Pipefish

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OpusOstreae

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 13, 2007
46
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Saint Paul, MN
My students have been catching a lot of pipefish while seining lately. I'd love to keep some in our fish room-what do these guys require for care? Food, etc?

The one's we've been catching are tiny-about three inches long, no thicker than pencil lead.
 
i would jst suggest not keeping them if they are THAT small
 
they are quite hard to keep and require their own set up , they also need to fed live food quite often and since their mouths are so small they can only accept very small items and as far as i know they won't eat flakes or pellets

I don't mean to be a negative nacy it is possible. what size tank where you looking at putting them in? how much experience do you have in the hobby?
 
they probably require the kind of food supply like seahorses, which isn't easy especially if these are very small wild caught fish
 
If they are no thicker than Pencil lead I think they would swim through the overflow weir. Or into any filter inlet for that matter. It is a problem, but it can be done somehow. I don't think feeding is such a problem though.
 
Okay, I'm starting this adventure :)

I collected four, and put them in a 25 gal with hang-on-back and undergravel filters. The longest is about 5 inches and about as thick as a ballpoint ink pen cartridge, the others slightly smaller. I built some "hides" in there-shells, mostly, and a few fake plants, and they seem to be taking to those well.

I tried feeding them dried brine shrimp, and they seemed to eat a bit-or at least investigate. I also hatched out some brine eggs to try feeding live brine, and they all seemed to eat! Since brine shrimp are so protein-rich, should I be supplementing them somehow?

I've been told that they require a higher level of calcium in the water. My Ca's at 400- should I try to bring that level up?
 
myfishhadbabies;2406503; said:
Actually, The only hard part about pipe fish is getting them to eat.
Click to expand...

not quite true..

they are prone to a few pipe/horse specific illnesses, symtom likened to head's rotting, jaw rotting, lock jaw, choking hazards (one of my dragon head pipes dies from a bubble it tried to eat:( seriously)
 
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