My Bluestripe Pipefish (Doryrhamphus excisus)

[seafansar]

Here are my new bluestripe pipefish! I do not know what sex they are yet, but they have been doing well for about 2 weeks now. They are in a 16 gallon nuvo with mixed corals, a golden sailfin blenny (he's not very golden! lol), a tiny ORA marine betta (he will be going into a bigger tank when he grows up), and a tiny pearl wrasse (he will also be going into a new tank when he grows up). I was a little afraid the betta would eat the pipefish, but he actually seems afraid of them. lol. The pipefish have been eating nutramar ova and cyclopeeze. Here's some pics! (Sorry they are a bit blurry.)

They are really cool little fish! One's about 3" and the other 2.5". The bigger one is more bold than the smaller one. They already seem to know me standing in front of the tank = food. They hide behind the rocks (where there's less flow) until they see me and they swim out front for food. It will be cool to see if I have a male and a female and if they ever start producing fry!

 

[seafansar]

Snapped a better picture of my female pipefish. Love these little guys!

Still not sure if I have a male and a female yet. They get along just fine at least.

 

[Akshay]

sweet

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

So very pretty !!! Thanks for sharing !

 

[seafansar]

I'm so happy right now! I knew one way to tell a male from a female was by teeth-like bumps on the snout. Males have them while females don't. I guess I never looked close enough at the smaller pipe (mainly cause he's more shy than the big female), but he has bumps! You can only see them when the light hits them just right, but they are there and they are yellow not clear (some females have clear bumps to make it even harder to sex them). So I guess I do have a pair! It will be exciting to see if they ever spawn. I feed them about 3 to 5 times a day except for two days a week they only get fed 1 to 2 times (my work schedule causes this). They've still been doing well on nutramar ova and cyclops. I've read they will eat mysis too, but I don't see how they could fit that in their mouths! lol.

 

[Paul B]

I love bluestripes and try to always have them in my reef. They have a short lifespan of a few years but during that time, they spawn continuously. Very nice fish and nice pictures.
Here is one at his feeder.

 

[seafansar]

Been busy and haven't had time to update, but they are for sure a male and female! The male has been holding eggs for some time now (not sure if he's holding a second batch or the first batch). They are doing good and will even eat mysis now.

 

[Paul B]

Thats great, they should eat just about anything small enough to fit in their tiny mouth. They spawn every two or three months.
Good luck

 

[yungreefer2410]

Will they eat frozen food? I would love to get a pipefish pair in my 20g long.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, but not much. They are kind of like mandarins in that they hunt pods all day

 

[roearth]

They are lovely. Beautiful colours

 

[seafansar]

Thanks! They are still doing well. The male has grown and sometimes I mistake him for the bigger female at first glance! I should get some video of them sometime.