Dragon Face Pipefish

[JJohn]

SkinyChinaMan: Wow! that is an amazing fish.

Tony13: Thanks for the kind words. I use a Fuji S2 DSLR with a Nikkor 60mm and 105 Nikkor Macro. I have a couple images in the Clownfish forum if you want to see more. I shoot ISO 200, f/22, with flash held in one hand and the camera body in the other. Both have to be pointing at the subject but not inline so you avoid getting back-scatter from the glass or debris in the water.

Seamonkey2: What frozen food do you put into cracks of rocks? I tried with the "Cyclops by Ocean Nutrition" and it almost instantly dispersed. Sounds like a great idea but, I must have the wrong kind of food. You were also right in that my pipe is eating more frozen now. Another question, if I can ask, have you attempted to raise any of the pipefish broods?

I am not too surprised that others are also interested in the Tail Spot. Sort of similar to the DFPF in that they show personality, they are cute little fish, they play a useful role in a reef tank, and they are not so common that you see one everyday. Let me know if you want other images posted.

RB count has been very stable since the DFPF was added. I will wait a couple more weeks to make a judgement on efficacy of this species. If no luck, I will add an acro-crab to my worst colony and then keep the same data. I won't part with the pipefish however.

John

 

[pledosophy]

We want other images posted. Maybe a caledar.

Seamonky, how long has that tank been runnng with those inhabitants.

 

[seamonkey2]

SkinyChinaMan- where did you get those ghost pipes, I been looking for them, and F&S dont have them--AAHHHHh I want a pair

JJohn-I "hide" mysys, remember your tabulation does not account for babies, so it may seem like is not going down, when in fact it can be, just that the new ones add to the total

shqueens- the files dont bother anybody, I over feed my tanks, so nobody goes hungry so there is no need to fight.

my phylosophy is...In the wild most animals will fight for food first then territtory, so if everybody gets a lot(and my fish are FAT) there is no fighting, 2 years running it that way and I got fish that should not be together,,JMO

oh yeah and I got 2 48" skimmers for the tanks and run them once a week only, water quality is perfect(ok so ther is a clean up crew of 1,000 snails in each tank and 500 blue legs) that help

pledosophy- the pipes and horses where tranfers from their old 170ga, to the new 215, so at least 18 months?...

the fish were "rescue" from the 240, each one has a story, they all know( I dont know how, but they do) that they are guests in the SH tank, so they do not eat the horses food, they get pleanty of their own, and they swim high so as not to bother the horses resting areas, very nice dynamics in that tank

Jose

 

[seamonkey2]

JJohn- I try once to raise pipes, back when I was raising Horses, way to much work, and not enough time for the family

so I gave up all the set up I had got ,to some one whom may have more time, man 10 tanks w/ individual fiters, stand, kreel tanks, the works...geezz I kick myself for stating that.. oh well it was good and rewarding learnig experience

Jose

 

[JJohn]

Current RB data

Current RB data

The data to this point is a bit discouraging. See below:

Great fish but no indication he/she is making any significant difference yet. It will be a couple more weeks before I draw a conclusion. Note: my conclusion would be for my particular pipefish, my particular reef tank, and my particular Red Bugs - it is dangerous to extrapolate beyond this one specific experiment. Years ago, I had a Yellow Tang that didn't eat algae except in flake or frozen form. His replacement, I still have, and he spends all day doing what he was meant to do.

John

 

[pasenah]

hi john, i was wondering if you have an update on your story?

cheers
ben

 

[JJohn]

Hi,

I was surprised that this thread had not completely died.

Yes, the number of redbugs did drop for awhile. It is hard to say if the DFPF was the cause or not. After a few more weeks, the number of RB's started getting really high and I decided to treat the tank. The unfortunate, but not unexpected, outcome was that enough of the micro-fauna died off and the pipefish who was eating mostly "wild" stuff he caught in the tank slowly starved.

I tried many different types of frozen foods and he ate all of them but not in enough numbers or frequently enough to sustain him. It was sad as that was one of my all time favorite fish. I wonder how well others have done with this pipefish.

My tank is very old and had a huge and diverse population of small critters. I sort of think that might be needed for long term success, at least in a reef tank and not a species specific environment.

JJohn

 

[pasenah]

sorry to hear that john. thanks for posting though as im looking to get a DFPF but it wont be for a year as i need to build up the pods. great fish.

cheers
ben