Leafy Sea Dragons

[helicoprion]

The source looks shady, but I couldn't help but post this...a whopping $9800...


http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?sw&1247708402

[Airwolf75]

According to the guy at Ocean Riders Seahorse Farm, who did buy 4 for captive propagation, only 1 permit is issued for collecting them each year to the same guy who gets a pregnant male, collects the young when they hatch, then has to put the male back into the wild. They raise the young and sell them abroad to aquariums and aquaculture joints for over 10K each. That is only legit way to get them. He told me this in May of 2009.

[Terra Ferma]

http://www.riverwonders.com/p-97-weedy-sea-dragon-show-specimen-5-6.aspx

See the above link - curious why a FW fish store is the only place I've heard of with these.

[Airwolf75]

Someone in San Diego should stop by and see.

[Heterodonut]

oceanpro has tank raised leafy dragons for 4850. A few were sent from Au to the U.S. If you don't have the bucks to buy a pair, you most likely aren't going to have the set up for them either, 6 foot deep tank, chilled to 68 F., and an unending supply of LIVE mysis. Some people may have it, few public aquariums do.

[David123]

Wild Leafys are very easy to train to frozen. If these are legal tank raised, then they should be either on, or be even easier to get onto frozen.

[namxas]

ah David! i actually had begun a post hoping you'd pop in with your experiences w/leafies!

cheers mate!

[David123]

lol gday Greg,

From collecting brood stock, wild, to fully trained to frozen was only days, they are great feeders.

I honestly recon as they are a bit on the booring side, very beautiful, undeniably, but they do nothing.

Leafys are ambush predators, so all the buggers do all day is drift around and act like a piece of broken off seaweed, Weedies on the other hand are far more active, and IMO just as lovely, because of the coloring.

Leafys are very hardy, weedies tend to be quite a bit less, the only real problem with leafys is they really spook easily, and flashes such as camera flashes scare them badly, and if there is a lightning storm, this can easily kill them, always have provisions for exclusion of outside light, and in times of possible lightning, run night lights, sort of like full moon.

Leafys do not like light, soft is far better, remember they are a deep water fish and so light is somewhat muted, same with weedies.

I have found leafys at around 20', but that was rare as, usually both are below 60 or so feet.
That is no rule, just observation.

Another thing, Leafys are very spiky, and the spikes are needle sharp and will puncture skin easily, rotten buggers, guess who found out the hard way.