Native Species Advice Needed (LI Sound)

[Shrinkette]

Hi!

New to the forum, and if I am in the wrong place, kindly redirect me.

I have a 35 gallon hex that I planned on selling. But, plans change

Long story short, I am now the guardian of 7 Northern Pipefish of varying sizes, some crabs I cannot identify, a few snails and hermits, as well as 5 silversides and 1 killifish. They were all caught in a seine net about 6 weeks ago. Everyone told me that they wouldn't survive -- but I took that as a challenge and they are all healthy. However, I am not sure how to keep them that way.

I have sponge filters for filtration, as well as seaweed-encrusted rocks, some oysters, and some macro-algae (I think).

I am moving everyone into a 56 gallon tank -- 30" x 18" X 24" tall.

Any advice?????
Please?????

TIA --

 

[vlangel]

I don't know any advise that can help you but I read a thread in the reef discussion topic from chasmodes who has an interesting tank that is a Maryland coastal biotope. Maybe he can help you out.

 

[Shrinkette]

Thanks!
That would be a great start --
How would I get in touch with him?

 

[rayjay]

What are you feeding them now?
I can't advise on the other contents but wild caught seahorses will need live foods for a long time until you can get them to gradually switch to eating frozen mysis.
The other thing is that the tank is not large enough really for that many seahorses let alone tankmates.
In lieu of a sufficiently large tank you will have to do MANY more and LARGER water changes than normal with special attention to removing any trapped uneaten food and other detritus before it provides food and bedding for nasty bacteria species like the vibrios.

 

[Shrinkette]

Hi RayJay --

I have northern pipefish in the tank -- no seahorses (at least not yet) -- I never know what the neighbors will bring me in a bucket. But it's winter now, and I don't expect anymore surprises:spin1: I also got a 56 gallon for my birthday that I was going to set up as a saltwater tank with some corals, but it will now be home to my LI tank.

I knew I would have to feed live foods if they were to survive, so I fed live brine shrimp -- they gobbled that up! Then I gradually started adding some frozen mysis in with the live food, as well as some plankton (they DON'T like plankton), and a frozen invertebrate diet (they went for that!).

Thankfully, I have not lost a single pipefish -- and they are now happily eating the frozen diet.

I didn't know how to best accommodate them, so I have seaweed-encrusted rocks, hermit crabs, grass shrimp, snails, small crabs. Everything in the tank is from LI waters. All looks good, but I am concerned about the bacteria you mentioned? Vibrios? Will google it, but it sounds nasty --

Thank you so much for the feedback!:rollface:
I will be on the watch for water quality issues --

 

[rayjay]

Sorry about my tunnel vision Carol. I'm old and just got to the "northern" and saw seahorses when that part wasn't even there.
I don't know if pipefish are as sensitive to bacteria as seahorses so someone else will chime in on that.
It's not just vibrios but those species are most common.
Best I can say at this time for water quality is to clean the mechanical filtration (sponge or anything else that traps detritus) every 3 or 4 days before it decays to aid bacterial growth.
Also, use a turkey baster or small powerhead to blast the crap from areas it gets trapped around/under rock and decor for removal.
You might be able to get the pipefish on frozen faster if you start to mix a bit of frozen brine in with the live brine (hopefully you can enrich the brine first with something like Dan's Food from seahorsesource.com. As they start to take to it, you increase the amount of frozen and decrease the live until all or mostly all frozen.
If they are large enough to take frozen mysis that's a better food to get them on if possible.

 

[vlangel]

Thanks!
That would be a great start --
How would I get in touch with him?

Ok, his thread is titled:
Oyster reef ecosystem tank. Chasmodes is his username. His thread is under reef discussion and you might have to go back 2 or 3 pages to find his thread. I am pretty sure that he will help you though.

 

[vlangel]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=839286

Here, I think I copied his thread link. I a bit tech challenged so don't hold me to it, ha ha!

 

[Shrinkette]

Thank you so much -- will check it out!

 

[Chasmodes]

How are your fish doing?

