Pipefish are my favorite but....

[prickles]

I really want to put some dragon face pipes in my under construction tank. Can I? I love these fish!!!

the tank will be large (~1350g) with another 900g or so of fish room filtration etc so pods aren't the issue. What I am worried about is the corals etc. I will have a bunch of LPS and SPS in there along with probably 1 RBTA. I have had them before in a mixed LPS/SPS tank but I plan on more corals this time.

thoughts?

 

[JLynn]

I think you could, from looking at old threads on the topic. It is risky to dragonface pipefish with anemones, because they slither on the rocks and corals, but I have heard of a couple people doing it without problems- they said that the pipefish seemed to know to avoid the anemone. In such a big tank, you could probably arrange things so that the pipefish never even encounter the anemone, but if you are not sold on having the anemone, your safest bet is to leave it out. So if you do it, exercise caution and remove either the pipefish or the anemone at the first sign of a problem.

 

[NatureNerd]

My DF pipefish and a 10" diameter LTA have coexisted in my 75g for many years. This anemone can be quite aggresive. It has eaten other fish before. I would say it is probably more dangerous to a pipe than a RBTA. That said, there has never been any problems.

Of course, this is just a single data point and I only have SPS, two soft corals and an anemone. No LPS's. Where I think you may have problems in the long run, is when that RBTA starts splitting and you have many of them to potential grab the weak swimming pipe.

With the size of the tank you are setting up, there should be lots of room for the pipefish to swim around the anemone. Food should be no problem either. I would recommend a pair. They do better in pairs assuming there are enough pods.

 

[prickles]

thanks!

Generally when my RBTA's split I get rid of the clone. I don't know that I would keep them if I could get them out.

 

[rssjsb]

I'm pretty sure a little BTA clone got my DF.