of sea dragons, which are the largest members of the seahorse family.

-Mark

 

[MarkH]

Thanks for the info. I guess I won't be raising seadragons then.