Tour of the Sea Horse farm in Kona

[LioKai]

OK, so my on-line name is Lio Kai, Sea Horse in Hawaiian. I love these little guys but here in Hawaii I don't get to see them very often in the wild. Alright, once ever in the eleven years that I've been here. But two weeks ago on the front page of "West Hawaii Today" I read an article about a breeding farm for sea horses here in Kona. I remember hearing talk of this farm years ago, and the article said the magic words "Now Open For Public Tours". That being said, today I put together a company outing to the "Ocean Rider" sea horse farm to take the public tour of the farm, and I gotta tell you I was blown away. Craig and Carol gave a very informative tour of the farm, stopping to talk about and show the ponds where the red volcanic shrimp live and breed (natural primary food for adults) as well as the multitude of different sea horses from around the world. Babies to mating adults. Taking time to show us many of the different animals up close. They also breed and raise their own food for the stock animals starting with copepods and zooplankton, to Hawaiian Ogo (seeweed) and Opae (small red shrimp) and so on. All of this is on the tour and is explained in detail. They breed all of the sea horses there on the farm as well as Anemone fish (Nemo) and a few others animals too. I had so much fun that I want to go back and do it again. They are the only sea horse farm in the USA and they are right here in my own backyard. They only give one tour per day on only two days a week with a max of 10 people. I wanted to go yesterday but it was booked. Other than diving and eating at the Brew Pub, you have got to see this farm. It was awesome. Being there made me lonesome for Galapagos.

Matthew J D'Avella (LioKai)

 

[jiveturkey]

Wow! That sounds very cool.

I might have missed this in your post but...why do they breed seahorses?

 

[_Bella_]

What are they farming the seahorses for, the aquarium trade?

 

[justleesa]

Interesting, thanks for posting...I have a question too.

I thought Mo'olio was the Hawaiian word for Seahorse...if it isn't, do you know what it means?

Looking at the website it looks like they sell them for aquarium use.

 

[Wildcard]

Aww crap! Now I gotta go back to the big isle again Cool! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[LioKai]

"Ocean Rider" only sells to the aquarium trade, not the medicine trade. Live animals only. They do not sell sea horses in Hawaii for fear of a release into the environment. A very cool and responsible concept. I think they sell wholesale and retail although I didn't ask.

Gently translated Mo'o is dragon, Lio is horse, Kai is sea. It doesn't take a leap of faith to find the connection. In english a Mustang is a type of horse and a type of car, but try to translate that into Marshalleze and you get some sort of jumbled mess. Perhaps Mo'olio means !/2 horse and 1/2 dragon? That sounds like a sea horse.

Wildcard, like you really need a reason to come back home.

 

[bluemagoo]

Very interesting, Matt. Another reason to try getting back there. I hope they can make a go of it, financially; it's better than scalping the reefs. Btw, I have heard reports of seahorses in Kaneohe Bay. A couple of fisherman friends have seen them while night fishing in the bay; apparently attracted by the lights (or the food attracted to the lights). At first they looked like baby barracuda, only a few inches long and brownish with vertical bars and kind of just finning in place. On a closer look, it was obvious they were seahorse thingys. One of them knows Jack Randall and it seems that these are pelagics that occasionally drift into K-Bay. He didn't say anything about an established population in the bay.

 

[LioKai]

Aloha Blue!! What do you mean getting back here?? When did you leave??

The sea horse farm has been there for a few years so I am assuming they are doing OK financially. I called them about Hawaiian sea horses and they said they have been working on it so that they have something they can sell to the local market. It turns out that they only sell direct to the home aquarium owner, not to pet stores.

As for sea horses in Kaneohe bay... They get a lot of activity in there that would otherwise be in the pelagic blue, including hammer head births by the thousands.

I've been doing black water diving for years and have only seen one sea horse here in Kona. Black water diving is when we venture late at night several miles off shore into the off shore currents and drop into the darkness to film what comes by. Floating 100' deep in 1500 fathoms of water. As long as you don't think about what you are doing before and during the dive, it is not too scary.

 

[bluemagoo]

Aloha Blue!! What do you mean getting back here?? When did you leave??

The sea horse farm has been there for a few years so I am assuming they are doing OK financially. I called them about Hawaiian sea horses and they said they have been working on it so that they have something they can sell to the local market. It turns out that they only sell direct to the home aquarium owner, not to pet stores.

As for sea horses in Kaneohe bay... They get a lot of activity in there that would otherwise be in the pelagic blue, including hammer head births by the thousands.

I've been doing black water diving for years and have only seen one sea horse here in Kona. Black water diving is when we venture late at night several miles off shore into the off shore currents and drop into the darkness to film what comes by. Floating 100' deep in 1500 fathoms of water. As long as you don't think about what you are doing before and during the dive, it is not too scary.

Haven't left the state. "Getting back" as in returning to Kona to get wet. Was there in March but only for a single dry day to run to a job up in Waimea.

How hardy are those seahorses? I've had good luck with saltwater aquariums in the past (don't do it anymore), usually releasing 'em bigger than when I caught 'em. But it's not an easy hobby; kind of an art really.

Black water? I have a hard enough time with blue water; just don't like that eerie feeling of no reference. But then again, at night, your whole world is limited to your beam's penetration and what you don't see, don't count (not true but at least that makes me feel better). And fyi, to some people, "black water" refers to the stuff that collects in septic tanks.

 

[chepar]

The sea horse farm has been there for a few years so I am assuming they are doing OK financially. I called them about Hawaiian sea horses and they said they have been working on it so that they have something they can sell to the local market. It turns out that they only sell direct to the home aquarium owner, not to pet stores.

I've seen seahorses for sale at a shop here - specializing in fish, so I guess not really a "pet" store. I wonder if this farm is where they got them from.