Pipefish

Anyone kept a Pipefish --successfully?

Talk to Winyfrog She keeps them now. You can see them in her POTM entry. They are a pretty hardy fish but they are very slow eaters. If they have to compete for food, they will die. They are best kept in a species tank, or with other slow eaters like sea horses, mandarins, blennys, gobies, etc. If you place them in a tank with anything more aggressive, then you will have to target feed every day.

Someone else on here has a Seahorse tank. I'm sure they will have info too. Sorry can't remember who, but they have a lot of plants in the tank... there's a picture on here somewhere.

picasso has some seahorses

they need to be in a tank with less competitive eaters, need to be feed about three times a day, cant be in a tank with stinging corals because they usually rest on corals, hardy once established

what type of pipefish are you interested in keeping, I have 4 different species in my 180 right now. One of my pairs constantly have eggs. What do you want to know about them? Pipefish are my favorite I would be happy to just collect them and keep.
If you can keep a mandarin alive it is no problem for a pipe.

How about current, Winy?

they can handle some strong current but not like blasting them with current

So, they're much more hardier than Seahorses? #74 have you had them before?

no but ive read plenty on them

I have a plate coral which stings, I think. Piepefish probably not compatible with my tank. I'm starting to feel like there's not enough fish to choose from. Am I nuts?

with your tank size you would be correct

winyfrog said:

what type of pipefish are you interested in keeping, I have 4 different species in my 180 right now. One of my pairs constantly have eggs. What do you want to know about them? Pipefish are my favorite I would be happy to just collect them and keep.
If you can keep a mandarin alive it is no problem for a pipe.

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Gosh I don't know much about them. Which kind are the most hardy and easy to keep? I have tons of pods but I am concerned they will go over the sides of my Zero Edge. I am moving everything out of my Red Sea, so they might just work in there. I've always wanted Seahorses and Pipefish but thought they were just too hard to keep. Thanks Winy!

dcantucson said:

Gosh I don't know much about them. Which kind are the most hardy and easy to keep? I have tons of pods but I am concerned they will go over the sides of my Zero Edge. I am moving everything out of my Red Sea, so they might just work in there. I've always wanted Seahorses and Pipefish but thought they were just too hard to keep. Thanks Winy!

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In your Red Sea you could keep the dwarf pipefish "doryhamphus sp." they will require at least 2 times a day feeding in a smaller aquarium (so more maintenance) unless you have lots of copepods. I feed mine cyclopeeze and cyclops.

Pipefish will with stand a hirer flow but you do want to be careful with stinging corals (if your flow is high they can sometimes get pushed into them)

Seahorses are a challenge I have only been succeful keeping them for a year or so,they did start breeding in my tank, ONLY get tank raised! Wild caught are almost impossible. You would want to keep seahorses in a species only, pipefish would be okay with them. NO tangs or any fast swimming algae loving fish.

As far as in you zero edge (I want to see picture by the way, those are cool tanks) you should be okay I think that thats like an overflow correct? I occasionally need to fish out my pipes from the overflow or refug, but they tend to stay away from that area.

The easiest to keep is going to be the multibanded "dunkerocampus pessuliferus", banded "dunkerocampus dactyliophorus" or dragon "corythoichthys rowely'. I'm giving you their scientific names because stores will call them different names. I have breed the mulibandeds and the dwarfs I have right now are breeding in my 180. The banded pipes will start to eat mysis as they get older.

Did I cover most of your questions? I will eventually have only pipefish in my tank.

Thanks Winy,
With the Zero Edge the problem is when a smaller fish swims up one of the sides it can easily be swept over the side because of the current going up and over. If a smaller fish starts swimming up and down against the side it usually ends up going over. It ends up in a trough but gets washed around to a pre-sump sponge. If not found quickly usually the result is death. My tank is approximately 150 gallons and there is a lot of water (7000 gph) flowing over the four side. I concerned the little pipefish would go up and over!

Yeah the pipe are probably not your best choice D

yeah its probably not a good idea for them in a zero edge. The dragon "corythoichthys rowely' pipes are bottom dwellers, but do swim around on occasion, these would probably be the best one's in there. Here's a blurry pic of him.

Does your zero edge tank tend to get algae growth on both sides of the glass? I was considering getting one for a clam tank. How long has your been running?

I've had it up and running about 1 1/2 years. The main algae growth is on the inside, but not that much. The outside can be just wiped of very easily. It mainly just gets a bit of haze on it. I spend about a hour cleaning the acrylic a week.

The shorter ones would make a great clam or frag tank. I'm thinking of getting another to replace my Red Sea. Hope you get one... then we could have "coffee tauk!" :lol:

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to try a "Dragon" one to see how it goes. I can always move him to my Red Sea if he's in danger of going over board!

dcantucson said:

I've had it up and running about 1 1/2 years. The main algae growth is on the inside, but not that much. The outside can be just wiped of very easily. It mainly just gets a bit of haze on it. I spend about a hour cleaning the acrylic a week.

The shorter ones would make a great clam or frag tank. I'm thinking of getting another to replace my Red Sea. Hope you get one... then we could have "coffee tauk!" :lol:

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to try a "Dragon" one to see how it goes. I can always move him to my Red Sea if he's in danger of going over board!

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:mrgreen:

They are so cool. I hope it works out for you D.