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Other info options:
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Wild Caught vs Captive Bred
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"Captive breeding prevents decimation of
wild populations and supports responsible and innovative breeding programs
for those interested in becoming seahorse breeders. In addition, captive
bred seahorses are much easier to keep, having been trained to accept frozen
food, pre-adapted to aquarium conditions, and much less likely to carry or
spread disease. Their survivability in captivity is significantly higher
than that of wild caught seahorses. In the end, it is more cost effective
and rewarding for the beginning hobbyist to purchase CB seahorses." -
Seahorse.org Care Guide
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I really believe that beginners should start with CB and that
experienced keepers should be well aware of the risks before taking on WC.
There are reasons for experienced people to have WC, you just need to be
aware of the pitfalls and be experienced enough to overcome them when possible.
On this subject, you can either call me a hypocrite or understand that
we made a big mistake starting with WC and would like to see others do
better.
Feeding live foods only is expensive. We have spent as much as
$300 in a single month to feed them. Keeping a supply of live foods
can be a real trick - local suppliers can run out, your shrimp breeding
cultures can fail, it can be Friday and you can't order anything until
Monday - and trust me, all these things can happen at the same time.
We have also spent hundreds of
dollars on medications to treat the various diseases and parasites that are
common with WC.
Not to mention the biggest cost of all..... the heartbreak. It's
amazing how fast a seahorse can get into your heart, like a kitten or puppy
can. Losing a seahorse for me is traumatic, and I'm sure most people
feel the same.
Recently, we are seeing what are believed to be pen raised seahorses.
These are often sold simply as Captive Bred or other such descriptions and
legally that may be correct. Pen raised seahorses have many of the
problems of wild seahorses including a tendency to revert to live food only.
You should try to determine as much of the history of a seahorse and it's
source as you possibly can.
Legally, there is no such thing as Tank Raised, but that is the only way
to describe our Tigertails since they were born about 14 days after the
father was purchased, wild caught, from an LFS. There is no proof that
they were conceived (bred) in captivity so they cannot be called CB but I
believe they are. I can't see calling them WC as they have never seen
an ocean.
Additional information is available at the
Seahorse.org library.
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