first pipefish

kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
I am unable to get horses at this time, chillers are very expensive!! however, I did get a pair of wild caught clowns that are in a QT right now. I was told they would get along fine and ignore eachother. I am REALLY wanting a multicolor angel and My fish guy said that they all get along fine, even showed me because he had some pipes and angels together in his DT. I got the clowns that were in the same DT.
I have a 56G reef column tank, so........the pipe looks very lonely.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
on another note to everyone on the feeding, I have sat and watched him, the copods walk all over this guy and yet he doesn't eat them. i literally have alot of pods in this tank, they are all over the place, cool to watch them. I pick them out of the pad when I change it out, and put them back in the tank. My wife posted a question on tips and techniques (hatchery question) any thoughts?
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
No, wild caught pipes should not be housed with tank-raised and bred horses. Too easy for cross contamination, and the horses aren't used to the potential pathogens. But if this is your 29g tank, then yes you can certainly keep a small group in there. Remember Corythoichthys are usually ground-hovering pipes, so it's more about the bottom real estate than it is the entire tank volume. Still, I'm sure that three pipes would be fine in this tank.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386279/first-pipefish/20#post_3392074
on another note to everyone on the feeding, I have sat and watched him, the copods walk all over this guy and yet he doesn't eat them. i literally have alot of pods in this tank, they are all over the place, cool to watch them. I pick them out of the pad when I change it out, and put them back in the tank. My wife posted a question on tips and techniques (hatchery question) any thoughts?
Those are more likely amphipods...most copepods are barely big enough to be seen on the glass, let alone picked up.
Don't know why my browser was taking so long to post! That last post of mine was started right after Smartorl's. sheesh.
 
C

coral guy

Guest
i trained a pipe to eat frozen once i got a sea squirt and got some mysis sucked the mysis and held the shrimps in front of his face and he ate it to bad he died 1 year back when my 30 gal crashed r.i.p. peace spike
 
mproctor4

mproctor4

Member
I must say, everyone in our house loves this little guy! I love how attentive he is and the way he moves his eyes. I wish I could put a couple in the big tank but we would never find them! He is very small and blends in with the agronite. I feel like we are playing Where is Waldo in the 56g. He just looks so lonely and we aren't sure when our LFS will be getting more in. He said he gets them from someone locally that breeds them, but they only have a few babies at a time. I was really hoping for some seahorses in this tank (but you have heard about the chiller issue), but I'm thinking we may enjoy the pipefish as much or more than the seahorses just because it is so active. The LFS guy had him around 6 weeks or so and he always stayed at the bottom of his coral tank, but in Kiefers tank he occassionally swims around the top. It scares me that he is going to get into a powerhead or overflow box
.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
okay took the advice of the advisors. Thwife and daughter went and got some B.B.S. We currently have them in some mason jars with air pumpin in it. So..... we will see what comes from it.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
okay, some 24 hours later, I have some bbs. do i acclimate and turn off filtration when adding? how long will they live in my tank, 5 days or so?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
No acclimation. You may want to rinse them with some RODI or tank water first. I would turn off the pumps when putting them in the tank. If all goes well they should be eaten before dying.
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
bbs are so very tiny.You will need a very fine net, or coffee filter. Be sure not to get the shells either. This is why I use decapped eggs. Sometimes it hard to tell which is shells and which is bbs. lol
T
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
well.... took a turkey baster and sucked up some bbs, and added to tank. Corals immiedialey opened and the sun corals started grabbing them as they were pushed by by the poweheads. Pipe fish however just stood there and watched. gurrrrrrr
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
That's got to be frustrating. I wonder if there are live critters in the tank that the pipe is eating already. How is he looking tonight?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by novahobbies http:///forum/thread/386279/first-pipefish/20#post_3393261
That's got to be frustrating. I wonder if there are live critters in the tank that the pipe is eating already. How is he looking tonight?
the pipe fish looks good. I see him picking at the glass and rocks so he is getting something. Thought about ordering pods from SWF buy now they have several types of pods
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Hmmm.... I wonder if anyone has considered trying roe as a food source. I remember an article about Jawfish breeding a few months ago in which the author took a photo of the fish guarding a clutch of eggs, with his dragonface pipes looking on in the background. Author mentioned that the pipes were veeeery interested in trying to separate the fish from the eggs.
 
S

saxman

Guest
Yes, pipes often take roe as a food...you can try Nutramar ova.
I've had pipes that LOVED it when my peppermint shrimp were "berried"...they could actually pick them off of the shrimp with no harm coming to the shrimp...it was pretty cool to watch.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
I have fish roe and like i said, never seen him go after it. Maybe when I leave or he just sucks it up so fast I can't see it. I made my own coral food once (should do it again) and when I fed the tank the pipe fish lost his mind. He skimmed and cruised the tank sucking things up and going for more. I have to rethink this coral food, the corals liked it too, alot!!
 
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