Easy to Keep Pipefish

WLachnit · 07/19/2017, 08:38 PM

Been doing some homework and reading the forums. I see reports that state that they are all hard to keep and others state that they aren't as hard. It seems that need to be fed frozen multiples times per day. Is there any success with feeding them pellets? and, if so, how many times per day? What do people think are the easiest species to keep?

ichthyogeek · 07/19/2017, 08:51 PM

I've never heard of any success at all with keeping any syngnathid on pellets. From what I understand, syngnathids (seahorses, pipehorses, pipefish, etc.) all require frozen due to not being able to recognize pellets as food. You could probably get away with feeding frozen mysis twice a day like seahorses though. But from what I understand, its rare to get pipefish on frozen for some reason (or maybe I misread that, or its outdated).

https://fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/pi...reef-aquarium/ and all of its assorted articles might be useful if you haven't already stumbled upon the site.

Jonvo324 · 07/20/2017, 01:29 AM

I've keep pipefish, seahorses and even shrimpfish (similar in care of syngnathids) in the past. And they only eat frozen, no pellets or other dry foods.

I've kept dragonface pipefish, banded pipefish, blue striped pipefish and janss' pipefish. I currently have the latter two.

The dragonface never ate frozen foods, there mouths are extremely small but it ate the microfauna in the tank. I wouldn't really recommend them unless you have lots of pods.
Banded pipefish are hit or miss to me. Some eat quickly while others are slower to learn, however I believe if they are healthy and strong enough they will eventually eat.
The easiest in my experience are janss' and blue striped pipefish. With blue striped pipefish being easier between the two. They are open water swimmers and usually learn to recognize frozen foods. Especially if you start with small foods such as nutramar ova, roe or bbs. Then you can wean them onto mysis. My current blue striped only eat nutramar ova. While my janss' eat mysis. Both fed twice a day.

Overall the "easiest" pipefish are still difficult to care for. Be sure that they are healthy before buying and ask if they eat before hand. This will help them become accustomed to aquarium life and eventually eating frozen foods.

mike61289 · 07/20/2017, 07:45 PM

When I was keeping pipefish, I had a lot of success with alligator pipefish. They're larger than other pipefish species, but they were always easy to feed.

My only recommendation is that you treat them for parasites before adding them to your display.

tjdouglas · 07/21/2017, 02:34 AM

My pair of Janss' pipefish eat frozen mysis twice a day...they ignore any flakes or pellets I place in the tank. I stupidly tried introducing a third pipefish, but they attacked and killed him

They are pretty hardy in my experience.

WLachnit · 07/21/2017, 02:38 PM

OK...thanks. It sounds like I should expect to feed them frozen foods twice a day. I will have to think about this since I am not always home to feed them.

Blue spot · 07/21/2017, 03:21 PM

I have three dragon pipefish, for around 2 years now , they breed regularly in the tank so must be happy . All they get to eat is what they find, but I do have a large refugium, the only time I do get a feeding response from them is if I add frozen cyclops in the tank. For the first few months I used to add live pods twice a week to try and seed the tank , but have not done this for a while now.

07/19/2017, 08:38 PM	#1
WLachnit Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 1,722	Easy to Keep Pipefish Been doing some homework and reading the forums. I see reports that state that they are all hard to keep and others state that they aren't as hard. It seems that need to be fed frozen multiples times per day. Is there any success with feeding them pellets? and, if so, how many times per day? What do people think are the easiest species to keep? __________________ (1) 300g mixed reef (Starfire DT) + 100g Sump (2) 100g Softie tank (Starfire DT) My Build Thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263472

07/19/2017, 08:51 PM	#2
ichthyogeek Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 742	I've never heard of any success at all with keeping any syngnathid on pellets. From what I understand, syngnathids (seahorses, pipehorses, pipefish, etc.) all require frozen due to not being able to recognize pellets as food. You could probably get away with feeding frozen mysis twice a day like seahorses though. But from what I understand, its rare to get pipefish on frozen for some reason (or maybe I misread that, or its outdated). https://fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/pi...reef-aquarium/ and all of its assorted articles might be useful if you haven't already stumbled upon the site. __________________ So many fish/corals/inverts to keep/breed, not enough aquaria Back after a 5 year hiatus.

07/20/2017, 01:29 AM	#3
Jonvo324 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 74	Easy to Keep Pipefish I've keep pipefish, seahorses and even shrimpfish (similar in care of syngnathids) in the past. And they only eat frozen, no pellets or other dry foods. I've kept dragonface pipefish, banded pipefish, blue striped pipefish and janss' pipefish. I currently have the latter two. The dragonface never ate frozen foods, there mouths are extremely small but it ate the microfauna in the tank. I wouldn't really recommend them unless you have lots of pods. Banded pipefish are hit or miss to me. Some eat quickly while others are slower to learn, however I believe if they are healthy and strong enough they will eventually eat. The easiest in my experience are janss' and blue striped pipefish. With blue striped pipefish being easier between the two. They are open water swimmers and usually learn to recognize frozen foods. Especially if you start with small foods such as nutramar ova, roe or bbs. Then you can wean them onto mysis. My current blue striped only eat nutramar ova. While my janss' eat mysis. Both fed twice a day. Overall the "easiest" pipefish are still difficult to care for. Be sure that they are healthy before buying and ask if they eat before hand. This will help them become accustomed to aquarium life and eventually eating frozen foods.

07/20/2017, 07:45 PM	#4
mike61289 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Montreal, Quebec Posts: 424	When I was keeping pipefish, I had a lot of success with alligator pipefish. They're larger than other pipefish species, but they were always easy to feed. My only recommendation is that you treat them for parasites before adding them to your display. __________________ Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming swimming swimming. What do we do? We swim swim!

07/21/2017, 02:38 PM	#6
WLachnit Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 1,722	OK...thanks. It sounds like I should expect to feed them frozen foods twice a day. I will have to think about this since I am not always home to feed them. __________________ (1) 300g mixed reef (Starfire DT) + 100g Sump (2) 100g Softie tank (Starfire DT) My Build Thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263472

07/21/2017, 02:34 AM	#5
tjdouglas Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Long Beach, California Posts: 218	My pair of Janss' pipefish eat frozen mysis twice a day...they ignore any flakes or pellets I place in the tank. I stupidly tried introducing a third pipefish, but they attacked and killed him They are pretty hardy in my experience.

07/21/2017, 03:21 PM	#7
Blue spot Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: England Posts: 590	I have three dragon pipefish, for around 2 years now , they breed regularly in the tank so must be happy . All they get to eat is what they find, but I do have a large refugium, the only time I do get a feeding response from them is if I add frozen cyclops in the tank. For the first few months I used to add live pods twice a week to try and seed the tank , but have not done this for a while now.