local pipefish tank?

ctreefer

ctreefer

New member
Has anyone tried to keep pipe fish local to long Island Sound? I've grown up by the shoreline and can always remember seeing them there and lately while wandering the waters with my kids I've been seeing quite a few of them. They're really cool, but I don't want to try if its not gonna work. (I realize these would have to be a coldwater species) I'm guessing a tank in the basement where the temp is around 68-74 during the summer.

Just curious,
 
I never realized we had them up here , I would definetly be interested in trying one also . You might have to find live food or just work really hard at getting them to switch over to prepared food .
 
Yeah Earl, Not sure how hard it will be to feed. I've done some searching and there are several people in the area that have kept them succesfully and gotten them to convert over to frozen mysid. They're pretty hardy and can live in lower salinity and warmer waters (their range is from the Gulf of Mexico up to the gulf of St. Lawrence.)

Here's a pretty cool website I just found:
http://borntoexplore.org/aquarium/pipefish.htm

Funny thing is where they go collecting is where I go as well. I'm gonna give it a try this weekend. Maybe borrow my brothers seine.
 
thats pretty darn cool :) but i would deff need a chiller at this point lol.... keep us all posted on how it goes :)
 
Hey if you can get more than one im interested . Ive got plenty of cycled water , rock and sand I can cool down and lower the salinity . Or If you want a little help , or can give directions I dont mind trying to grab one myself . I believe I have a tropical fish mag article on this same species with much , much more detail on care and setup . Ill let you know if I find it .
 
Re: local pipefish tank?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10165848#post10165848 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctreefer
Has anyone tried to keep pipe fish local to long Island Sound? I've grown up by the shoreline and can always remember seeing them there and lately while wandering the waters with my kids I've been seeing quite a few of them. They're really cool, but I don't want to try if its not gonna work. (I realize these would have to be a coldwater species) I'm guessing a tank in the basement where the temp is around 68-74 during the summer.

Just curious,
Click to expand...
Drop "Paul B" a line. I believe he keeps these and many other "local" type of fish.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=13094
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10169296#post10169296 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ShiftNation
Hey if you can get more than one im interested . Ive got plenty of cycled water , rock and sand I can cool down and lower the salinity . Or If you want a little help , or can give directions I dont mind trying to grab one myself . I believe I have a tropical fish mag article on this same species with much , much more detail on care and setup . Ill let you know if I find it .
Click to expand...

Earl, if I catch a few I'll put one aside for you. Are you going to the meeting this weekend?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10169063#post10169063 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by erickrm
thats pretty darn cool :) but i would deff need a chiller at this point lol.... keep us all posted on how it goes :)
Click to expand...

Rich, I need to do some more digging, but I think the coldwater aspect might not be necessary as these guys live anywhere from the shores off of Canada all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Locally they also get stuck in tide pools regularly where the water temperatures can exceed 80F. I'm going to ask in the seahorse/pipefish forums and see what I get.
 
The article is the same species and the author catches them in the tidal areas of the gulf of mexico . Ill let you guys know when I find it . I will be at the meeting but please LMK if you have one as soon as you can before you come up . Also the smaller the better for me .
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10168987#post10168987 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ctreefer

Here's a pretty cool website I just found:
http://borntoexplore.org/aquarium/pipefish.htm
.
Click to expand...
FYI, in case any of you wanted to know/possibly wanted one but werent able to travel down to catch one, puppy center has (at least they did on sunday) a pipfish which looked very very similar to this one in their 33. There were also some really small species. not sure of any of the species names though, but i thought some of you might like to know. i really want to get one, but id have waaay too much flow. haha
 
yea right now i am too worried about re setting up my tank lol but it will be interesting to know how all this goes for you guys :) post pictures and stuff :)
 
Earl, I'll give you as much heads up as I can, but I probably won't head to the beach with any gear till Saturday especially since the tides/times are going to be against me the rest of this week.

Rich, you can count on pics.
 
Although I have not collected (or saw) any in many years I did try to keep them a few times with no luck. I am not sure if it is tank temp or food. They used to be very common in the Sound.
The Sound is just full of plankton and I am not sure you would be able to feed them properly. They are exactly like seahorses only have smaller mouths. The local seahorses are very easy to keep, I have even raised them a few times.
Good luck.
Paul
 
Thanks Paul,

I tried to catch some this past weekend, but no luck. The sound had some kind of hatching that occured and the waters were loaded with these little sea critter the size of our larger copepods clouding up the water. I couldn't see a thing. I guess everyone in there is a happy fat camper though.
 
Ctreefer I was out there last week with my two man scene net and only got blueclaw crabs and a few thousand silversides or whatever they are calling them now. They die as soon as they see the net. Years ago you would get a few pipefish with every drag but they are gone now. At least from the south side of the Sound where I am.
Paul
 
That's funny, because I kept commenting to my wife how little stuff were were getting with our two man(I was going to blame it on her poor form of holding her end of the net but thought better of it). Just a few silversides and crabs and about a dozen little shrimp. I have memories of being able to catch both pipefish, small puffers, baby flounder and sea robins regularly about 25-30 years ago along with the usual chubs and silversides and small snapper blues depending on the time of year. One time I recall walking on the beach at low tide and seeing some large shrimplike creatures that basically looked like lobster tails all over the place both dead and alive. No idea what they were.
 
THose large shrimplike creatures with lobster tails are mantis shrimp. I sometimes catch them at night on the Conn. side of the Sound. I once kept one for about a year. You can also eat them as they are about 7" long.
The rest of that stuff you mention are long gone. I have not seen a puffer in about 40 years and they used to be about the only thing out there. Small flounders I rarely see but baby blues are common. They die right away in a bucket though so I don't collect them.
Paul
 
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