First pipes
- Thread starter Naiad
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
They look good to me. Are they eating any prepared food yet?
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Naiad
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One is eating frozen brine and nibbling frozen mysis. They might be a bit big still for him. The other seems less interested. I have live baby brine hatching right now to help as well. Should be getting a live shipment of pods Thursday to keep the tank stocked. My biggest concern is I am not sure how to tell if a pipefish is underweight. They always look thin, it's kind of their thing.
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Totally hear you on that, very frustrating! I kept 2 dragonface pipefish for a couple of years. I think yours look good. If your tank is not pod-efficient right now, I would also suggest adding some http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3468+2190+3059&pcatid=3059, I practically swear by that stuff, very beneficial and help the pods a ton.
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Naiad
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I am giving phytoplankton. When I do an order there I will give that a try. I thought it was pod efficient but those two eat 24/7 it seems. BTW is that a gumdrop in your profile pic?
Squishie89
Glub Glub
As far as I know they do not eat when sleeping, but they are always grazing when awake. And you have copepods coming, not amphipods, right? I know mine preferred tisbe copepods (and I liked the ones from AlgaGen).
Yes it is! My favorite fish that I have.
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Naiad
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Thursday is a tank pod booster kit. It should have both. I oddly have seen only 1 amphipod in this tank [emoji33]. My other tanks where always loaded. I know the pipes are loving the little guys on my glass. My other fish will enjoy the amphipods though. If I end up culturing I will go for tisbe then.
How is the gumdrop as far as care and reef compatibility? I've seen them at my lfs and they are sooooooo adorable. Everyone laughs when they find out I upgraded to a 220 and most of my fish are classified as "nano" fish. I love my little gobies though.
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Yeah definitely try to stock tisbe pods, I feel those amphipod/copepod batches are mostly amphipods, but given the right conditions and food, the pods should breed and thrive.
Gumdrops are definitely not for everyone. They pick an area with lots of hiding places and crevices, they do not like to come out of their area, if they do it is not very far (unless they are moving to a different area, sometimes I was able to spot him on my webcam searching at night for a new place, they move around the tank at night if they are going to move). They do require spot feeding, so if you are a "dump some pellets in and walk away" kind of reefer, these are not for you. I have had my little dude for like 2 years now, he recognizes the SeaSquirt Feeder and knows that that means food. They may be small but mine has such an appetite, he eats more than my female 3" clownfish does haha. I have no problems with him harming anything, he has never tried to use a coral as a host, he much prefers nooks and crannies of rocks and shells than corals. Only problem with other fish was a starry blenny didn't like that the gumdrop was in the blenny's "area" and tried to nip at him a few times (which is a bad idea as they are venomous), the gumdrop itself is very peaceful. But they are fine for a reef tank, I would not put them with any large predators because they are so small.
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Naiad
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Yea not a drop pellets and go system lol. Just finished setting up a feeder that will deliver bb slowly over a few hour period for the pipes. It can also work for pods if i culture them. I make sure even my cuc has had some food. I don't mind being reclusive it is their home. Thanks for the info I will look more into them.
Squishie89
Glub Glub
No problem, do let me know if you need any more with either pipefish or the gumdrops =)
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Naiad
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@Squishie89 do you remember your pipes sleeping a lot? I just went down to feed my nocturnal critters and the pipes are still foraging. The tank has been under moon light for 2 hours.
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Well lights out for them was go to sleep time. My whites go off and then 20 minutes later the blues go off (tank is almost completely in darkness at night). When the whites would go out they would go to their sleeping spot and get ready for bed. Might be they are just still hungry and/or still getting used to their new home. Any way to dim the moon lights a bit darker so maybe they go to bed?
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Naiad
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Well after turning the moon light down they seem to be sleeping more. I also noticed that both are males.... from what I read they will get along perfectly fine even as mature adults. Other than the additional food demand would adding a female later on create problems?
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Well that's good! We all need some rest time, even pipefish! =)
I will be honest, I have no true idea if adding a female will cause trouble.
