How do you collect pipefish larvae?

ThRoewer

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I have a pair of bluestripe pipefish and as usual with them, the male is pretty much "pregnant" all the time.
Since it is hard to know when the last batch had hatched and the next was laid, taking the male out isn't an ideal solution.
And in the tank I have them now, a larvae collector may also not be an effective solution, especially in light that they usually have no more than 50 eggs per "pregnancy"...
So what other options are there?
 

ThePurple12

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They usually release their eggs on the fourth night of carrying them. You'll be able to see their eyes on the day they'll hatch.

What worked well for me was catching the male pipefish on the night of the hatch (they're not strong swimmers, so this should be easy) and putting him in a Tupperware container, then simply collecting each larva as soon as it hatched just in case the male was hungry.

You might have to wait a few hours after the lights go off for the eggs to be released, for me it was around 11:00 pm.

Having more light than a flashlight might mess things up, I'm not sure.

Sadly, my male pipefish disappeared before the second hatch, and none of the larvae from the first hatch survived past a week.
 
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