What kind of pipefish?

[Zach Vs Ponies]

Well, I'm coming up on a year with my mated pair of H. Erectus seahorses, and I'm wanting to give them the tank I wished I had room for when I bought their 20 gallon tank back in April, 2010. I've found a 55 gallon tank that I really like and I think I'm going to get it.

With only two seahorses in it, the tank will, obviously, seem a little empty. Therefore, I've already made plans on buying another pair of H. Erectus seahorses and a pipefish.

My problem is that I can hardly find any good information on different species of pipefish. If anyone could help me answer some of these questions, that would be great.

1) What would be a good type of pipefish for a person with experience with seahorses, but not pipefish?
2) My LFS had an alligator pipefish a few weeks ago. Is that an easy kind to take care of?
3) Do they eat frozen mysis like my seahorses?
4) Is taking care of a pipefish just like taking care of an elongated seahorse?

One other thing: I don't have a powerhead in my current seahorse tank, but I'm thinking I should get one with my 55 gallon. I'm scared it's going to suck the seahorses in it. What kind of powerhead should I get?


Sorry for the long post with so many questions. Thanks for any info you can give, or any links to some info if you know of any!

 

[namxas]

You've got a couple of issues to consider here:

First, let me begin by saying that even under the best conditions, mixing Syngnathid species is a crap shoot due to the chances of one species infecting the other, or both species infecting each other with pathogens that only one is immune to. I know it seems like a "yeah, right..." thing, but trust me on this. The exception is having it work out with no losses. This is especially true if you have CB SH and you're adding WC pipes (there are no CB pipes commercially available in the US).

As far as adding more SH, make sure they're the same species, and get them from the same breeder for your best chance of success.

I'm not a fan of PH's (they're really unsightly), esp in case of SH setups. Whatever you get, make sure they have a guard on them, both intake and output, as they've been known to amputate SH tails. This is esp. true of Korallias (except the nano odel, which has a built-in guard).

HTH

 

[WaGuy82]

I know most folks aren't fond of Ocean Rider, but it looks like they have captive bred pipefish?

 

[Meus]

I know most folks aren't fond of Ocean Rider, but it looks like they have captive bred pipefish?

Good luck seeing one in stock though.

 

[namxas]

I suspect OR may have been getting their CB pipes from Mic Payne in Oz, but I'm pretty sure he got out of the biz. Just a guess...

 

[Zach Vs Ponies]

What's wrong with Ocean Rider? That's where I was planning on ordering my next pair of seahorses. Please tell so I don't make a mistake.

 

[rayjay]

I have no first hand experience with any of their stock, but there are a lot of negative threads to be found on the "org".
For my part, I could not see paying their prices when one can get top notch seahorse stock from seahorsesource.com, pekasponies.com or seahorsecorral.com with much better pricing and better reputation IMO.
And yes, Seahorse Sanctuary (Dr Mic Payne) is no longer in operation.
At this time, I know of no known breeder/source of captive bred pipe fish.

 

[namxas]

What's wrong with Ocean Rider? That's where I was planning on ordering my next pair of seahorses. Please tell so I don't make a mistake.

Their customer service has always been hit-or-miss.

I wasn't crazy about the quality of their stock, personally (yes, I've owned three of their SH in the past).

Anyplace that sells SH at a premium for color isn't being honest to the public.

They're PRICY...c'mon...$950 for an erectus with a pinto pattern that isn't guaranteed to show up at your house as a pinto???!!!

Case in point, I knew a person who ordered pintos, and when they called OR to ask why the SH wasn't a pinto they were told "you paid for the pinto gene, not the coloration".

I'm sure there are plenty of reviews if you do a search, but the decision and the money is yours...

Get your SH from seahorse source, or peka's ponies...both are tops in my book.