Since it was suggested
I keep H. erectus right now.
I have kept H. reidi(bred those), H. zostrae(had breeding colony), H. kuda(by mistake), H. comes(lovely, but picky eaters), H. barbouri
Most of them I have at least bred successfully. The dwarf(zost.) colony did wonderfully both times I had them. The last time I have color lines going, and over 60 adults, when someone decided to helpfully spray my shop for bugs. I lost that entire colony slowly over a period of three weeks.
The rectus are what I have now, as they are Florida natives, I have a biotope style tank going for them.
I did the reidi successfully for about 4-5 years, and then traded all my brood stock to a successful breeder for erectus juviniles. I was tired of attempting to raise pelagic fry.
The seahorses ended up taking about 20+ saltwater tanks, various fry tanks, and about 20 diferent cultures of different food items. I had an entire room that did nothing but cultures and some fry tanks. Plus hatching out brine shrimp to feed three times a day(that's hatching three times a day, feeding was at minimum 6)
In about a year I will step production back up with the erectus, as I had to tear down all the tanks due to my needing to redo all my flooring, tearing out carpet and putting down tile. As soon as that is totally done, I can get my new larger sw tank up and running then after it has fully cycled, I will put more broodstock erectus in.
Any questions I am obviously happy to answer, I adore my seahorses, like I adore my pythons.
Wolfy