Any reason as to why Solenostomus paradoxus...

[joshky]

doesn't show up in our hobby? (or does it?) I recently stumbled onto this species which has me intrigued, I could only find one for sale back in 2014 and nothing else.

I also saw claims of them being abundant, so my first cynical thought is limited success with this species, but maybe they just never caught on?

I'm not looking to source them, just interested in learning more.

 

[rayjay]

All you have to do is to GOOGLE it and you'll get a lot of information.
I doubt that you could keep it alive if you DID find a source.

 

[joshky]

All you have to do is to GOOGLE it and you'll get a lot of information.
I doubt that you could keep it alive if you DID find a source.

Last time I checked, this forum was for sharing information with others. I hope you tell everyone to GOOGLE their questions.

For what it's worth I did look into them a bit, but it was 2 am where I live and I was getting in bed. Sorry for hoping someone could give more insight into this species while I slept? Thank you for elaborating on why we as hobbyists couldn't keep them alive, very helpful.

 

[Betta132]

I believe the Dallas aquarium has a few. If I'm correct, that means they aren't impossible to keep.
I would suspect they may not be kept because they get fairly large for a seahorse-type creature, which means they would need a LOT of tiny live food.

 

[rayjay]

Last time I checked, this forum was for sharing information with others. I hope you tell everyone to GOOGLE their questions.
For what it's worth I did look into them a bit, but it was 2 am where I live and I was getting in bed. Sorry for hoping someone could give more insight into this species while I slept? Thank you for elaborating on why we as hobbyists couldn't keep them alive, very helpful.

As I had never even heard of them before, I Googled it.
It was far more information than I could put in a thread so I could have put a link to the google info but figured you could do that easy enough.\
Based on my 12 years of keeping/breeding seahorses, and not ever hearing of that species by it's formal name at least, I shared that google information figuring that not too many people would be up on the knowledge for that species and that it was better than nothing.
I don't tell EVERYONE to google their questions because most times I already have some knowledge on the topic they are inquiring about, or, someone else has already replied.

 

[joshky]

As I had never even heard of them before, I Googled it.
It was far more information than I could put in a thread so I could have put a link to the google info but figured you could do that easy enough.\
Based on my 12 years of keeping/breeding seahorses, and not ever hearing of that species by it's formal name at least, I shared that google information figuring that not too many people would be up on the knowledge for that species and that it was better than nothing.
I don't tell EVERYONE to google their questions because most times I already have some knowledge on the topic they are inquiring about, or, someone else has already replied.

The only thing I've found of significance is they have a short-lived lifespan, their diet doesn't seem impossible in the right setup, and the fact that they live in strong currents means they are a decent candidate for a mixed reef. (non LPS/Anemone, covered powerheads etc.)

I'm not finding what you've found so a link would be appreciated if you don't mind?

 

[joshky]

I believe the Dallas aquarium has a few. If I'm correct, that means they aren't impossible to keep.
I would suspect they may not be kept because they get fairly large for a seahorse-type creature, which means they would need a LOT of tiny live food.

I've read multiple times that they grow to about 12cm (almost 5 inches), that doesn't seem that large. I guess it's bigger than dwarf seahorses.

 

[rayjay]

I'm not sure exactly what kind of information you are really looking for but I doubt you will find much based on hobbyist experience other than seeing them while diving.
Some public aquariums may be set up to try to keep them but I think it won't be a common fish even there.
Here is the threads mentioning the ghost pipefish on the "org" if you are a memeber there.
Ornate Ghost Pipefish
Some basic info
http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66184
http://www.fishbase.ca/summary/7312

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

The problem with any of the ghost pipefish getting into the hobby is mostly that they cannot go without eating for the amount of time it takes them to be collected and shipped (possibly multiple times). They are very finicky eaters as well and while I'm not sure what the public aquariums feed them, several hobbyists years ago were feeding them baby guppies. When the California Academy of Sciences collected theirs, they fed them in transit so they did not starve. The problem is that the collector does not have a good means of feeding them so they are already in big trouble when they leave the collector.

I know of a few LFS that tried to transship them but needless to say they always arrived dead. After a few times of this happening, most stores stop wasting money on it. On the one occasion that I saw one make it in alive, it was basically in the "walking dead" stage where even though it was fed, it died the next day.