[Chasmodes]

How are your fish doing?

I don't have any experience with the northern pipefish, though I've caught many of them, I've never kept them. So I'll be following your posts. As far as the other species, it sounds like you're on the right track. I've kept it simple so far, with a powerhead on one side of my 20g long and a HOB filter on the right side. I am trying to keep macros, 2 kinds. Ulva which dies off in one tank but lives in the other, and Gracilaria, which seems to be living in both tanks OK. But, I'm sure my lighting isn't sufficient and I'm not dosing anything yet. I plan to buy a CO2 reactor and then consider other dosing options (like iron, perhaps).

So far, all of the fish are doing well. I also have 2 mud crabs, a barnacle, some tunicates and mussels, an anemone in addition to the fish. I tried to collect silversides and of the four that survived the trip home, 2 of them died the next day and the other two lasted a couple days before the skilletfish and blennies killed and ate them.

There is a big worm population (tube worms, bloodworms, and others) along with a good many copepods, so I think that pipefish might last a while if I can keep the pod population up. I am on the fence about keeping them though.

I'm currently keeping striped blennies, naked gobies, and skilletfish, and have 3 mummichogs (killifish) in the other tank. Eventually, most of these fish, if not all of them, will wind up in a 100g. That tank will have much better lighting, connected to a 40g sump, and much more current. I haven't decided on filtration yet within the sump, although I'm leaning toward keeping it very simple.

All of my fish are doing well and eat just about anything that I put in there (frozen brine shrimp, clams, bloodworms and even flakes. The killifish are the only thing that will eat pellets, so I fed them a couple times a week with pellets so I didn't waste my money. I bought the pellets for an auto feeder while I was on vacation, but the fish in my blenny tank wouldn't eat them. Anyway, best of luck with your fish and I look forward to seeing some updates.