Most people are more successful in the long-term with CB than WC. That isn't to say you can't succeed with WC, but most are stressed, starved and either diseased or immunosuppressed once they get to the pet store. Seahorses need to eat much more frequently than most marine fish, every day. Typically, when they are removed from the ocean, held, sent to a distributer, then often to a wholesaler, then on to a pet store, they are starved or have not been offered the proper foods, have been crowded and often kept with incompatible tankmates. Even if they are in pretty good shape when they arrive, they are much more likely to be carrying parasites or disease that can flare up and cause mortality under stress conditions.

There is also the issue of live foods. Some WC can be trained to eat frozen food, but many will never accept anything but live food. It is not easy to provide for the nutritional needs of seahorses with the live foods that are commonly available. Brine shrimp is nutritionally empty, and must be enriched. Even then, it is not a sufficient dietary staple for seahorses. Ghost shrimp are hard to find in small enough sizes and are wild collected, potentially bringing in disease and parasites.

Two good sources, Hawaiian red shrimp (from Ocean Rider or Stockley's) and juvenile white shrimp (raised for the sushi market) from Seawater Express (George, or noni on this board) can be very expensive, even if they are a good deal. A medium sized adult seahorse may eat 10 young 1/2 to 3/4 inch white shrimp a day (2 or more times that of the smaller Hawaiian shrimp). George charges a very reasonable price, about $120 delivered for 500. (But shipping to Canada is expensive and difficult!)

Say you have a pair of seahorses, eating 10 a day each (which may not be enough!). That's 140 a week, so your $120 only will take you through a little under 4 weeks. Conservatively speaking, you will be spending about $1500 a year to feed one pair of seahorses. On the other hand, I was able to buy a 5 month supply of frozen PE Mysis, delivered on dry ice, for under $70. I do offer other foods, so let's say if I fed PE Mysis exclusively, I have a three month supply (5 packs, 8 oz each). This feeds my 16 adult seahorses. Economically, a CB seahorse you buy already trained to eat frozen food is way ahead of the WC you "may" train to frozen.

My WC erectus took two weeks to learn to eat frozen mysis, which is unusually fast. During that time I was constantly scrambling to find suitable live food, noni's shrimp weren't available then. I was driving 35 miles and handpicking appropriate sized ghost shrimp, at $0.25 each for two weeks. The time and money spent was more than the $30-50 difference between WC and CB. And I needed the space and time, not to mention the tank or bucket, to hold, care for and feed the live food.

And if you need to treat for disease, be prepared to spend a LOT of time and money. Of course CBs come down with disease too, but it is more prevalent in WC. The only good part about that is that the WC usually don't linger as long as the CB, so you spend a little less time and money before your seahorse dies.

So, are you convinced? As with any pet, the initial cost is just a fraction of the investment you will make in maintaining an animal properly. If you can't afford the difference in price between CB and WC, you probably can't afford seahorses at all. I have had experience with both CB and WC. If they are available, I will go with CB every time, they are a lot less heartbreaking, usually.

There is one notable exception to my argument, which is dwarf seahorses. They are usually shipped straight from the collector (though not in Canada, of course). These guys are unusually hardy, and I believe WC can potentially do as well as CB, as long as you treat effectively for hydroids.

Related Topics:
Wild Caught vs. Captive Bred