Pegasus Posted April 4, 2002 Report Share Posted April 4, 2002 Been reading the thread above with great interest. A long time dream of mine has been to keep and breed the Hippocampus species, namely H.abdoninalis, (Big bellied), H. hippocampus, (short nosed), and the H.guttulatus, and H.ramulosus.. I had some for a while but after a few months they died, despite feeding with brine shrimp and replacing the water with natural offshore seawater. Just wondering now if it was the heat, which in my tank was in the lower 70s F. The net gives a lot of info, but first hand knowledge of success in NZ would be helpful. Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fee Posted April 4, 2002 Report Share Posted April 4, 2002 I've got 3 H. abdominalis in a small aquarium at the moment, I've only had them a week so I'm interested to see how everything goes, at present the Temp is 23c (72F) which according to my book; "Seahorses" by Tracy Warland from the South Austrailian Seahorse Marine Services; is a bit high as she recommends 19-22c. My Temp. is due to the ambiant temp. of the room & I'm just going to leave it alone & see what happens! They seem to be eating OK- Liquid food and Brine shrimp flakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 4, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2002 Hi Fee, I was just browsing the net last night and typed in "Seahorses" There seems to be a lot of info, but little from NZ, although I understand there may be a supplier over here somewhere. Love to hear more about your trials as they progress, salinity, etc. I fed mine mainly brine shrimp, and the air supply was quite strong, and I'm wondering if this was also a mistake on my behalf. Great to hear from you. Best regards, Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Copepod Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 Try using live mysids if you can catch them. Or frozen ones if you can't. Artemia are OK but need to be enriched to meet the nutritional requirements of marine fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 12, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 Welcome to the happy group Cpt Copepod, we're sure you will enjoy your time here. I'm not familiar with 'mysids' and can't find it in the dictionary, but no matter, I presume it is some form of live food. I don't think the brine shrimp was my prob, I always fed mine, but more than likely water conditions and heat, possibly escalated by the slightly strong airflow I had running. Great to see a new member and we'd all love to hear about your fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Copepod Posted April 12, 2002 Report Share Posted April 12, 2002 Hi - happy to add comments where I can, but probably only of limited use as I don't keep fish, but have been involved in commercial aquaculture - I suggest you look up mysids (and copepods) on any internet search engine, they're out there! ( Also to be found in shallow coastal areas and estuaries). My main interest at the moment is to find a source of newly hatched guppies in NZ - any ideas ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleatidium Posted April 14, 2002 Report Share Posted April 14, 2002 The pet shop Wet Pets in Palmerston North has seahorses on display. I dunno if the sell them. I assume they are the species commonly found off the NZ coast. Last year I did a 3rd year Aquaculture and Fisheries course at Victoria University as part of my BSc and we visited one of NIWA's facilities. They have worked how to keep and breed seahorses succesfully. Their research was geared towards the farming and mass production of seahorses for the aquarium trade and the Asian medicinal market to alleviate the pressure on seahorses around the world from wild harvesting. I don't know if any of this is being done in NZ commercially at present however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 15, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 Thanks Deleatidium, (is this a latin name My eldest son frequents that area, I'll get him to have a look in on the shop. Many thanks Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 15, 2002 Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 There is a place in Hawkes Bay called Hawkes Bay Aquaculture who are meant to be breeding Seahorses for commercial use, any one please correct me if I am wrong please Cheers /Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Copepod Posted April 15, 2002 Report Share Posted April 15, 2002 Both NIWA and Hawkes Bay Aquaculture ( Blair Grey) have developed methods to culture large numbers of sea horses for the aquarium market. I don't think HBA are selling any at the moment. Here are a couple of scientific papers that may help: Woods, C.M.C. (2000). Preliminary observations on breeding and rearing the seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis (Teleostei: Syngnathidae) in captivity. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 34: 475-485. Woods, C.M.C. (2000). Improving initial survival in cultured seahorses, Hippocampus abdominalis Leeson, 1827 (Teleostei: Syngnathidae). Aquaculture 190: 377-388. Woods, C. (2002). Seahorse culture. Seafood New Zealand, Vol. 10 No. 1 (Feb 2002). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBAAqua Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 :lol: Greetings All, I note that there has been some discussion regarding seahorse sales from HBA Aquaculture Ltd. Yep - we have around 50 000 of the suckers - all farmed! We have a variety of sizes and colours. All permits etc from the Ministry of Fisheres have been granted for sales to the public and aquariums alike. We are actually going to open up to the as a tourist venture in about 3 - 4 months time - so feel free to visit us after that! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi Blair, Welcome Aboard. I thought I was right when I quoted your ventures name 8) Any chance of a sneek preview at some stage?? :lol: Cheers /Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBAAqua Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hey Bruce! Yes that will probably not be to much of a problem. Are you wirking during the day? One day next week? Blair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hey Bruce, while you're there visiting try and wangle a visit as part of the FNZAS conference mystery bus tour in June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi Blair How would next Friday 26th suit? Finish work at 11.00am on Fridays Thanks /Bruce Looking Forward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 Hi Rob Now that wouldnt be a mystery then would it :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 So far the only people who would know here that are also attending conference are myself and Caryl - I'm sure we could keep it a secret - we wont tell if you wont Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 16, 2002 Report Share Posted April 16, 2002 My lips are sealed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted April 17, 2002 Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 So are mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 17, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2002 Just recieved an email to say I had a message about seahorses. Pretty excitedly I logged on to the section but there's nothing but club news. What a disappointment. Sorry guys, must have been the overflow from the other page Just a little awkward when you're following a topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 18, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 Hi Rhys, Saw your message in the other section. It was me who made the initial enquiry. Sometime in the future, (If I get time) I would like to try Seahorses once more as they have always fascinated me. Perhaps you could get your freind to write an article, I'm sure there would be a great interest. Regards Pegasus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 18, 2002 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2002 ooops.... the thread snapped. Seems to have gone somewhere else. Lotta seahorses around here.... somewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted June 13, 2002 Report Share Posted June 13, 2002 Hi Blair, How will the sale of live seahorses be handled? Will there be sales to the public directly from the tourist part of the business, or will it be exclusively through retail stores? Any idea of target retail pricing? Great place by the way. You guys have come up with some really awesome and innovative ideas. I hope they are suitably commercially protected. Can't wait to see how the tourist bit works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.