Pipefish are some of the neatest looking fish swimming, and the swimming part is the important detail when separating them from their close cousins the Seahorse. Unlike Seahorses, Pipefish don't do the whole grabbing onto things with their monkey-tails. For years many home aquarists have steered away from keeping them, based mostly on it being a challenge to get the wild caught fish to eat thawed foods. If you're a regular reader here on the website, you've followed along as Quality Marine is an avid supporter of aquaculture around the world. Today, we're shining some light on Dunckerocampus pessuliferus, an absolutely gorgeous pipefish being aquacultured. This has had a multitude of benefits, as we can help protect a species that is threatened in the wild, and importantly for aquarists everywhere, they are much easier to feed than their wild counterparts, solving the primary issue in their husbandry!
Dunckerocampus pessuliferus is more commonly called the Yellow Multi Banded Pipefish, though it also gets called Yellow Banded and Yellow Barred Pipefish, and all these names are apt for a fish with a reddish-brown body with brilliant yellow stripes. They are part of a group of pipefish known as Flagtail Pipefish, so called as their tailfins are oversized when compared to their bodies and generally ornately colored. The more scientifically minded among us will know them as the subfamily Doryrhamphinae (but Flagtail is infinitely easier to say.)
Finally, let's talk feeding. We know of so many aquarists who've said something like “Multi Banded Pipefish are so gorgeous and cool, but I am scared to keep them because they never eat.” Well, firstly, even wild Pipefish can be taught to take thawed foods, but with aquacultured Yellowbanded Pipefish we've already done that job for you. You'll want to offer them a safe, high quality thawed food like Gamma Mysis, Copepods, Rotifers, Tubifex, and some of the Brine Plus products like Brine Plus Omega, Brine Plus Spirulina, and Brine Plus Aloe Vera. Pipefish lack a traditional stomach, and so they feed pretty much all day long. Feed your fish at least twice a day (more would be better), and don't feed more than they can consume in a few minutes. A refugium plumbed into your display can help provide a source of natural food over the course of the day, but refugiums are another article. If you notice your fish getting skinny, bump the food up a bit, if you notice one getting fat, maybe he's pregnant (yup, he.) Click here to learn more
Dunckerocampus pessuliferus is more commonly called the Yellow Multi Banded Pipefish, though it also gets called Yellow Banded and Yellow Barred Pipefish, and all these names are apt for a fish with a reddish-brown body with brilliant yellow stripes. They are part of a group of pipefish known as Flagtail Pipefish, so called as their tailfins are oversized when compared to their bodies and generally ornately colored. The more scientifically minded among us will know them as the subfamily Doryrhamphinae (but Flagtail is infinitely easier to say.)
Finally, let's talk feeding. We know of so many aquarists who've said something like “Multi Banded Pipefish are so gorgeous and cool, but I am scared to keep them because they never eat.” Well, firstly, even wild Pipefish can be taught to take thawed foods, but with aquacultured Yellowbanded Pipefish we've already done that job for you. You'll want to offer them a safe, high quality thawed food like Gamma Mysis, Copepods, Rotifers, Tubifex, and some of the Brine Plus products like Brine Plus Omega, Brine Plus Spirulina, and Brine Plus Aloe Vera. Pipefish lack a traditional stomach, and so they feed pretty much all day long. Feed your fish at least twice a day (more would be better), and don't feed more than they can consume in a few minutes. A refugium plumbed into your display can help provide a source of natural food over the course of the day, but refugiums are another article. If you notice your fish getting skinny, bump the food up a bit, if you notice one getting fat, maybe he's pregnant (yup, he.) Click here to learn more
