Dragonface Pipefish (pics)

[sweetpea]

The Royal Gramma really gives an idea of their size... I didn't realize they were so small! Nice pics!

 

[ralph atl]

Scubagirl12;134457 wrote: those are some of the coolest looking animals ive ever seen!
great shots too!

Hey scubagirl! Thankyou very much for the compliments! :yay:

 

[ralph atl]

pic with it's red dorsal

 

[ralph atl]

burdundi;134466 wrote: Those are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

thanks!

 

[ralph atl]

Sweetpea;134471 wrote: The Royal Gramma really gives an idea of their size... I didn't realize they were so small! Nice pics!

although they are still small, that is an older pic, & they have added about an inch.

 

[lenny]

I have had a few different types of pipefish in the tank with the seahorses with no problem about competing for food, other than the fact that the pipefishes seemed to live off the 'pods, and when the seahorses are hungry and your not feeding them at that moment (which is all but what, 20 min a day? lol) they're scouring for pods too... I have 11 seahorses and a mandarin as well, and they do fine, but both types of pipefish I've tried (the ones like yours, mystery, and also the red-banded ones) have only lasted a few months before they mysteriously died, though I assume from malnutrition. I never saw any of them eat anything other than copepods, so maybe that was the problem, but as far as compatability for a seahorse tank.. they make excellent tankmates imo.

 

[ralph atl]

a couple of updated pipefish pics

 

[jade76]

ralph thats awsome. I didnt even know you were hosting a pair.

 

[soarin']

What kind of tail do these fish have? I saw some really cool flag-fin pipefish a while ago at Einstein Aquatics, but my tank wasn't ready at the time. I have been letting my tank (a 55-gallon) mature and get the pod population going, but I think I need to add at least a 20-gallon refugium to my (undrilled, so far) tank, as well as training the fish to eat prepared foods. I fell in love with the pipefish when I saw them, they look so graceful and cool while "hunting" for the pods.

So my plan is to have 2 pipefish and 2 mandarins in the tank.

Here's a picture of flag-fin (banded) pipefish:
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[ralph atl]

Soarin';199666 wrote: What kind of tail do these fish have?

Here's a very old pic with their tail. I was also growing algae at the time.
Well, no big deal, but trying to find a pic with a tail I realized that the first day that they were in my tank was on October 23, 2006. Not quite 2 years.

 

[ralph atl]

jade76;199664 wrote: ralph thats awsome. I didnt even know you were hosting a pair.

and they are cool!

 

[ralph atl]

Soarin';199666 wrote:
So my plan is to have 2 pipefish and 2 mandarins in the tank.
:

It's a tough balance always making sure that you have enough pods, no fish that compete, no fish that with attack or eat them, no stinging corals, etc.

I have 2 fuges, one in my sump, and 1 small CPR hangon to support pods. I feed the fuges 2 drops of iron every other day and on opposite days, live phyto. This also supports algae in your display, so I have to change out my GFO every 2 to 3 weeks. I don't know about starting out with 4 pod eating fish.