Seahorse Wanna-be Owners Check This Out!

[Ethos]

I've been browsing seahorse websites for my nano, and this came up.
I thought it was a good site, never heard of them, so I dunno about spend $65 on one fish.
http/seahorse.com/shop/index.php?main_pa...&products_id=40
Scroll down and thats the seahorse I think that'd suit me best.
Take a look at all those seahorses!
+$300 for a fish? Crazy....

 

[Dragonscales]

Ocean rider is reputed to be a very good breeder and distributer of CB seahorses. They are a little secretive as to which species they are actually selling however, prefering to use the commercial rather than scientific names. That aside, as far as I remember not one person I have ever had contact with who has purchased from OR has ever mentioned any problems as far as their horses are concerned (dead or sickly arrivals, etc). On the contrary I have heard from a multitude of people that the horses are always robust, very healthy and readily take dead foods (sometimes it may take a couple of weeks due to shipment but that is pretty much a norm with seahorses).

Just out of curiosity, what size is your nano gunna be ethos? They may be a little too big for your tank depending on the size of it.

 

[Ethos]

Well, thery do get too big for my nano. It'd be cool if I could though.

 

[pleder]

Make sure you get what you pay for.

Oceanrider obviously breeds there own most of there own horses. There are breeders of certain speices that will state they sold brood stock to OR, prior to OR having them available. There were Kuda's sold by OR that were sold without the OR certification and were rumored to have come from Veitnam.

Currently on there site they claim all the seahorses to be bred in the U.S.A

Previously they claimed all of there seahorses to be high health certified being free from any parasites, diseases or strains of bacteria. You will no longer see that stated on there site. You will also see no copy's of any refund checks given to hobbyist that purchased seahorses from them that were infected with vibrio. Or reimbursment for the seahorses that the OR " high health status" stock infected and killed.

Infact on there message boards you will see an influx of keepers experiencing problems with there stock.

OR representatives have stated numerous times that there seahorses can be mixed freely with other species and not be a danger to the other species, but the other species could be a danger to them since the OR seahorses have not ever been exposed to any strain of vibrio. We know this to be false. You can follow the threads on either one of the two dominat seahorse sites and see this for yourself.

While a business has the right to charge whatever they like for a product IMHO some of the price policies of OR are ridiculous. Why pay so much more for a horse that is red, when it is so easy to get a seahorse to change colors by the use of environment, and vitamin supplements. That however is there perogative.

I do see a problem in the cases where they were selling seahorses of a particular color or distinction for an inflated price to consumers, who would then receive the seahorses, which showed no sign of the color or distinction. OR's response to this was that it is in there gene's. However you are not allowed to breed OR seahorses as stated in there policy. So why pay more for something for it's genetic recessive trait, when you don't have the ability to breed it. Most of the people who order seahorses from OR are hobbyist not breeders in the first place.

The paramount reason not to buy from Oceanrider IMHO is not any of these, but rely's more on there shady business practices. I can't buy from someone who sell seahorses to the TCM. I won't do business with people who were sued for fraud. If a customer orders and pays for something, they should receive it. If there is a delay, they should be notified. If several months go by and the customer has still NOT RECEIVED THERE PRODUCT THEY SHOULD BE GIVEN A REFUND WHEN THEY ASK AND NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THERE CREDIT CARD COMPANY TO HAVE THE FUNDS REINSTATED! Furthermore the cases where OR ships out the seahorse months later without even a courtesy email, warning a customer there will be a seahorse on the doorstep in the morning, is a tad bit irresponsible. Also encouraging customers to illegally smuggle seahorses across the border is unethical.But that is JMO.




An email correspondence between Ocean Rider and a customer.


Dear Ms Lafky,
You are free to take your buisness elsewhere. The double charge was a simple error becuase you hit the submit button twice causing a duplication of your order. The solution is equally simple ..simply ask your bank to reverse the charges. We do not have time to discuss this further.
OR Customer Service

---My response---

So if I placed the order twice, why didn't you fill it twice? You know perfectly well that your response below is false. I am reporting you to the Better Business Bureau and you can be certain that I will indeed take my business elsewhere. There are plenty of other resources for fish food!

Deborah "





Here are some links so you know it is not all "made up"

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=10910&hl=

http/www.bizjournals.com/pacific/...ry4.html?page=1

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=10972&hl=

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php...6&hl=Oceanrider

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=10285&hl=

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php...ndpost&p=211154

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=20810&hl=

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=20270&hl=

http/forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=9389&hl=

http/reefcentral.com/forums/showt...threadid=155833

If you are looking at seahorses I would try seahorsesource.com . YOu can do a search on them as well.