Pipefish Pair?

[ostrow]

Hi. I have an established reef with a large thriving refugium. I want to add a pair of pipefish. I've asked in general forums on RC but think it's time to post here, as I am serious.

SPS reef, 155gal with 50gal fuge, 300gal total water volume.

Foxface, Hepatus, 3x Royal Gramma, Red Spot Goby, Clown Goby, Radiant Wrasse

I'd like a pair, and was leaning to Janns. But these are hard to find and reading that pairs are harder still.

Ocean Rider has banded pipefish tank bred. Who has experience with them and what sort of condition do they typically arrive in?

Basically, looking for recommendations on how to proceed. The Janns are so much more appealing to my eye that I'd like to go that route, but no clue how to get a healthy pair. Stores here only get through QM or SDC and I wonder about the health....

Divers Den would be an option if you could ask them to "be on the lookout".... otherwise its straight LA and they are not what they used to be.

So, how would you advise I proceed?

T.I.A.!

 

[vlangel]

Hi ostrow, I bought a pair of Ocean Rider's captivebred banded pipefish. I live in Pennsylvania and they arrived in excellant condition. I kept them with my seahorses and they ate frozen mysis. I lost the first one shortly after a year of having it and I lost the 2nd one after keeping it for more than 2 years. Both went quickly once they started to decline. I don't know if they are a short lived fish or if they died of other causes. I do plan on ordering 2 more however.

 

[ThRoewer]

For a reef tank with substantial flow I would avoid the Dunckerocampus species (the banded pipefish) and rather go with a Doryrhampus species (the various bluestripes and janssi).
I have a janssi male in my 100 gallon tank together with a pair of African bluestripe pipefish and they do fine in there.
I have another bluestripe pair in a 40B reef tank and they are equally well there.
Janssi are rather hard to find, but IMO worth the wait. You may either have to tell your LFS to look for them or find an online store that does special orders.

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[ostrow]

For a reef tank with substantial flow I would avoid the Dunckerocampus species (the banded pipefish) and rather go with a Doryrhampus species (the various bluestripes and janssi).
I have a janssi male in my 100 gallon tank together with a pair of African bluestripe pipefish and they do fine in there.
I have another bluestripe pair in a 40B reef tank and they are equally well there.
Janssi are rather hard to find, but IMO worth the wait. You may either have to tell your LFS to look for them or find an online store that does special orders.

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Thanks. Will do.

Wild caught then. I normally with fish don't qt (only buy from places with solid qt procedures) on the philosophy of limiting transitions. But these guys it seems will need if hard to find. De-worm correct?

Problem I see is getting an actual m/f pair. Wish divers den took orders!

 

[ostrow]

For a reef tank with substantial flow I would avoid the Dunckerocampus species (the banded pipefish) and rather go with a Doryrhampus species (the various bluestripes and janssi).
I have a janssi male in my 100 gallon tank together with a pair of African bluestripe pipefish and they do fine in there.
I have another bluestripe pair in a 40B reef tank and they are equally well there.
Janssi are rather hard to find, but IMO worth the wait. You may either have to tell your LFS to look for them or find an online store that does special orders.

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Ocean Rider claims their banded pipefish are Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus.

Is that information not correct?

 

[ThRoewer]

Ocean Rider claims their banded pipefish are Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus.

Is that information not correct?

The genus of the scientific name is incorrect! It should be Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus


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[ThRoewer]

Thanks. Will do.

Wild caught then. I normally with fish don't qt (only buy from places with solid qt procedures) on the philosophy of limiting transitions. But these guys it seems will need if hard to find. De-worm correct?

Problem I see is getting an actual m/f pair. Wish divers den took orders!

Deworming should not be particularly necessary with these. The biggest issue with them are bacterial infections.
Though I would not do anything beyond a formalin bath if they don't show signs of an infection.

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[fabulousfavia]

Your tank should be fine. It is large enough and if you have copepods in your fuge you won't have to worry about vacation feeding. The deworming process is essential but you should also look for snout rot which is kinda common. You should have them in qt for at least a week or more if you want to train them onto frozen. As ThRoewer said you can probably get a pair special ordered for you at your local fish store if you can't find them online. Hope this helps


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[ostrow]

Your tank should be fine. It is large enough and if you have copepods in your fuge you won't have to worry about vacation feeding. The deworming process is essential but you should also look for snout rot which is kinda common. You should have them in qt for at least a week or more if you want to train them onto frozen. As ThRoewer said you can probably get a pair special ordered for you at your local fish store if you can't find them online. Hope this helps


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Thanks. But look at the date! I've had my pair for about 6mos.

Ate frozen in the bucket while acclimating.

My favorite fish by far!

 

[fabulousfavia]

Thanks. But look at the date! I've had my pair for about 6mos.



Ate frozen in the bucket while acclimating.



My favorite fish by far!

Awesome! Great to hear that.


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