need some advice

[cyclops23]

the fish manager at the LFS got in 2 bluestripe pipefish. he's a friend of mine and ordered them after i asked if they were available. i didn't think he could get them so quickly. anyway, i have bristleworms in the tank i was planning on putting them in. the bristleworms don't bother the seahorses, but i wanted to make sure it would be ok for the pipefish. the pipe's are pretty small, about 1 1/2". despite the seahorses, i have a TON of pods, so i don't think food will be an issue. there's stacked LR rubble and cheato and various macro's in there, no coral. i might move my fire shrimp into the main display if i see it bothering the pipefish, although it doesn't bother the seahorses any. do you think they would be ok? BTW, the pipefish are $28 apeice, and they are really nice looking, active fish. i don't want to find out the hard way again.

[fishyvet]

wild caught pipes and captive seahorses don't mix because the pipes bring in diseases and make the horses sick. Better not risk it.

[pledosophy]

There is a rish of mixing any species of syngnathids whether they are captive bred, tank raised, or wild caught. Different species, and even the same species often carry different strains of the same bacteria.

If you are going to mix make sure to drop the temp below 74F, supplement beta glucan, and include a UV if possible.

The better your water quaility and the more dilligent you are about QTing new arrivals to reduce the risk of parasites the better you will be in the long run.

Make sure to QT the pipes if you go that route.

Good Luck.

For more info look into searching posts about mixing species or vibrio.

HTH

[ModemMan8]

There's quite a bit of info about people keeping pipes with seahorses at www.seahorse.org. I've been considering pipes in my reef and have learned a lot there. Check it out.

[cyclops23]

thanks guys. seahorse.org is great, i don't know why i didn't think of it.