Aloha from Hawaii's Kona coast where I spent the day yesterday learning about captive-bred seahorses from Craig Schmarr who, along with his wife, marine biologist Carol Cozzi-Schmarr, owns Ocean Riders Seahorse Farm . The couple breeds seahorses (all 35 species) to sell to private aquarists in the U.S., where there is high demand for captive bred seahorses (rather than wild seahorses, which are often caught using harmful reef-ruining means, such as cyanide). Seahorses are considered an endangered species due to habitat loss and overfishing to supply the growing demand for seahorses by traditional Chinese medicine and aquarium enthusiasts. Seahorses were listed on CITES Appendix II in 2004. Craig believes the CITES may not do much for seahorses as a trade barrier, particularly in terms of Asian demand, but he concurs the listing helped raise awareness among U.S. aquarists and thence increased demand for his captive bred, eco-friendly seahorses.
Pint-sized dwarf seahorses at Ocean Riders Seahorse Farm. In the wild, seahorses live an estimated one to five years.
Some of Ocean Riders' clients have seahorses that are more than eight years old. Wild caught seahorses in captivity do not typically exhibit either level of longevity; many come to the market diseased and stressed and many die after only a few days. Ocean Riders have a superior seahorse product but they also have an eco-friendly one and therefore earn a price premium: their most ornate captive-bred seahorse (one with a skin anomaly) sells for $1000.
But, due to overhead costs alone, captive breeding is not likely to solve the Asian demand for seahorses for traditional medicine. About 20 million are harvested each year and sold dead and dried for about 50 cents. More on captive-bred fihes for aquaria and otherwise to come this week...
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What is the life expectancy of seahorses in captivity? Are there statistics on wild seahorses vs. propagated seahorses?
Craig said that, on average, the lifespan of a wild seahorse is about two years (in the wild) and that these same seahorses taken from the wild can die after a few hours or days (due to disease). In the best case scenario, a wild caught seahorse can live up to a few years in the tank. But captive bred seahorses (where there is only 20 percent juvenile mortality v. more than 90 percent in the wild) live longer because they are used to aquarium food (frozen fishmeal) and accustomed to the aquarium environment. Eight years old and still kicking (though not with saddles) for some seahorse species...
Jennifer, you're tagged as a blogger for positive global change or something like that. Is it an award or a chain letter? Is it boring? I didn't start it.
Captive bred seahorses are wonderful resource, but be careful promoting ocean rider. They have had a lot of complaints about their service and shady business practices. Reading the archives at http://www.seahorse.org and the seahorse forum at http://www.reefcentral.com you'll find a lot of people had trouble with them. They have a poor record with the bbb.
They also are overpriced for marine fish. There are many breeders and aquarium livestock vendors that sell captive bred seahorses for a lower price, and they are generally larger, healthier animals.
I've been keeping seahorses for 9+ years, and Ocean Rider's reputation has been poor from the beginning, and they have done little to improve it.
Avoid delicate wild caught seahorses and stick with hardy, captive-bred seahorses that are well adapted for aquarium conditions and easy to feed.But captive-bred seahorses are much different from wild-caught specimens and much easier to keep and breed. The recent appearance of hardy farm-raised seahorses that are pre-conditioned for the captive environment and pre-trained to eat frozen foods means that, for the first time, these fabulous fish are no more difficult to feed and maintain in the aquarium than the average angelfish, and are far easier to breed. For the first time, modern aquaculture techniques, successful breeding and rearing protocols for Hippocampines, and effective grow-out technology and maturation methods have brought the Holy Grail of aquarium fish within easy reach of the average hobbyist. And that changes everything. http://www.liveseahorses.net