[FishGrrl]

Bill Stockley stopped breeding and selling CB seahorses as well. I am not sure why, but there were rumors it was from pressure by OR, not net pen rearing.

As for mixing species, I think some of the problem is not exposing some CB seahorses to various common pathogens. I know there was work some time ago using vibrio vaccines on seahorses, and they showed a much higher resistance to disease. But obtaining them for small operations and individuals was very difficult.

Then there is a problem with correlation not equaling causation. Some seahorses get sick in a mixed species aquarium, and the assumption becomes it was related to mixing species. This may or may not be true, but it doesn't explain the mix species aquarium that work. Its probably wise to keep species separate though until a more clear answer is found.

Those points aside, this is a great summary. I absolutely agree Net Pen Raised seahorses are not good for the aquarium. It might help with conservation, but it doesn't do anything to eliminate the problems we had with wild caught seahorse survivability. If wild caught seahorses are dying because they are being poorly handled and shipped half way around the world, then these seahorses aren't going to fair much better.