blue striped pipefish questions
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Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Bluestripe Pipefish
Anytime I see this... Care Level: Expert Only I know they are far from "hardy" think on this one, unless you are up to this ...
Please note: We guarantee that ALL aquaria species we offer will arrive alive and in good condition. However, because of the increased level of care required for this particular species, it has been designated as "Expert Only." This species is recommended only for the expert aquarist, zoo, or research institution please.
Anytime I see this... Care Level: Expert Only I know they are far from "hardy" think on this one, unless you are up to this ...
Please note: We guarantee that ALL aquaria species we offer will arrive alive and in good condition. However, because of the increased level of care required for this particular species, it has been designated as "Expert Only." This species is recommended only for the expert aquarist, zoo, or research institution please.
Count your blessings. At least you were smart enough to ask first. All to often, someone brings something home with no idea on hot to care for it. All to often, it has to either be returned to the LFS, or it dies.
The live-copepods thing can be enhanced by allowing the periphyton to mature on your rocks, and not changing any lighting, flow, and certainly not moving the rocks. The pods multiply in the periphyton.
You did the smart thing asking first. It makes me crazy sometimes when people call/text/post questions about a new creature they've added to their tanks without knowing its care requirements. My wife used to be Really bad about trying to pick fish for my tank. Oh that's ones pretty, we need one of those!!! my response: Yea, it is BUT----Do you know what it eats, what eats it, how big it gets, how big an aquarium it requires, what sorts of deseases its prone to get...etc. She quit picking and just started asking me. Moral of the story, Look up the care/feeding requirements Before you get something, so it will live a long happy life, providing you much joy in watching/caring for it.
theplantman
Active Member
+1 to everything said above. Pipefish are a specialty species and should really have a dedicated set up. I looked into trying these a while back, a friend in Atlanta had a setup for dragon face pipefish which are one of the easier species to keep but still rated as difficult. They prefer to eat only live copepods. They are slow like seahorses and most successful tanks I have seen for them are macro-algae displays. You can do live rocks and corals however these fish are sensitive to corals that have a harsh sting and anemones can outright kill them. So setting up their biotope should be done with care. Next is they should really be housed in a system of at least 50 gallons for proper pod populations to flourish. Finally, at least with dragon face pipefish, they can be kept with seahorses or other very peaceful species such as dragonets. Although had I done it, I would not put any competitors for food in the same tank unless I was over 75 gallons.
Thanks for asking in advance before just picking them up. I am with DDElozier, too often we see the post, that says, I just bought this, can someone tell me what it is and how to take care of it. That is a dangerous way to stock a tank in our hobby where our critters are often times toxic to one degree or another, specialized feeders, earth movers, shell stealers, coral clippers, invert ingesters, social, anti-social, jumpers, hiders, some like nutrient rich water, some like no nutrients. You get the drift. Keep up the research as you stock. I always like to do a stocking list in advance to make sure everyone is compatible and that I have the right equipment and parameters for all.
Thanks for asking in advance before just picking them up. I am with DDElozier, too often we see the post, that says, I just bought this, can someone tell me what it is and how to take care of it. That is a dangerous way to stock a tank in our hobby where our critters are often times toxic to one degree or another, specialized feeders, earth movers, shell stealers, coral clippers, invert ingesters, social, anti-social, jumpers, hiders, some like nutrient rich water, some like no nutrients. You get the drift. Keep up the research as you stock. I always like to do a stocking list in advance to make sure everyone is compatible and that I have the right equipment and parameters for all.