Pipefish in a frag tank?

[Thunil]

Hey all,
I have recentely set up a frag tank and I am considering fish to add to it. I want something a bit different to the norm. So I was wondering how would one or two janss' or banded pipefish go in a 15g frag tank? I've had experience with seahorses before (weaned a few hippocampus abdominalis onto frozen enriched brineand mysis). Also, the frag tank will mostly contain softies and a couple of sps, I'll stay away from stinging corals.

So, janss or banded pipefish, doable in a 15g frag tank?

cheers,
Daniel

BTW, I can get both the janss and the banded pipefish captive bred her in australia, i wouldnt buy wild caught

[1337TANKHAX]

it depends on the dims of the tank, i would say thats too small of a tank, but if its pretty shallow maybe.

[Thunil]

thanks for the reply,
its a standard 15g 24x12x12

[eisaiasjr]

Hello:

Is there a place you can get captive bred pipefish in the USA?

Regards,

E

[Thunil]

Hi eisaiasjr, I'm not sure if you can get CB pipefish in the USA, I was lucky enough to find an australian online fish shop that sells CB pipefish. I'm sure if you do a few google searches you'll find out if you can get CB in the USA.

Does anyone else have an opinion on keeping a CB pipefish in a 15g frag tank?

Cheers,
Daniel

[RiverOtter]

I saw one in a 10 gal at a LFS. Poor thing looked really cramped.

[Thunil]

so is the general consensus that a standard 15g is too small for pipefish?

Cheers,
Daniel

[Gluestick]

there are dwarf pipes, but you have to feed live brine each day.

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14352339#post14352339 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gluestick
there are dwarf pipes, but you have to feed live brine each day.

??

link?

I think janis would be fine in a 15g.

[mollymonticello]

Valerie, I think you must be thinking of dwarf seahorses.

Thunil, Janss' pipefish can grow to about 6 inches. I'm partial to bluestripe pipefish, which only grow to about 2.5 to 3 inches. I kept one in a ten gallon tank by itself with some macroalgae and not many copepods for about 6 months, and another one in a 55 gallon reef tank with lots of pods. I had to keep them separated because they fight. Both were early on trained to eat frozen mysis and cyclops and eat very, very well. They are about a year and a half old now, and the one I kept in the ten gallon is a lot smaller compared to the one I kept in the reef with all the pods. It's funny because the smaller one eats the frozen food better! Temperature was the same. I really think that if they don't have enough live food, they don't do as well.

Before I ramble on forever, I'll get to the point. As long as you have enough copepods in your frag tank, you should be able to keep a bluestripe pipefish very comfortably. Train it to eat frozen first so it doesn't destroy the pod population right away. Better yet, get a small in-tank refugium, too.

[ksrinlv]

I agree on the bluestripe recommendation, a hardy little pipefish that would be happy in a 15-20 gallon tank.

[Gluestick]

no, i'm thinking of actual dwarf pipefish. I don't have a link, but it you visit the org they have some discussion on them.

[ann83]

"Dwarf pipefish" are Cosmocampus Hildebrandi and actually reach lengths of about 4"-ish and maybe aren't really what most would consider dwarf-sized. They're larger than bluestripes and not as colorful or as adapted to reef life as the flagfin pipes.

"Dwarf pugnose pipefish" are Bryx Dunckeri and are about 3" and more dwarf-ish, I guess, in terms of size. They also are not colorful and reef adapted the way that flagfin pipes are.

I am not really familiar with the feeding needs of either species of pipefish, or how difficult they are to train to frozen, but considering pipes in the U.S. (generally being WC) can be pretty difficult to train to frozen, the potential for needing live food throughout their lifespans is probably pretty consistent across the board.

Of course, the OP being in Australia with the availability of captive bred pipefish, that's definitely a better option, and I doubt either C. Hildebrandi or B. Dunckeri are available in Oz, anyway.