"Dragonface Pipefish get along quite well with each other. They prefer to spend their time in pairs. In the wild, large groups are often found in large aggregations. In the home aquarium if the food source can sustain them, a group of dragonface pipefish can live quite happily together. Pairs will frequently hang out side by side. They may wander apart from one another, only to decide they urgently need to find and check in with their mate a few minutes later." http://fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/pipefish-reef-aquarium/
I will say, dragonface pipefish are SO docile and easy to work with, if you did add another one and it doesn't work out, it should not be too hard to catch. Funny story, I had to break down my display and I had a temporary system set up and we were moving all the fish over to the new system. It was early in the morning and my single pipefish (male passed away earlier in the year) was still "sleeping" and knowing how docile they are I told the guy to just scoop her up real quick. Put the container in front of her, nudged behind her, and she swam into the container. Took less than a minute to catch her, hahaha!
Another story, as a small PSA. This was back when I had 2 pipefish. I would check on them both every time I went to the tank. I usually try to do "head counts" every time I go to the tank, but it was especially so with the pipes because they are delicate little critters. Anyways, this time I could only find one. Looked everywhere for the other one, asked the female where on earth her husband was and she just shrugged. Had my dad look, nothing. I of course go to the worst conclusion, he died. I eventually start to look literally everywhere; the overflow, the carpet, behind the stand, inside pumps. And then, I find him, sitting in the refugium, just fine. I am bewildered on how he got there, but was happy he was alive, scooped him out and put him back in the tank. Immediately the female swam to him and I think may have even slapped him. For him to have gotten into the refugium he had to; swim into the overflow, go down the drain pipe, be incredibly lucky I wasn't using filter socks at the time, not get sucked in by the skimmer, go over and under baffles, into the refugium and then be INCREDIBLY lucky my sump had eggcrate and plastic mesh barrier between the refuge and the return pump section, if he had gone into the return chamber, he would have died. Not even a week later this happened again, I did not spend as much time looking all over the house and tank, and found him in the refugium again. We looked all over the overflow to try and figure out how he got in there, they are so skinny it seemed like every opening was a chance. We covered the weirs and bottom opening with plastic mesh (which was a ton of effort). And then he did it again! And then I figured it out. In the reef ready models of tanks like marineland and deep blue, there are 1/2 circle areas marked for where the return is plumbed which you clip out when you plumb the tank. These returns do not fit the 1/2 circle area completely, in that small gap between the overflow and the return plumbing, my pipefish was sneaking through! I stuffed some blue polyfilter in there and my males extreme adventures were over.
Here were the sweethearts
The sump, the red box highlights the eggcrate and plastic mesh that saved his life
Him in the refugium
And again
Our first try for keeping him out
Not my photo, but shows the 1/2 circle cutouts (you take one of those out for the return) where he would get through.
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Naiad
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I know they can cause higher nitrates but for a while I have sponges in the overflow to keep anyone from entering the sump until I work all the kinks like that out lol. It keeps at least an inch in the overflow so if one of the pipes go over they should be able to survive until discovery I hope.
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Naiad
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I think I may have my first real issue with the pipes. I got a new coral for the tank. GSP so it wouldn't be an issue but while trying to put it in the tank I accidentally dropped it. Of course the rock hits the smallest of the two pipes [emoji22]. He is definitely scratched up a bit. I don't see any sign of bruising but don't know if I would thanks to the plates. I am now worried about infection. He seems generally unphased though.
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Oh boy. Always a huge fear of mine was dropping something on them or sucking them up during water changes. But accidents happen. Right now I would just keep an eye on him, setting up a QT/HT for pipefish and mandarins does not sound like a fun ordeal due to their food requirements. My only suggestion is to start doing head checks before doing anything big in the tank whether it be with rocks or water changes, if the pipes are in the vicinity of where you want to work, just shoo them away.
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Naiad
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Yes I have to get better at keeping an eye on them. They just disappear when they are on the sand bed. I know I won't be able to really spot early signs on the surface of infection due to his white/tan colors but is there any signs that may indicate infection in a pipe that is different from other fish. Right now he is swimming and eating like nothing happened so fingers crossed..
Squishie89
Glub Glub
Not that I know of. @SeahorseKeeper , Krista, any thing you could possibly add, I know your experience is with seahorses, but thought you might be able to help?
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