Sea Dragons

C

cyprinuscarpio

I just recently added a small sea horse to my 24g nano and it's doing fantastic despite everyone telling me I would have a hard time caring for it. He's actively going after mysis shrimp during feeding and none of my other fish seem to bother him.

Anyhow, I recently came across a marine fish related to the sea horse called sea dragons. So far i've encountered the leafy sea dragon and the weedy sea dragon, both of them look awesome from the pictues I've seen online.

Leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques)
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Weedy sea dragon (Phyllopteryx)
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Does anybody know if these sea dragons can be commercially kept, and if so, what size tank would be required? On Wikipedia, they are listed as "Near Threatened" which is almost the least concern on the endangered species scale. If anyone could provide some info on keeping these guys, I'd love to learn more if possible.
 
The can not be kept. The are endangered and protected. they have not been breed in captivity. Tropical Fish Hobbies Just did an artical on them.

quote: "The leafy seadragon Phycodurus eques gracing our cover this month is one of the sea?s strangest creatures, a relative of pipefi sh and seahorses that mimics a piece of seaweed. Rare, endangered, and very delicate, these majestic animals are not for the home aquarium, though public aquaria are starting to have success with them. Bob Goemans takes us on a tour of the realm of dragons starting on p. 90."

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/current-issue/
 
Thanks for the link cabo!

I also found a blog that has some brief information on Sea Dragons. Here's an excerpt I read regarding these beautiful creatures in captivity:

Unfortunately said:
I guess keeping a sea dragon is out of the question :oops:
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@cabo wrote:
The can not be kept. The are endangered and protected. they have not been breed in captivity. Tropical Fish Hobbies Just did an artical on them. quote: "The leafy seadragon Phycodurus eques gracing our cover this month is one of the sea?s strangest creatures said:
There are a few all over the world kept in captivity. A few zoos have them, and there is a hobbiest in Hong Kong that has had sucess with them.
http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=26280&hl=weedy%20sea%20dragon&st=0
They are native to a certain area in Australia and can be brought in a few areas for quite alot if you are willing to make the investment. They are a protected species and they are probably the hardest of all hippocampus to keep. I'm pretty sure there's no converting them to frozen though. :roll:
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http://www.dwazoo.com/newsletter/article.php?a=story5&n=200809

It is believed that Leafy seadragons may require a deeper column of water in order to successfully transfer the eggs. said:
I remember at one of the dfwmas events a few years back, they gave us a tour of the facility and talked about their attempts to breed the seadragons there.
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No they haven't, they are attempting. I am pretty sure DWA will be the first later this year. They just put them in a huge and tall exhibit.

I'll be trying my hand at Weedy Sea Dragons (and not leafys) from captive bred juvs. I'll be bringing in next month, I don't think they'll be too hard to breed. Hopefully they'll be old enough to breed next spring.

@fperkins wrote:
 
I'm importing a group of captive born juvs. from Aussie land next month. I'm expecting to keep at least a pair, hopefully. Not the cheapest things.

@cabo wrote:
 
Ooops, you are correct.

I misread their Happy Birthday.


Do you still operate Intense Herpetoculture?
 
i was at the dallas world aquairium last year around middle of may and the had several new babys swimming with the parents so i guess they were abile to bread them succesfully
 
http://www.dwazoo.com/d/node/30

The webcam at DWA.

It's a bit too far away but sometimes you can see them.
 
@fperkins wrote:
http://www.dwazoo.com/d/node/30 The webcam at DWA. It's a bit too far away but sometimes you can see them. said:
That is too cool! Don't know how they're doing it, but according to the time stamp on the web cam feed, the video stream is actually from 7 minutes in the FUTURE!!! Far out man!

Seriously though - Cool links! The spousal unit love the manatees, and I'm loving having the Sea Dragons occasionally swim by on my desktop...
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You can buy weedy seadragons from here: http://www.riverwonders.com/p-97-weedy-sea-dragon-show-specimen-5-6.aspx

A bit pricey.

You need a very large, chilled tank for them too.
 
Info on tank size for you per a friend of mine.

The big issue with them in captivity is the depth required for a successful mating dance. Current average minimum requirements for a good pair is in the region of 3 meters. Beginner pairs need more. A 6 meter tank is perfect! Fits nicely in a double story house with a loft!


At 4 inches, they would be about 5 months old, depending how the 4 inches are measured by the measurer. Right now they would need a 4' x 4' x 3' high tank. Within a year this should go to a 8' x 4' x 4' tank minimum. If possible, double the height to 8 foot.
 
http://www.oceanproaquatics.com/shop/leafy-dragon-phycodurus-eques-ships-free-tank-raised-p-19767.html

Only [<u>$4,850.80 </u>]!!
 
@Reefmike wrote:
http://www.oceanproaquatics.com/shop/leafy-dragon-phycodurus-eques-ships-free-tank-raised-p-19767.html Only [<u>$4 said:
I noticed that too. Claims they are tank bred. If anything, at least the price will detour anyone who isn't dead serious about putting everything they can into taking care of them.
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