When I looked up hippocampus kuda, every single source stated they grow up to 12 inches. Doesnt seem dwarf to me. One source even had an identical picture to the one we got in our AI email (same background tank and horse) Anyway thats what made me think they are not really dwarf seahorses since from what I have read dwarf dont get much bigger than 1.5 inches.

Kudas aren't dwarf seahorses.
AI must have made a typo.

Kuda are not "Dwarf" seahorses, they are pretty regular sized. Really the only species of Dwarf seahorse that gets put into the aquarium trade is H. zosterae. ... and they can be found in the Florida area I believe.

I've tried devising many plans to get them into Canada, since they are actually relatively cheap ($10 a peice US if you only buy a few... and the price goes down from there as you buy more). One such plan was to ship them to friends of mine in Pt.Roberts, and then go over the border with them in my bag (ohhhh how illegal of me). I dont have the guts for it though, but I also dont have a few hundred dollars to fork over for a cites permit.

HOWEVER! They are a lot of work, since you need to daily decapsulate and raise BBS for them. Also, they need to be kept in a small tank (2-5 gallons for a normal sized group, a large group (20+ horses) could be kept in a 10 gallon). And we all know the challenge with keeping water stable in a smaller tank that gets fed once or twice daily.

;)

Alas, it would be an interesting venture... so I would be interested in considering them for my little desktop nano that is sitting empty beside me....

:)
-Diana

CITES aren't hundreds of dollars BTW (although I should say that they are so I can charge more for corals...lol).
the biggest problem with CITES is that the person shipping the stuff, not the buyer, needs to fill out the paperwork and most suppliers aren't willing.
It can also take up to 2 and half months for the paperwork to be processed.
Neal