Seahorse Ranch

Dear John:

Ocean Rider no longer offers the Seahorse Ranches, sir, because it proved to be impractical to ship a fragile, bulky item like an aquarium all the way from Hawaii to the mainland, so you will need to obtain an aquarium of your own. You will find recommendations and guidelines regarding the best aquariums to use with seahorses in the training manual when you read through the lessons.

You must accomplish two things before you can earn your certification and be authorized to order seahorses and/or pipefish from Ocean Rider: First of all, you must complete the seahorse training program satisfactorily. How long that will take depends on how long it takes you to read through the entire training manual, which consists of several hundred pages of text plus more than 250 full-color illustrations.

Secondly, you must have a suitable seahorse tank up and running with the biological filtration fully established. It will take 6-8 weeks for you to cycle a new aquarium from scratch and then allow sufficient time for the biofilter to mature and stabilize before you are ready to begin stocking the tank.

Okay, John, to get you started off on the right foot, I will go ahead and send you the entire training course – all 10 lessons together in one file – in PDF format as an attachment to this e-mail. You can then download the attachment, save it on your computer, and read through the 10 lessons at your leisure, taking all of the time you need to go over the information and absorb the material.

As you do so, it will be your job to contact me via e-mail whenever you have any questions or concerns about the material in the lessons, and I will then do my very best to answer all of your questions and clarify everything for you. And I will also be relying on you to keep me updated when you select the aquarium system you will be using, or make any changes or additions to the tank, so that I can keep the information in my records regarding your particular seahorse setup current and accurate at all times. That will allow me to give you the best possible guidance and assistance as you go along.

All we ask in return is that you stick with the highly domesticated Ocean Rider Mustangs or Sunbursts when you are finally ready to add ponies to your tank, John, just as you are planning on doing. As you know, Mustangs and Sunbursts are the perfect ponies for beginners. They are hardy, highly adaptable, easy to feed, and perfectly adapted for aquarium life — the world’s only High-Health seahorses, guaranteed to be free of specific pathogens and parasites.

Be sure to save the PDF file with the seahorse training lessons on your computer for future reference, John. It includes a detailed table of contents with page numbers, so that you can quickly locate the material or section you would like to go back and review at any time.

Just remember that the lessons are for your eyes only, John, with the obvious exception of any immediate family members who may be helping you with the aquarium or the care of the seahorses and other fish. Please don’t share the PDF file with the complete training program or the individual lessons with any other hobbyists or individuals without first obtaining my expressed permission to do so. Thanks for your cooperation!

Best wishes with all your fishes, John!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Training Program Advisor