Dragon face pipefish Show off

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Beautiful little fish, I'm thinking about getting a few in my 90-gallon once it's well-established (my mandarins might eat all the good food!), do you guys know how these will fare with velvetfish or arrow crabs? Possibly even decorator crabs? All of mine are way beyond benign, but would there be anything to worry about?

 

[Ralph ATL]

I don't think wrasses & pipefish mix very well, but I guess that it would also depend upon which wrasse.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

I was also gonna ask that, I'm gonna be getting a tiny little six-line wrasse and probably some little fairy wrasses too, would those be a problem?

 

[mark97r6]

Great pics guys.
I have been thinking about a pair for my mainly SPS reef for a while now.
A few Q's..
How are they with small ornamental shrimps? Im thinking sexy's?
How about stinging corals? Not thinking nems but what about the LPS that pack a punch like euphillia's/ elegance etc..?

Cheers for any help guys.
Mark

 

[Bidadari]

These guys are one of the hardest to keep long term since they're the hardest to train to eat prepared food. I think if you have tons of pods supply for them, they'll do fine. So mixing them with six line wrasse, leopard wrasse, mandarin, etc won't be a good idea IMO.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Well my local LFS only sells tank-raised pipefish (don't know exactly where he gets them from but he's had alligator, dragonface and maybe jannass pipes eating frozen mysis) so I'm not too worried about my pod population.

I was just wondering about fish harrassing them.

 

[Ralph ATL]

no aggressive fish or corals. no stinging corals. none.

 

[Bidadari]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11930467#post11930467 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dante_JoseCuerv
Well my local LFS only sells tank-raised pipefish (don't know exactly where he gets them from but he's had alligator, dragonface and maybe jannass pipes eating frozen mysis) so I'm not too worried about my pod population.

I was just wondering about fish harrassing them.

I would love to know where your LFS got those tankraise pipes.
As far as I know, nobody in the US are successful in raising these pipes yet. The only source for tank raise pipes are coming from Australia, but I think it's only banded pipes.

Six line wrasse is known to be aggressive, some even killing its tank mate, so I would stay away from them if you're getting the pipe.

Mysterybox, does your dragonface eat frozen food?

 

[HBtank]

Bump.

Just got a pair. they are happy so far in my tank. I have massive amounts of pods and small inverts in my tank. Perfect for them. They are not bothered by 5 species of wrasse, my blue jaw, or some semi aggressive corals. A saw them touch a couple (Acan, duncan, brain) and seemed unhurt though they did move away quick. Now they seem to have learned what to avoid quickly, and have some favortie perches already, like my big caps...


My only worry is my powerheads. has anyone had trouble with them? That and overflows. I have Vortechs BTW.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Hmm... well I don't know where he gets his from... he doesn't really say much except that they're tank-raised... but he has demonstrated all his pipefish and seahorses eating frozen brine and mysis quite happily so I'm not doubting his word on that.

Hmmm not working with a six-line? That's odd, I've never seen a mean six-line before and I've seen quite a few. Most of the time they're scared of my friend's tangs and whatnot.. but then again all my friends have tanks that are like 200+gallons and I'm stuck with a tiny little 90 gallon :-(

What about fairy wrasses? Would they be fine with those guys? I'm thinking maybe a scott's and a solar fairy wrasse? Those would be about the most aggressive fish in my tank outside of a sleeper goby (I know, such wild and untambed beasts).

 

[DheereCrossing]

Those pipes are beautiful. I saw some in a store in Omaha about 25 years ago that were about 16 inchs long. Oh, actually those were flagfish - are they the same thing?

 

[viveros1231]

do u have to buy these in pairs?

 

[DT's_Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12061513#post12061513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SOREVIV476
do u have to buy these in pairs?

Not to my knowledge, but they seem to pair up immediately and are not expensive.

 

[Psychographic]

I just finished moving my two from the fuge to the display. here's the little one, it's about 2", the larger is about 4", but it went right into the rocks.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Awesome, that's a pretty good looking dragonface under those 20ks.

Is that black sand I see there?

 

[DheereCrossing]

I haven't researched the care of pipefish yet but quickly; are the nominal temps for these pipefish the same 'high 70's F' as they would be for most seahorse species?

 

[Psychographic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12068856#post12068856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dante_JoseCuerv
Awesome, that's a pretty good looking dragonface under those 20ks.

Is that black sand I see there?

Actually that is under Actinics and yes, it's black sand. This is the smallest DFP I've seen to date, it seems quite healthy and started snicking as soon as it hit the fuge, I just moved it to the DT last night after catching a couple of fish I thought would bother the pairof DFP's. I'll post some pics when the halide comes on.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Awesome, someone besides me is using black sand. HOORAY!

 

[mollymonticello]

I keep all my pipefish at 73* or lower. I know most people keep them at 78* or so, but I know that Syngnathids are prone to Vibrio infections which are particularly rampant at temps over 74*. It's just a precaution.

 

[brandyrb]

I've been considering getting a couple dragon face pipefish. I have a 40 breeder with sps, lps (acans, chalices, blastos, favias, favites) and zoas. Current fish inhabitants are a baby tail spot blenny and a baby randalls shrimp goby.

I do have two maxijet 1200's in the tank, no sump or overflows. I have a medium HOB refugium and the tank is about two years old. I wonder if they would do well?

I'm also considering adding a pair of bangaii cardinals.

I tried a single dragon faced pipefish in a 125 sps tank a couple years ago for red bugs and my cleaner shrimp killed it upon introduction. I ended up going the interceptor route for red bugs.