Home to hundreds and hundreds of fat and happy tank raised seahorses!

WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT WE EXPORT

Florida State Aquaculture Licence # AQ3639170
Florida State Saltwater Wholesale Licence WD17655

Welcome to Seahorse Corral. As a State Certified Aquaculture Facility, all of the SEAHORSE CORRAL staff are trained and credentialed aquaculturalists. This means our technology and level of seahorse care are second to none. All our seahorses are captive bred, and our original broodstock came from healthy,captive bred animals. Our erectus seahorses are robust, frisky, eat frozen mysis (they do not need live feeds!) and are healthy and happy.

All  of the pictures you see on this site were taken by us or our customers and are representative of the seahorses that we currently have in our tanks. We realize the picture quality is not great but we are trying to give our customers an accurate idea of what our seahorses look like. We apologize in advance for our shots.

Our Photo Policy and our new Facebook page.

Whilst we always try to be helpful, we have found that if we send numerous photographs of seahorses to customers who wish to know what we have in our tanks, it gets confusing and can lead to disappointment. This is particularly the case when someone looks at lots of pictures over a period of time, and finds the seahorses they really liked in the first place have already sold. Because of this, we will send a maximum of 2 pictures per customer, if we are asked. To help our customers further,we also have a business facebook page which has tips and hints for seahorse care, instructions on how to hatch brine shrimp, plus a photograph album in it called "What's in our tanks right now" These are current pictures, changed monthly, so you can see our availability and choose what you like. We thank all our facebook friends and hope you will stop by our new page and become a fan.

EXPORT

We are proud to say we are the first to export a CITES protected aquacultured species from the U.S.  Because of the tricky paperwork, long wait, and expense involved, we only ship 50 or more of each species at a time.  For Europe, we have an agent in the U.K  who clears the seahorses through customs and can then hold, split, and ship on orders if you do not want to receive 100 at a time. If you are interested in importing our seahorses, please email us and we will send you details.

Conservation Through Propagation and Research.

Because we focus on two species only (Hippocampus erectus and H. zosterae) our prices are the best you'll find. Additionally, we have enough volume that we can pass on substantial discounts to those who wish to buy our seahorses wholesale. For wholesale orders, prices and shipping information, please call us direct at 813-541-4215. If you are a marine hobbyist and you wish to find out how you can buy our seahorses, contact us. We look forward to hearing from anybody who’s  interested in seahorses.

A note about us.

Located on the west coast of Florida, SEAHORSE CORRAL is in an area renowned for the production of outstanding tropical fish and Hippocampus. With its semitropical climate, long coastline and multiple water supplies, the Sunshine State is an ideal place for aqua farming.

We are a small efficient company dedicated to raising seahorses and protecting the environment. The SEAHORSE CORRAL facility has a totally closed, recirculating water system, which conserves water and minimizes pollution. With the use of energy efficient pumps, reduced use of medications, and use of natural habitats and food, our goal is to reduce our "footprint" and raise our seahorses as close to “in the wild” conditions as science and nature allow.

Here at SEAHORSE CORRAL we are passionate about our ponies.
SEAHORSE CORRAL enforces a strict biosecurity program to maintain a pathogen free farm. We also culture the seahorses with top quality frozen feeds. SEAHORSE CORRAL maintains seahorses in very low density to ensure optimum rearing conditions, keeping our horses healthy and frisky without the use of drugs. So that you are guaranteed the quality we pride ourselves on, we provide our aquaculture licence number on all shipments.

SEAHORSE CORRAL makes minimum use of chemotherapeutics (such as antibiotics) during the culture of our seahorses. Instead, we use selective breeding techniques to produce high quality seahorses with unique traits and colors. The SEAHORSE CORRAL populations are raised from genetically diverse broodstock and raised entirely in a closed environment. Our farm is kept in pristine condition by a great deal of hard work and patience. We "muck out" several times a day, ensuring our horses stay healthy and feed well.
SEAHORSE CORRAL is a small, privately owned family company.

