How odd is this for a dragonface?

[Sanagy]

I was under the impression that pipefish would keep the low flow areas of a reef tank.

Last week I added a pair and one of them has exhibited a "surfing" pattern. It will swim up off of the rocks and head straight for my koralia. Once it gets up into the flow, it doesn't allow itself to get blown out, but rather tries to swim the current as long as it can. It will do this for a few minutes at a time, multiple times throughout the day.

At all other times, it acts like a normal pipe going slow through all the lower parts of the tank hunting for pods with it's mate.


Is this a natural habit or did I get an oddball?

[Elysia]

Seahorses will do this as well. They seem to enjoy it. Perhaps they are using the current to remove ectoparasites or alage growth, or it could just be a bit of exercise... Just one of the interesting things about these fish.

[pledosophy]

Very common.

I watched a group of seahorses at a wholesaler around the side of a tank and directly up into the flow of a Seio 820 and get blown a couple feet across the tank. Catch themselves, and then do it again. Over and over. It was quite cute.

We usually think of syngnathids as low flow, but the areas in which many of them live have times of very high flow. Barbaganti (way smaller them dwarfs) live in areas where humans can't even hold on to the rocks to observe them at times.

It's all kind of nutty.

[ChadTheSpike]

My seahorse have a ritual of doing this every morning after their greeting rituals... many times I will watch them swim directly toward the output of the PH and get blown across the tank 6 or more times in a row, its like morning coffee for them!!! Its fun to watch :)

[mattkd5]

My seahorse have a ritual of doing this every morning after their greeting rituals... many times I will watch them swim directly toward the output of the PH and get blown across the tank 6 or more times in a row, its like morning coffee for them!!! Its fun to watch :)

my seahorses does the same thing

[TamiW]

I always thought when I saw seahorses, pipefish, etc do this that they're trying to travel to a new area, so trying to hope in or against a current. They just can't actually go anywhere because they're in a small glass box.

[mstrpln03]

Sounds like they're doing their cardio. It's cheaper than a health club.

[WWCC]

Maybe kinda like hamsters in a wheel...?