Re:Leafy seadragons

Wow, what a fabulous and detailed answer. These wonderful animals are farther along in captivity than I expected. Raising fry just fine, eating frozen mysis, pair bonding and getting pregnant. What a shame that they are just one small unknown trick away from complete captive success!

Can I ask you for some more details about the "beyond the reach of the home hobbyist" part? I won’t claim to be independently wealthy, but I could consider building a custom species-specific tank.

The leafy seadragons that I saw (a year ago…) at Birch in San Diego were kept in a large tank, but not one so large as to be out of reach of the home. IIRC, it was something like a corner bow tank, perhaps a few hundred gallons in size. I’d be surprised if it was more than 400 gallons. Yes, that’s a large tank — but not impossible for the home.

I think, despite your efforts at being reasonable, you’ve gotten me more excited than I was. Is there some way I could learn more about the exact captive-care requirements of the species (esp. the leafy ones)? Even if I built a proper tank, where would the animals come from? Is it legally permitted for me to have one in a home, if I’m not a public aquarium of some kind?

I’m very encouraged by your report that the current public display animals were captive-raised (if not bred), and that they eat frozen food. I hope you’ll indulge me in at least one more step of why this is such a bad idea for my home :-). After all, the animals are absolutely [u]magnificent[/u].

Thanks so much,
— Don