New love!

[appleblossom]

Went into one of my local fish stores this afternoon just to have a look round as we have no space for new fish at the moment and they had some gorgeous silver coloured pipefish!

So, does anyone have any of these cool little fellas? Anyone know about how to keep them? The guy at the shop said they were a relative of the seahorse but they were freshwater, is that true?

Any info about what conditions they need, how big they grow and how compatiblewith other fish (or ADF's) they are much appreciated!!

 

[bunjiweb]

They have (or had at least) some of them in my LFS. They look very cool but one of the staff said they are very tempramental and can get ill very easily.

he may have been wrong tho

Ben

 

[Nina7777]

from what I heard they are extremely hard to keep and very fragile! but very neat looking!

 

[appleblossom]

Aah well, I asked the guy at the shop for a job so fingers crossed I can just take care of the ones they have and not risk killing them in my tank

 

[ddm18]

They sound cool, does anyone have a photo to post, or a link where I can see one?

Dave

 

[appleblossom]

 

[wuvmybetta]

awesome

 

[zendarx2]

Sweet

 

[load of pollock]

is that the baby swimming around with the mother or is it part of the weeds floating hard to tell

 

[Synirr]

Way cool!

 

[Maroonostrich]

is that the baby swimming around with the mother or is it part of the weeds floating hard to tell

I think it might be babies yeah- looks sorta similar to what I saw on TV.. and maybe it's daddy! I am not sure, but I think they might be like their close relatives, seahorses, in which case it's dad who carries the egg and allows the release of the babies.

 

[kris-b-]

wow look when this thread was started!

 

[Dragonscales]

Pipefish are closely related to seahorses and pipehorses and as such care is pretty much the same as for them. They are available captive bred and these are generally alot easier to care for than wild caught due to being more resistant to disease, readily accepting dead food rather than live, etc. Unlike seahorses, male pipefish will often fight so it is best to keep one male per tank. Generally it is best to keep them in a species tank but there are a few fish suitable as tankmates (seahorses for instance). Before buying considerable research should be conducted as they aren't your typical danio, etc when it comes to needs, care, housing, etc. If you are still interested in keeping pipefish then just post and I will put up some more detailed info and where you can do further research.

 

[nmonks]

Hello,

Pipefish are very difficult to keep alive in aquaria. Just like seahorses (which my dad used to keep) they need more or less constant supplies of live food. Some may adapt to frozen mysis (again, like seahorses) but at least to begin with you will need to 'train' them to accept it.

There are two species commonly traded. One is Enneacampus ansorgii and it sometimes called the African freshwater pipefish. It's a small, benthic species with a distinctive brick-red or orange belly. The other pipefish doesn't have a common name but is often sold as Microphis smithi despite actually being Microphis brachyurus aculeatus. It's a big, midwater swimmer and probably the easier of the two to keep well.

Both do best in hard, alkaline water, preferably with some salt added. They also appreciate thickly planted tanks, and floating plants, even Lemna do a great job of making these fish feel more secure. There's an amazing tank of these fish at the Cologne Zoo, and when settled in they're very active, and really fun to watch. I've put a couple of pictures from my fish photography page at the end of this message. There's a bit more about these fish in the Brackish Aquarium FAQ as well as a link to a really useful PDF written by a scientist about keeping these fish in zoos. In my opinion, essential reading.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[bunjiweb]

can you keep these pipefish with plecs (i.e. Queen Arabesques?)

Ben