Pipefish in a 20g long?

[james30ct]

Are there any pipefish that would be ok in a 20g long tank?

[rssjsb]

What else is in the tank? How long has it been set up? Is there a fuge attached? A bluestripe pipe is the only one that might be ok in that size tank. But that is only if there's no competition for pods, the tank is well established, and there is a decent sized refugium. These guys are the hardiest pipe but there's always the chance that it won't ever take frozen.

[james30ct]

I hatch live brine for food and have live blackworms if pipefish eat them. The 20g has nothing in it yet. Trying to decide on a direction. I have some soft coral and lps I want to take out of my 155g and move them to the 20g.

[rayjay]

Bluestripe pipe has too small of a mouth to take brine shrimp. Recommended minimum tank size is 30g.

[seafansar]

Blue stripes can eat brine shrimp. Mine eat P.E. Mysis just fine. I started them on Nutramar Ova (prawn roe), then Reef Nutrition Tiggerfeast, then SFBB Mysis (it's a bit smaller than P.E.), and finally P.E. Mysis. They also eat frozen and live adult brine shrimp.

Word of advice, make sure you get a male and female. I started with three, and they promptly killed the third one. They are very territorial for such small fish! Males have little bumps on their snouts while females don't.

Good luck! I love my two. I have them in a 16 gallon nuvo with mixed softies and LPS.

My female
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/_eyesthatstare_/16%20Gallon%20Nuvo/DSC_1127_zpsab5ef0b4.jpg

[TamiW]

I'm in agreement, blue stripes can take adult brine shrimp with ease. They are surprisingly vicious considering their small mouth size. They can be trained to eat frozen food pretty easily too.

If you are okay hatching brine shrimp out, the florida pug nose pipefish is another good choice. One of my favorites, they stay quite small. They are hard to come by though, unless you get them from a collector in florida (that knows what they're doing).

[enchelycore808]

Bluestripe would be good for a 20l. They also take to frozen pretty quickly. I caught one and it started eating frozen the next day. They can eat fairly large prey items and seem to just snip then in to bite sized pieces.

[venomcc]

As everyone said, probably only the blue strip, It would be easier with a fuge attached. But it sounds like you might need to resort to hatching brine shrimp