Blue Stripe PipeFish pair fighting

doodledreads · Mar 22, 2019

I ordered a male and female from Blue Zoo Aquatics about a month ago and they arrived healthy and have been doing very well in my Red Sea Reefer Nano. I have a small refugium and dose phytofeast everyday so my pod population is steady and I also feed them fresh hatched baby brine shrimp every other day.

I started noticing the longer pipe fish chasing the shorter one a couple weeks ago and didnot pay attention to it. I noticed it is getting worse as the time goes. The shorter one is still eating and active but hides more. I think they are both the same gender despite I specifically ordered a male and female hoping they pair up.

Any advise on what I should do? I cannot catch them with out draining the whole tank or remove the rocks which is not feasible.

Rockytop_Reefer · Mar 22, 2019

The male should have small ridges on its snout and a relatively flat stomach. Female should have a smooth snout with a rounder stomach.

What size tank do you have? Are there ample hiding spots? Since they’re relatively new maybe one is focused more on territory than reproduction. Because if they don’t bond then they are essentially competition. But you are giving them a very ample food source so I wouldn’t think it’d be as such.

I had a bonded pair of radial filefish that came in but after two days the bigger started bullying the smaller. It wasn’t too bad so I continued on feeding them well and after 2 weeks they’re back to being a pair. Sorry I don’t have any real solutions.

I’ve had a male pipefish that has been amazing for a few months now (he even eats mysis! Or at least the tiny bits that could fit in his mouth) and I’m getting a female delivered on Saturday from Blueezoo. I hope they get along.... I’ll update you if I learn anything.

doodledreads · Mar 22, 2019

Thanks for replying. I donot notice any ridges on either of them and they both seem to have round stomach. Its tough to check as they are tiny and moving constantly.

The tank is about 20G display and about 10G sump. I do feed them well and yes, I noticed mine eating small mysis and brine shrimp as well. I wish I can catch one so I can try order a male again.

Rockytop_Reefer · Mar 26, 2019

Any updates on how things are going between them?

I added the female and almost instantly they were doing the side by side courtship swimming. It’s been a few days and they are inseparable about 70% of the time. She doesn’t seem to like cyclopeeze unlike the male. I’ve heard that it’s possible for two females to live in an aquarium but I doubt they would in a 20gallon. I’ve read two males will fight to the death unless it’s a huge aquarium. So it’s sorta sounding like an error on Bluezoo’s sexing to me.