Leafy Seadragons

[jsbradbury]

Anybody ever heard of keeping these in captivity? Phycodurus eques is their latin name. Damn, I sure would like to if its possible. Probably really fragile and not worth any cost they might incur. Let me know..

Scott

 

[Mouse]

For a start i would try Seahorses.org, but take something flame retardant with you, your dealing with a very very delecate, and an extreemly rare and beutifull animal, and as such its quite a contentious issue to go about wanting one.

I think there are waiting lists for these, but youll probably need about $3000 dollars to pay for it, not to mention the Licences etc etc.

basically its about as endangered and as rare as things get, youll have to wait for the poulation to rise above a certain figure before anyone would even consider collecting one. And then theres about half a million research facilities, rich guys and public aquariums that are in line allready.

Basically in a nut shell, dont go there buddy.

 

[taikonaut]

Sometimes, certain things are best when view as a poster and nothing more. I have a large posters of the leafy dragon as well as some *very* pretty women.

 

[baseman]

Some more info.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/rec/broc/fishcard/dragon.html

 

[ricky1414]

I agree, isn't against the law to possess them since they are an endangered species?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes. It's very difficult to get collection and possession permits, and even then, an individual animal can cost in the thousands. They can be maintained in captivity. The Florida Aquarium has several leafy and weedy sea dragons that have grown quite large.

 

[Len]

There's been good progress in captive breeding. Someday, these guys may be avaiable to hobbyists (captive bred), but probably reserved for those with deep pockets.

 

[kparton]

I saw one of these on display at the Baltimore Aquarium a couple of years ago when they had their special seahorse exhibit. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I went back again to take soem friends just to see that.

 

[Anonymous]

Another thing a lot of people don't consider is their lifestyle. On the freshwater side of things, I keep planted "nature" aquariums (takashi amano style, tho i can't claim to be as good as him!)... anyhow, you know how it goes. After a while you've kept or bred everything it seems like. So I was like "yay! discus time! i think i'm finally ready!" ... sure i was able to keep them just fine but I soon realized that the daily demands of discus do not fit my lifestyle. So I gave them to a good home and put some pearl gourami's on my tank.

... now I tend to avoid extremely high care specimens, no matter how much i covet their appearance. i would assume the leafy seadragon has no tolerance for pollution in the water and requires special food etc.... i would not want to keep one.

 

[ricky1414]

i would assume the leafy seadragon has no tolerance for pollution in the water

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to keep one either, because I dump pollutants into my tank all the time. 8O 8)

 

[Anonymous]

well i meant like ammonia and your typical aquarium pollutants.

 

[jsbradbury]

Basically in a nut shell, dont go there buddy.

Hahah, right on- just came across one on the internet, wanted to know whats up.[/quote]

 

[ricky1414]

hey hwrang, how's your tank doing now after that accident a while back?

 

[Anonymous]

hey thanks for asking. it's doing well. i caved in and bought a mandarin fish. i am a little worried that he too-quickly decimated my copepod population - but i am cultivating craploads in the fuge and he appears to be getting fatter also i have an anemone, a buncha mushrooms (small), and a big leather now. umm a buncha crabs and my two ocelaris clowns. i'm having some trouble with my skimmer - it's a hang on type w/ the surface skimmer mod. if the water level isn't *just right* it won't skim from the surface. evaporation and filling on a daily basis help, but it's not doing the job so lately i have been manually skimming the surface of my water. i was going to buy a bubble tip soon for my clowns to host in.

other than that, i'm sick of this tank already. i want to upgrade to a 54g corner tank or maybe a cubical one. predrilled reef ready with metal halide lights and all that. i'm antsy to set up an uber aquarium, but i know i should wait and play with this one for a while longer to get more experience before i blow my load on the nutty setup i've always wanted. after all, it's my first saltwater aquarium...