Expert-Only Pipefish?

ThRoewer

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Why are only some pipes on Live Aquaria marked as expert only? Is it just because they don't ship well? The expert only ones seem to have the same requirements of care as the non-expert pipes (like the dragonface). I'm wanting either Janss or Blueline but both are marked expert only which makes me worried that it may be a bad choice. Can someone please explain to me why those two are expert only but some of the other pipefish are not? Thanks!
In my experience, dragonface pipefish are far more difficult to feed than bluestripe pipefish who generally accept frozen food quickly.
The issue is more the condition in which these fish arrive at the wholesalers. Bluestripe and Janssi pipefish often come in with bad bacterial infections and severely malnourished due to improper treatment at the collectors and exporters. Getting them back to health and interested in eating requires a lot of work and still has a very poor success rate.
But if you get healthy specimens they are pretty easy to care for.
So in my opinion this whole "expert only" thing is nothing more than a way to weasel their out of taking responsibility for shipping you fish that shouldn't have been shipped in the first place.
 

carmodpg

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I have had a dragonface pipefish that has been kicking for over 2 years now. I have had a large nem and elegance in the tank for the entire time without any problems. It did work its way into a filter sock a long time ago, but once I put it back into the DT, it was back swimming around. I have pods in the system, but honestly have never had an issue. I was surprised to see its "expert only."
 
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I have had a dragonface pipefish that has been kicking for over 2 years now. I have had a large nem and elegance in the tank for the entire time without any problems. It did work its way into a filter sock a long time ago, but once I put it back into the DT, it was back swimming around. I have pods in the system, but honestly have never had an issue. I was surprised to see its "expert only."
Sounds great! I’m kinda nervous now, I saw some bluestripes in person and they are TINY
 
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footgal

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For tiny ones you should culture Tigriopus or, at a very minimum, set up a brine shrimp hatchery.
Yeah, the problem is that I’m gone on the weekends. I’m looking into finding a doser and can dose phyto and pods/brine/rotifers or something into the tank so i know they’ll be okay without me for 2 days or even a week if I go on vacation.

The owner swore up and down that those were full grown pipefish, but they were so small I’d be afraid of crushing one accidentally with the flipper!
 

Dr. Dendrostein

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How big is the chamber in the sump?

Edit/ Ha, just realized this was an old thread.
The sump is different, I deal with NPS corals. But there's a lot of nooks and crannies dry Rock in there. I just noticed like 2 weeks ago the one blue line pipe fish is alive and it is fat and plumpy. Went back in hiding soon as I saw him or her.
 

Tcook

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The sump is different, I deal with NPS corals. But there's a lot of nooks and crannies dry Rock in there. I just noticed like 2 weeks ago the one blue line pipe fish is alive and it is fat and plumpy. Went back in hiding soon as I saw him or her.
Oh. Is this the sump with the muscles or oysters?
 

bherbold8

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The sump is different, I deal with NPS corals. But there's a lot of nooks and crannies dry Rock in there. I just noticed like 2 weeks ago the one blue line pipe fish is alive and it is fat and plumpy. Went back in hiding soon as I saw him or her.
You lost 3 of the 4 in a month?
 

ThRoewer

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Didn’t know blue line is expert only. My sump(46 gallons ) is little over 1 year. Just add 4 them. One survived. Been 1 month since adding all four. They feed off pods.
You can only have one mature male and one mature female of these. If you put 4 of the same sex together you will end up with just one at best. Males will not tolerate other males and females not other females. Extras will be killed.
 

TonkaReefer

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Yesterday Liveaquaria had small Bluestripes from Africa or Indonesia in the same size for the same price. I never encountered that option before let alone same price/size, is there an advantage to either in that scenario?
 

ThRoewer

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Yesterday Liveaquaria had small Bluestripes from Africa or Indonesia in the same size for the same price. I never encountered that option before let alone same price/size, is there an advantage to either in that scenario?
The Indonesian may be a different species or at a minimum a different local variant. For that reason I would not mix them if you plan on breeding them. Otherwise both are equally difficult in the beginning and equally hardy once established.
The biggest issue is that these guys often come with bacterial infections that require treatment. Most losses I had were due to that, not getting them to eat (though sick specimen may not eat). They also often arrive severely emaciated due to not being fed enough which makes recovery from infections less likely.
 

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I know this is an old thread........ but I wanted to pipe in.

About 25 yrs ago, I had a BLue Stripe in a dedicated 55 Gallon reef, with no other fish . THen I put another Blue stripe in... Bad idea, because I think they both were males.......... and the dominant one killed or bullied the other one to death. He explored the whole tank even during daytime.
I then sold most of the coral.... and stopped changing water and stopped feeding the tank. And the Blue stripe pipe lasted a full 6 months by himself. He would inspect and hunt copepods on his own, .

I find that Blue Stripes can be easy if you have a mated pair, or single one. They do the chore as a ' cleaner', and nip parasites off the bodies of some fish.

3 yrs ago, I bought one MultiBanded pipefish ( the bright orange yellow with dark red bands ones) and placed him in my 60 gal reef, which had a yellow tang, 2 tomato clowns, firefish, gobies, etc. This pipefish never hid and would swim with the other fish. He slowly trained into accepting frozen mysis, which he can eat up to 3 at a one sitting. He even attacks the head or smaller pieces ( not just the full body shrimps). They say Pipefishes are slow, but this one just gets into it and doesnt shy away from other fish.
The funniest thing is , I also have a 2 inch cleaner shrimp , and the pipefish ( which is more slender and looks smaller than the shrimp ), would try to snap and eat the large shrimp! Haha. I have it on video . Talk about impossible mission !!

While scuba diving, I find most pipefishes swim underneath rocks in holes or crevices. In Jamaica and in Hawaii Molikini Crater dives, I saw beautiful pipefishes that I dont see in the fish stores. !


I have right now just bought a Janss' Pipefish........a medium sized 2,5 inch specimen. My reef has no fish right now, so there are lots of gammarus shrimp, a hundred of clear colored crazy swimming shrimp ( babies to adults of about 1/3 inch, and copepods, So I plan on only feeding the shrimps , and think the pipefish will find his own food. He is hiding behind the reef rocks still. .
 

Paul B

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I love Janss pipefish and I can't find them now. My last one died after I think about 7 years which is probably their lifespan but I am guessing. They are large eaters and IMO must be fed. They eat frozen mysis and small pieces of clam. But mostly mysis. I had 2 Janss but probably males as one killed the other. They were about 6" long.

 

oceanrider

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I love Janss pipefish and I can't find them now. My last one died after I think about 7 years which is probably their lifespan but I am guessing. They are large eaters and IMO must be fed. They eat frozen mysis and small pieces of clam. But mostly mysis. I had 2 Janss but probably males as one killed the other. They were about 6" long.

 

djf91

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Didn’t know blue line is expert only. My sump(46 gallons ) is little over 1 year. Just add 4 them. One survived. Been 1 month since adding all four. They feed off pods.
You shouldn’t add 4 of the same species from Doryrhamphus. Those of the same sex will fight to the death.
 

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