A note about seahorses

Wild caught and Captive Bred Seahorses.
There is a huge difference between a wild caught seahorse and one that has been captive bred. Wild caught specimens have often travelled a very long way, are stressed, sick and hungry by the time they arrive. On top of that, they are unaccustomed to tank life, and require live feeds. Many of them never acclimate to their new environment and food (so they die) and those that survive mostly remain inactive and shy.

Our seahorses are quite different. They leave the farm healthy,  with a good appetite and  plenty of vigor and curiosity. As long as they are not put in with aggressive tank mates (please see below) or mega strong water currents they are easy to care for and fun to watch. Once settled, they make an interesting, active, and attractive addition to the tank.

Seahorse Basics
Seahorses require an aquarium with a low water flow and many places for them to wrap their tails around (hitches) Seahorses love to be kept in herds, but If other species are to be housed in the same aquarium, they should be non-aggressive. Many of the gobies, pipefish, false percula clownfish, cardinal fish, blue green chromis, blue spotted jawfish and blennies are examples of acceptable tank mates. For invertebrates, shrimps, sponges, hermit, arrow and horseshoe crabs as well as snails and starfish are okay. Really aggressive, nippy fish, such as puffers, will harass them and out compete them for food. For a really good and extensive list of tank mates, refer to Will Wooten's 2004 article entitled "Seahorse Tankmates, What's safe, What's not?" published online by Aquarticles.com.

Feeding your Seahorses:
Our erectus horses come ready trained to enthusiastically snick up frozen mysid shrimp. We recommend the Hikari brand, which is clean, a good size and ready enriched with vitamin B. However, there are several brands on the market, just check out the freezer section of your local fish store. Seahorses do not have teeth, so the food should be small enough that they can suck it up with their snout. If the frozen shrimp you have are too big, just chop it up a bit and they’ll soon be eating happily. We feed our stock 3 times a day, but that’s because they are either grown adults that are breeding and need the extra nutritional boost, or babies that are growing and need feeding frequently. Feeding once or twice a day should be enough for your seahorse, but be sure and watch he’s actually eating the food. We recommend treating your horses occasionally with some live feed (such as small shrimp, adult brine shrimp or live mysids) to keep them in top condition. Also, we enrich our frozen feed once a day by squirting a bit of selcon, or other reef feed on to the frozen chunk of mysis (which is in a cup) letting it defrost, and then feeding the horses. As a guide to how much to feed, look at the size of your seahorse and consider how big it's stomach may be. A frozen chunk about the size of a dime should suffice one horse, but watch your stock carefully during the first few feeds to make sure that they're getting enough to eat, but you're not fouling up the tank with waste food. We usually feed until there's just one or two remaining mysids left on the tank bottom after the horses have stopped feeding. Usually, these are snicked up before the next feed so there's no uneaten food lying about to mess up the water quality. If your horses have stopped feeding, watch them carefully on the next feed. If they still don't feed, check your water quality, temperature and also, have a good look at the seahorses themselves to see if they have anything obvious going on. As with any other fish, a lack of appetite is the first sign that there is something not right.

Note:
We have some of the prettiest and brighest colored seahorses available anywhere. These cost more than the brown or black ones but are still less than any other source we know of. You can get an idea of colors by looking at our pictures. They are usually pale yellow, deep golden yellow, pale orange, bright orange, deep burnt orange and translucent pearly white.We occasionally get a totally unique seahorse unlike any others, so far we've had a few multi-colored ones (orange black and white) some unusually patterned ones, and some white with orange or yellow splotches. If you like odd balls just let us know and we'll see if we have any available.If you wish to purchase colored horses, please be aware that we keep them bright by feeding them color enhancing foods (such as "Tahitian Rose" algae paste) and by providing bright colored hitches in their tanks. Since seahorses lack teeth and are not fast swimmers, their main defence against predation is to blend in with their environment. If you do not provide what they need to stay bright, their colors will fade to whatever they feel most comfortable with in that tank.

All our Hippocampus erectus (lined seahorses) were trained to eat frozen mysids as they grew up, so you don't have the hassle and clean up of finding and feeding live foods. If you're adding color enhancement to their feed, just soak one of their daily meals in the algae paste before you feed it.

For more tips and hints on seahorse care, instructions on how to raise erectus fry,  how to tell a male from a female,

as well as pictures and special offers, please see our FACEBOOK page!