Well, Dwarf Seahorses are definately worth the effort IMO.
Not to contradict Bev, but having had these guys, the effort is not that much really. Had two BBS hatcheries going at all times. They will eat adult brine but the seahorse fry do require 1 dy old BBS. you can keep the fry in with the parents without any problems.
That being said there are many other difficulties in keeping them. the low current - high nutrient levels are very conductive to a cyano outburst. For the sames reason cyano is really hard to elliminate once it sets in. These seahorses are so slow and unwilling to move around I even had cyano growing over a couple of them.
The brine shrimp is a excellent food for hydroid outbursts - they a deadly to the frys and can really annoy the parents. And are equally hard to remove once they set in.
If you are thinking of housing them in a nano tank - make sure there are no stinging coral, low flow and lots of hitching post. Dwarf seahorses are not known for swimming around, they mostly hitch on to something and will stay there for days.
Rearing the frys is suppose to be the easiest of seahorses as they are developped enough at birth to eat BBS. I found that the fry are not forgiving to fluctuating water quality and need alot of food to grow.
The intestinal tract on these fish are extrmely small and as a result alot of nutrients are wasted as they pass through too quickly to get all the nutrient out. A good cleanup crew can help tremendously, but be careful on which you keep as most of the standrd cleanup crews will eat the frys. I would recommend at least a 5% weekly water change to control nitrate/nitrites as well as help keep the amount of waste product down.
If interested, here or some pics of my last dwarf seahorse tank:
http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php...dwarf+seahorse
All my efforts to breed these guys at the time were failures, then the most of the breeding stock died of old age. I am in the process of trying to aquire new breeding stock in these guys and will definately share any frys that come about. Bare in mind that it will more than likely be months before I finish the beaurotic red tape required to get these guys and then at least 6 months to get a good breeding cycle going.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no Canadian supplier or breeders at this time. I have heard rumors of one comming but no idea as to when. I got mine by fluke as a LFS got them in by mistake and I was there on the right day to capitalize on it.
Sorry, didnt mean to hijack the thread just thought I could help by letting you know whats going on with these guys. I have been in the works for over two months trying to get more but keep hitting a wall everytime.