I don't have any experience with the northern pipefish, though I've caught many of them, I've never kept them. So I'll be following your posts. As far as the other species, it sounds like you're on the right track. I've kept it simple so far, with a powerhead on one side of my 20g long and a HOB filter on the right side. I am trying to keep macros, 2 kinds. Ulva which dies off in one tank but lives in the other, and Gracilaria, which seems to be living in both tanks OK. But, I'm sure my lighting isn't sufficient and I'm not dosing anything yet. I plan to buy a CO2 reactor and then consider other dosing options (like iron, perhaps).

So far, all of the fish are doing well. I also have 2 mud crabs, a barnacle, some tunicates and mussels, an anemone in addition to the fish. I tried to collect silversides and of the four that survived the trip home, 2 of them died the next day and the other two lasted a couple days before the skilletfish and blennies killed and ate them.

There is a big worm population (tube worms, bloodworms, and others) along with a good many copepods, so I think that pipefish might last a while if I can keep the pod population up. I am on the fence about keeping them though.

I'm currently keeping striped blennies, naked gobies, and skilletfish, and have 3 mummichogs (killifish) in the other tank. Eventually, most of these fish, if not all of them, will wind up in a 100g. That tank will have much better lighting, connected to a 40g sump, and much more current. I haven't decided on filtration yet within the sump, although I'm leaning toward keeping it very simple.

All of my fish are doing well and eat just about anything that I put in there (frozen brine shrimp, clams, bloodworms and even flakes. The killifish are the only thing that will eat pellets, so I fed them a couple times a week with pellets so I didn't waste my money. I bought the pellets for an auto feeder while I was on vacation, but the fish in my blenny tank wouldn't eat them. Anyway, best of luck with your fish and I look forward to seeing some updates.

 

[Dsekula]

Hi RayJay --

I have northern pipefish in the tank -- no seahorses (at least not yet) -- I never know what the neighbors will bring me in a bucket. But it's winter now, and I don't expect anymore surprises:spin1: I also got a 56 gallon for my birthday that I was going to set up as a saltwater tank with some corals, but it will now be home to my LI tank.

I knew I would have to feed live foods if they were to survive, so I fed live brine shrimp -- they gobbled that up! Then I gradually started adding some frozen mysis in with the live food, as well as some plankton (they DON'T like plankton), and a frozen invertebrate diet (they went for that!).

Thankfully, I have not lost a single pipefish -- and they are now happily eating the frozen diet.

I didn't know how to best accommodate them, so I have seaweed-encrusted rocks, hermit crabs, grass shrimp, snails, small crabs. Everything in the tank is from LI waters. All looks good, but I am concerned about the bacteria you mentioned? Vibrios? Will google it, but it sounds nasty --

Thank you so much for the feedback!:rollface:
I will be on the watch for water quality issues --

Hi just saw this post,
If your still working on this project you could always try a small UV system for bacteria control. There are many types out there in all different price ranges. Just make sure it gets continus flow so it won't overheat. Good luck

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

 

[Shrinkette]

Thank you so much!

Yes, I can do that --

Anything to keep these guys happy:celeb2:

 

[Shrinkette]

Fish are all doing well -- the pipefish are fat and seem happy. I've been feeding them frozen mysis, frozen spirulina brine shrimp. They are particular, though : )

Hoping that you kept the pipefish and that they are doing well --

Carol

 

[Chasmodes]

Fish are all doing well -- the pipefish are fat and seem happy. I've been feeding them frozen mysis, frozen spirulina brine shrimp. They are particular, though : )

Hoping that you kept the pipefish and that they are doing well --

Carol

That's great news! Do you have any pics of your tank to share?

 

[Shrinkette]

That's great news! Do you have any pics of your tank to share?

Hi!
I am upgrading to a 90 gallon, so currently a little bit in disarray. But I am attaching a few pics - hope you enjoy!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Dsekula]

Hi!
I am upgrading to a 90 gallon, so currently a little bit in disarray. But I am attaching a few pics - hope you enjoy!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Sweet pics!! That's so different than the avg coral/reef tank l, it's cool!

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

 

[Chasmodes]

Looks fantastic! Your pipefish seem to be nice and fat too. Awesome! When you said earlier that they ate frozen mysis and brine shrimp, but they were particular. Did they eat some of each, and were just picky on which individual frozen shrimp that they ate (like, the size and shape had to be right)? I'm curious what to expect if I try and keep them this year.

Thanks for sharing the pics, BTW!

 

[Rispa]

Wow the algae is pretty. Have you identified what algae species you have?