Doryrhamphus janssi (Cleaner Pipefish)
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Finally found a pair of Doryrhamphus janssi.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/at...1&d=1461224549 (They are a bit hard to photograph with a phone as the autofocus doesn't work well on them) Friday I got them for two weeks. For now they are in my algae QT. They still have a good deal to grow, but I hope to breed them as soon as they start spawning. Though first I need to train them on Mysis. So far they only take tigger pods. According to Kuiter these pipefish are cleaner fish that preferably clean small fish like damsels or cardinals. |
Those have been on my list for a long time. Never been able to find them. Nice looking pair. Good luck with the breeding.
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One store around here has them once in a while. When they had them several months ago I didn't buy them since the female was fully grown while the male was just half her size. These two are both still young and still got to grow a good deal.
At that store I also found a pair of Doryrhamphus melanopleura - the Indonesian blue-stripe, but unfortunately those didn't make it trough QT. I will practice the breeding with my African blue-stripe pipefish (Doryrhamphus excisus). The male of my first pair is always "pregnant", but it's tough to get him or the larva out of the reef tank they are in. Luckily the second pair I got just 5 weeks ago from LiveAquaria also already started spawning. They also started feeding on frozen Mysis so they are hopefully in the clear. I plan to keep those separated so I can harvest the larva. |
Yesterday, after 45 days peacefully together they started fighting each other like crazy.
At first I thought they may get ready to spawn, but they were actually picking at each other quite viciously. I had to catch one (the male) and put it into a breeder box. They are for sure male and female and got along quite well so far, so I'm kind of surprised about this. Both are by now eating frozen Mysis well. I will keep them separated for a while and then try to pair them up again. If that doesn't work I may have to replace one of the two. |
Sorry to hear! Hope you have better luck when you put them together again.
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I released the male and after only a few minutes the fighting started again. So I had to seperate them again - this time the slightly larger female ended up in in confinement.
A local store had another one in the same size range last Saturday. If they still have it this weekend I will get it and see if it gets along better with the matching mate of my current two. |
Did I see somewhere that you are hoping to start breeding these guys? How have you found pipes to do in reefs? I'm thinking about adding a pair to a reef I have planned in the near future as I hear they do ok in a reef. Have I heard right?
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All the blue stripes I ever had did fine in reefs and handled high flow better than all the other fish. I would say most if not all Doryrhamphus species are well suited for reef tanks.
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Here my second D. excisus pair during feeding while still in QT.
They are clearly not afraid off bigger and more agressive fish and quite capable to get their share of the food. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ito3H2esXDE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Here a video clip of the D. janssi pair when they still got along: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2hVAICkD8-w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> |
Keep me in the loop as I'm looking for captive bred pipefish
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Do you think these two squabbling fish would do better together in a much larger tank? If so, I might consider a pair
Also what temperature do you maintain their tank at? |
I added another female and she and the old male get along well so far. The old female is in a breeder box for now. All eat frozen Mysis.
Temperature is between 25°C and 30°C - once acclimated these are much hardier than seahorses. |
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How can you tell the sex of these? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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Easiest is to check if you can see one blue line on the belly (female) or two close to each other (male) - the two lines are the edges of the skin sheets that form the egg pouch. |
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Thx for the info :) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
My hats off to you ThRoewer for attempting to do something as difficult as breeding pipefish. After my five years of seahorse breeding I tried my hand at pipefish and although I had my chances at raising fry I did not have the proper food cultures for them.
Do you have pelagic pods on hand to feed the fry? Good luck with this project. |
Bluestripes have been bred with Brachionus and Artemia nauplia.
I have some other pods, but haven't yet figured out how to get them to multiply fast enough. I also have some pods in my refugium that may work: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8cT0xBQjRk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Again, so far I have no controlled culture method for them. Beneficial with pipefish is the rather low larva count = less mouths to feed. |
I moved the Janssi to my 20 gallon IM Nuovo Concept Abyss:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9RnpHhlR_mY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It's only a temporary set up for now until I get to it to make a cemented backwall (and get rid of the tiny aptasia that are everywhere.) |
Pretty tank above. Nice pipe fish also and great work.
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Do pipefish lay eggs like clownfish or a sac like dottybacks ? Or live ?
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I looked at a video after I posted to this thread
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The male and the new female stopped getting along as well. At first it wasn't much and they still stayed together, but today it went so far that the female left the overhang and went to lay on the sand.
I really don't know what it is with these guys and why they don't seem to get along long term. |
After looking at my records it seems they are getting along for about 40 days before fighting starts. I'm not yet sure why.
Last time it seemed to be the female who started it, this time it's the male. I did not experience this with the pair I had in the past. |
That sucks. I was planning to get a pair but I might just go with a single to avoid these issues. I don't have extra tanks to put them in if the fighting starts like you are seeing. I hate having singles of any fish though.
Do you happen to know of a source for them? I have not had any luck finding them so far. |
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