Pipefish from DD

[kitkat717]

I'm looking for a dragon face pipefish for my tank, but I really want one already on frozen as I doubt I'll be able to sustain it on pods alone.

Does anyone know if the pipefish on divers den are on frozen? The one I'm looking at doesn't say it's on frozen. Can I assume it is if they kept it alive for the time it takes to qualify it for a DD fish? Or should I only buy if they specifically say it?

[Mo2]

I believe they would specify. You can always call and ask too.

[GOSKN5]

They usually say if the difficult fish are eating

[falcona2552]

Just added DF pipefish this past week, we must be operating on the same wave length. I seeded the chaeto box with additional pods just to supplement diet, but am also looking into other feeding options. Even though my LFS said it was taking frozen, I have yet to see it and am having difficulty. He is doing well though for about a week now and hunts literally 24/7 for pods.. will update you with anything else that comes to mind

[Franco724]

I have had very good luck getting pipes accustomed to frozen foods. I currently have a pair of bluestripe pipes and pair of atlantic pipefish in a 29gal all eating frozen. I always start them off with frozen cyclops and transition into frozen enriched brine and mysis. Wild caught pipefish are no where near as difficult to transition to frozen food as seahorses. As long as their going into a tank with established live rock and pods for them to pick on during the acclimation period they are pretty hardy.

[prickles]

I have had good luck with nutramar ova and DF pipes

[FinzAquatics]

I have a pair of these as well in my seahorse tank. Ive had them for over 2 months now and have never seen them eat frozen foods. I think the issue with them is how small their mouths truly are and to expect them to eat brine or Mysis may be unrealistic.

On the otherhand I took a similar approached and put a 1/4 of chaeto in the aquarium and constantly see them grazing and hunting for food. I know they are eating constantly, but just does not appear that they are interested in prepared food.

[FinzAquatics]

Go ahead and try, but honestly if you ask me if your relying on frozen food for any seahorse or pipefish versus ensuring that there is enough of a pod source for them to naturally graze... Its not worth keeping them in the aquarium.

It would be great to see them frozen, but for their benefit they should have something to graze and hunt.. Give em some macro algae to forage on/in

[rgulrich]

During a quarantine period due to an unfortunate ich outbreak, I successfully fed my small (then) Dragon Face Brightwell Aquatics Zooplanktos-M and frozen San Fransisco Bay Brand Reef Plankton. He and lots of other fish were in quarantine for 12 weeks in a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank while the reef remained fallow - the first two weeks of it with Cupramine - so I can make a pretty good guess it was eating this prep as no live food was available. It may be that with all of the other fish, it may have followed their example for feeding as well.

The best is live food, of course, and now this little one forages all day long through the coral rubble in the bottom of the reef, occasionally popping up on the rocks for a quick peek but then back down to where the food is. For an unexpected surprise in one of my fish orders (it was sent by mistake), this little fish has turned out to be a colorful family favorite in the reef soon to be joined by three more - intentionally ordered this time. The yellow bands show up much more clearly in person than in the photo, and the pattern details are pretty amazing, too.