Pipefish in a SPS Tank w/ Pic::: Your Questions answered

nauticac4

nauticac4

Baby Fish Wrangler
I have seen post about pipes in SPS tanks. No one seemed to have the answer so I did some research and here we go. I intend to keep a log on their progress and note any mishaps and triumphs along the way.
Friday I picked up a pair of Dragon Faced Pipefish
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They went into my 120 Display with a 20 fuge and 29 sump. I have read that these were the best pipes for this attempt. I have lots of pods and other goodies and they have nipped at frozen food. they went in Friday and were doing good as of last night.
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I do have 2 dangers in the tank. One is a bubble coral that is the size of a baseball and a small bubble tip anenome that is hosted by 2 false percs. I will hopefully log there progress and they seem to be paired as well so Ill cross my fingers.
 
BTW the display is SPS dominant with about 180 lbs of live rock.
I run a Reeflo Dart through an OM 4 way for flow.

I have seen one of the pipe fish swim into the current with not much problem. The rest of the tank specs are in my sig
 
Quick FTS. A bunch of frags now...
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We did have a mishap tonight and both pipes ended up in the overflow box. After removing the canopy, pulling the durso pipes apart and finding a net and bending it to fit the round shape of the overflow I retreived them and placed them back in the display. I also made a cover for the overflow so hopefully it wont happen again. The saga continues.......
 
LOL ya pipes like the intakes. It's funny, they can cut through flow fairly well, but intakes and overflows always present a problem.
 
One died and the one went missing.

They can handle flow, but if they catch the flow just right i.e. right into the intake of my Vortech pump on full. Luckily I was right there and flicked the off switch to the Vortech.
 
To add my 2 cents....I had a banded pipe for a few months in a reef tank. Never had any problems at all, until one day I came home to see the pipe sucked into my Koralia. :(

Other than that, it did fantastic.
They are really neat fish !!
 
Well hit the one week mark. Every one is doing well and no more mishaps with the overflow. I dont have powerheads in the tank and the intakes for the closed loops are guarded and strained so I hope that wont be an issue. They seem to be eating well and look like they have full bellies compared to when I received them. Try to get some pictures up over the weekend
 
Wow! I'm tagging along. I have a few red bugs and don't feel like killing my acro crabs so maybe I'll get some dragon faced pipes.
I've had the redbugs for over a year and still get good growth and color so I'm not to worried about em but it would be nice to have some natural control.
 
Well past its the 10 day mark... The egg crate cover I made for the overflow seems to be working as intended as I have had no more mishaps there.

Both pipe come out at lights on and seem to greet each other and throughout the day they are never far from one another, they pick at the rocks all day and seem to be getting a little fatter but still to early to tell. I did have a breakthrough Satuday as they started picking at the cyclopeze I toss in the tank every few days so they will also eat prepared foods.

One strange thing I have noticed is they are picking at the base of a couple corals. I was thinking redbugs but under closer inspection I could find nothing out of place. Everything is still going good. after some tank cleaning and the Weekly WC I will try to post some pictures.
 
FWIW, when I was getting mine switched to frozen food, I found they were very happy to go after the frozen cubes of "coral food" you get at the LFS. I can get the brand if anyone wants more info. I fed cyclopeze and arctipods with no luck, but as soon as I added the frozen coral food they both dove in and ate a bunch. Never had problems getting them to eat after that.
 
ozadars- why not setup a 2.5 or 5 gallon tank to breed pods. Some cheato a small filter or powerhead and some phyto you will have pods in no time. I keep a large clumo of cheato and some live rock in a 5.5, every once in a while I shake the cheato in the main display and watch the pods go flying. I don't know if it helps that much but at least I am adding something to the poplation everytime I do it.
 
My lfs called me and told me that they have banded pipefish in stock. I think I will give a try. Hope everything goes well :)
 
I've had these dragonface for almost 2 years now. For some reason, they don't go near my Tunzes. As far as I know, THESE are the only species of pipefish that can handle a sps reef tank. Of course you have to make sure that you have no stinging type corals (most lps), and no anemones!


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I went to the lfs but they only had alligator pipefish. I need to wait for the next shipment.

Nice photos mysterybox. I think you can keep flagfin pipefish in the reef tanks like banded, multibanded, blue stripe, etc. but many of these get quite big and they love to swim so I think they need quite a big tank if you are going to put them in a reef tank.
I agree dragon face is the most suitable though. I even think that you can keep them with stinging corals because they live in reefs in nature.
 
You aren't supposed to keep them with items that sting from what I have read, however I figure that it was a risk that I was willing to take and have not had any problems thus far. Both Pipes seem to be staying away from the danger and have also found their sleeping places at night one sleeps in the front right corner under the toadstool and the other sleep in a small cave in the back corner.

Great pics mysterybox
 
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