anyone playing with Freshwater Pipefish...

[Magnum Man]

I was kind of in a "rabbit hole" on the www. & end up here... they look really interesting ( you want to win that next live bearer contest ) well maybe these push the envelope like salt water Pipefish & Seahorses, in that the female deposits thew eggs into a males pouch, until they hatch & swim out... ( so I suppose in essence they are not live bearers??? ) apparently there are many species, from several continents...

21. Seahorses and Pipefish - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

Microphis deocata BRED - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

The probably prettiest freshwater pipefish is Microphis deocata from India. In its homeland it lives in clear running waters at the foot of the Himalaya. Unfortunately this pipefish is very sensitive to transport. It neither tolerates water deterioration nor can it starve for long. As a food...

www.aquariumglaser.de

 

[Colin_T]

We had freshwater pipefish in the shop back in the early 90s. They were interesting but kind of boring (I know that's a contradiction). They didn't do much except hang around plants. Even at feeding time they weren't particularly active.

 

[fishtime!]

I was kind of in a "rabbit hole" on the www. & end up here... they look really interesting ( you want to win that next live bearer contest ) well maybe these push the envelope like salt water Pipefish & Seahorses, in that the female deposits thew eggs into a males pouch, until they hatch & swim out... ( so I suppose in essence they are not live bearers??? ) apparently there are many species, from several continents...

21. Seahorses and Pipefish - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

Microphis deocata BRED - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

The probably prettiest freshwater pipefish is Microphis deocata from India. In its homeland it lives in clear running waters at the foot of the Himalaya. Unfortunately this pipefish is very sensitive to transport. It neither tolerates water deterioration nor can it starve for long. As a food...

www.aquariumglaser.de

I had a northern pipefish for a while, which is a brackish species but has a pretty high salinity tolerance - he looks very similar to the species you linked. I loved him - he was a very resilient fish and tolerated a lot of mistakes I made, but he was a very picky eater. Live prey only for him - and watching him stalk adult brine shrimp and lash out at them was so fun. If they have enough plants (something like eelgrass, tall and slim like them) they are much more comfortable. They also need enough space to slither around the bottom. I absolutely loved this fish, I just wasn't ready for him as a novice fishkeeper. If you are prepared to own one I would absolutely recommend.

 

[GaryE]

We found some in Gabon, in very fresh water. Cool creatures to see, but the ones there seemed delicate and were returned to their regular lives.