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sea dragons


zhubbell

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I saw some amazing sea dragons at the Toledo Zoo, and since I'm currently stabilizing my tank to get ready for a couple sea horses i was wondering if anyone has sea dragons, or if you even can have sea dragons

Thanks

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Fishfreak218

They are illegal and if you do get your hands on one they are ussually $5,000-$10,000 each.

There is/was one person on seahorse.org that had a few if I remember correctly. They need HUGE chilled tanks.

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you need a special permit for research purposes or something like that, and yeah they cost THOUSANDS, are rediculously sensitive, and even if you had the permits and the cash actually getting your hands on some would be extremely difficult.

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Fishfreak218
you need a special permit for research purposes or something like that, and yeah they cost THOUSANDS, are rediculously sensitive, and even if you had the permits and the cash actually getting your hands on some would be extremely difficult.

x2

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Basically permit = impossible unless you have a better system than an aquarium and can GUARANTEE survival of X species :(

 

I think the Shed's system is like a 150g display (its a round cylinder) plummed with some insane gallonage sump.

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One of the people at our local ecocenters father works out in CA on trying to breed these and so far has had very little success.

They are illegal for the general hobbyist because they are considered endangered.

even tho actual number of this species is at best a guess due to their amazing ability to camouflage themselves in the wild.

when last we spoke his father was not even having luck producing the rite environment to get them to breed let alone carry full term to attempt rearing the young.

someday someone will unlock thier secrets

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One of the people at our local ecocenters father works in out in CA on trying to breed these and so far has had very little success.

They are illegal for the general hobbyist because they are considered endangered.

even tho actual number of this species is at best a guess due to their amazing ability to camouflage themselves in the wild.

when last we spoke his father was not even having luck producing the rite environment to get them to breed let alone carry full term to attempt rearing the young.

someday someone will unlock thier secrets

 

 

Ahhhh, oki-doki....

thxz

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er1c_the_reefer

I was a volunteer at the aquarium in Long Beach when I believe they were the first in the world to sucessfully breed these guys in captivity. everyone was so excited.

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Billabong_Fish

they come from australia, and in australia they are a protected species. i live in australia and i see them when im diving at my local beach lol. i saw one washed up in the rockpool last week because we have had bad stoms recently (if anyone has heard about the pasha bulka being washed up on nobbys beach in newcastle)

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Just wondering has any aquarium been able to keep Leafy Sea Dragons? Because I think the ones in those pics are the Weedy variety.

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yeah the ones in the pics are weedy dragons. i like the leafy dragons most too. I know georgia aquarium had leafies but im not sure if they still have them. I would still go just for the whale sharks and the nautilus though!

 

I agree that these things should never end up in a home aquarium. at least not until we figure out how to care for these things properly. until that day (probably not in our lifetime) price should stay at 10K and over and they should stay very much protected.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I read somewhere that any sudden changes in light (ie turning on if the morning/ off at night) can stress them to the point of death. Imo any creature this sensitive is best kept out of the hands of hobbiests.

 

Edit- the seadragons that is, not whale sharks.

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The aquarium here in New Orleans has both the Weedy and Leafy. I think both the whale sharks at GA aquarium are dead.

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GA aquarium does still have the sea dragons. They're amazing. They have 2 whale sharks but did start out with 3. Their display tank that houses the whale sharks is just insane. The guitar fish and groupers are crazy as well. I definitely recommend checking it out.

 

Bill

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I didn't even know about the second death, that really sucks. Then I read that they imported 2 more. Craziness.

 

Bill

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actually GA imported 4 more. they use to have two, norton and ralph, both have died. so now they have 4 left.

 

sea dragons are endemic to Australian waters. no one really knows if they are endangered since their camouflage is RIDICULOUSLY good. however a species as delicate as they (at least in home aquaria) are bound to be vulnerable to changes in the wild. besides, at 10K and up, why bother with them. stick to stuff that is capable of living in a tank.

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