New pipefish tank.

[pisces9397]

I'm thinking of setting up a tank for pipe fish and was hoping for some input. I've kept Jansus' pipefish and a pair of dragon-faced pipefish before that gave me no trouble eating and did very well. My question is if this is usually the case, or if I got lucky the first time. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[HollyRoot]

pipe fish tank

pipe fish tank

Hi - I don't have a tank dedicated to pipe fish, but I acquired my pipefish last year (by accident). It ended up in a bucket of ghost shrimp that I was catching for one of my fish back home.

Anyway - I live 4 hours from the coast and had no plans to return for atleast a month, so I did some research and worked at keeping him alive. At first, it only ate live brine shrimp (the only live, small thing I could buy from the local aquarium hobby store). Slowly, he started eating the frozen brine shrimp (probably because he was so hungry). Over time, he has learned to eat all the frozen varieties I put in the tank. He has even become quite assertive during feeding time - attacking the floating cubes of food before they even desolve and start to seperate.

I too just thought maybe I got lucky, but it sounds like if you also had success w/ your first few pipefish then maybe they aren't as hard to keep as all the articles say. Maybe it really just depends on the hobbist. I think you need to be willing and able to put the time in at the begining by feeding them frequently and offering a variety of foods until they get acclimated.

Good luck.

 

[Elysia]

I don't know... Its sort of like watching these shows where people survive horrific conditions, and when asked how it is they came to survive, they say "I had the will to live." Okay, sure, but... The will to live, just like spending time to meet an animal's needs, is just the base line. Don't bother to take them on if you aren't going to bother making the necessary adjustments to keep the pipe alive. And just because you make the necessary adjustments doesn't mean that you will be rewarded with sucess.
Seahorses (and pipes, I believe) do not have stomachs, so they aren't able to convert what they eat into energy and body mass very well, so not feeding can be very serious.
All of that said, I am very glad to hear that both of you were sucessful with your pipes!

 

[pisces9397]

Thanks for the advice. I feel pretty confident. I'll see if I can post some pics in a few weeks.