Need info/care on many banded pipefish

nanomania · Apr 12, 2018

rayjay said:
I bought my 3050 direct from Aquafauna but there is a minimum size order and I forget just how much it was now. Probably not practical for your purposes but I used to use a heck of a lot of it. It has actually been replaced now by Algamac 3050 DHA 10.
Basically, it is an algae called schizochytrium .
You might contact Brine Shrimp Direct to see if they will sell you some as they use it in mixes they make up for sale for fish foods they sell.
You can order the actual Algamac 3050 DHA 10 from Dan Underwood of Seahorse Source but the packages are only 50g which doesn't last too long for my purposes but might be OK for you to order multiple packs at a time.
Top of the list on this page: http://seahorsesource.com/?wpsc_product_category=enrichments

Im from India, i doubt they ship. Can i feed them plankton or some fish food? Is there any high DHA food?

rayjay · Apr 13, 2018

I believe all of those sources ship around the world as Dan will ship his seahorse products, not seahorses though, out of the US.
You can feed other products but first just check content to be sure any enrichment has a high DHA profile for best results.
While I personally don't like emulsions due to their limited storage capability, many people use them, and, Selco has a high DHA product that while not as high in DHA as Algamac 3050 I have no doubt it will suffice for the artemia being fed to seahorses.
http://inveaquaculture.com/product/a1-dha-selco/
Artemia will gather ANY particulate matter that is appropriately sized so it's a matter of being sure to particularize whatever you are using so the artemia appendages can capture those particles and pass them to their mouth/digestive tract. Contrary to what people think, they DON'T siphon the particles out of water that passes through them.
I don't know offhand if there are any fish foods or plankton that have sufficient DHA to use for enrichment. I do know that to use phytoplankton one need multiple species to get a proper balance of nutrition as there isn't a one fit's all type.
I use the powdered spirulina with added Algamac 3050 as it was the cheapest and most nutritious way I could feed and enrich my artemia.

nanomania · Apr 13, 2018

rayjay said:
I believe all of those sources ship around the world as Dan will ship his seahorse products, not seahorses though, out of the US.
You can feed other products but first just check content to be sure any enrichment has a high DHA profile for best results.
While I personally don't like emulsions due to their limited storage capability, many people use them, and, Selco has a high DHA product that while not as high in DHA as Algamac 3050 I have no doubt it will suffice for the artemia being fed to seahorses.
http://inveaquaculture.com/product/a1-dha-selco/
Artemia will gather ANY particulate matter that is appropriately sized so it's a matter of being sure to particularize whatever you are using so the artemia appendages can capture those particles and pass them to their mouth/digestive tract. Contrary to what people think, they DON'T siphon the particles out of water that passes through them.
I don't know offhand if there are any fish foods or plankton that have sufficient DHA to use for enrichment. I do know that to use phytoplankton one need multiple species to get a proper balance of nutrition as there isn't a one fit's all type.
I use the powdered spirulina with added Algamac 3050 as it was the cheapest and most nutritious way I could feed and enrich my artemia.

Thanks alot, have mailed them..

Paul B · Apr 13, 2018

Nanomania, If you are looking for me you need to PM me as I don't peruse all the forums. Those pipefish you have are the easier of the two banded types of flagtail pipefish, but they are by no means easy. The ones with the bands further apart are harder as I have kept both types a few times. They are difficult because although they will eat new born brine shrimp, the shrimp seem a little small for them and they should have slightly larger food which is not really available in quantity. If you are feeding new born shrimp you always need shrimp in their water as they will eat thousands of them. I think they have a lousy digestive system because they don't really have a stomach, just a silly tube. That tube is supposed to absorb the nutrients from the food but it can't store food like we can in our stomach. They will (sometimes) eat frozen mysis but as I said, they can't store food so it just gets pushed out the next time they eat something. I am not sure who designed these things but he may have been on LSD or Capt. Morgan Rum.
If you can constantly keep the new born shrimp in there, you will have a shot. I don't have much luck with them in my reef because that food gets lost before they can find them. It is also hard filtering such a tank without losing shrimp.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 13, 2018

They are peaceful carnivores that require a fairly roomy tank and as with seahorses, they have small snout-like mouths and require copods and baby brine shrimp ( live source of food). They feed easy as they are good swimmers , yet are weak around crabs, etc and easily stung by anemones, even at times Euphilia coral. Cool they are but be prepared for accelerated care

nanomania · Apr 14, 2018

Paul B said:
Nanomania, If you are looking for me you need to PM me as I don't peruse all the forums. Those pipefish you have are the easier of the two banded types of flagtail pipefish, but they are by no means easy. The ones with the bands further apart are harder as I have kept both types a few times. They are difficult because although they will eat new born brine shrimp, the shrimp seem a little small for them and they should have slightly larger food which is not really available in quantity. If you are feeding new born shrimp you always need shrimp in their water as they will eat thousands of them. I think they have a lousy digestive system because they don't really have a stomach, just a silly tube. That tube is supposed to absorb the nutrients from the food but it can't store food like we can in our stomach. They will (sometimes) eat frozen mysis but as I said, they can't store food so it just gets pushed out the next time they eat something. I am not sure who designed these things but he may have been on LSD or Capt. Morgan Rum.
If you can constantly keep the new born shrimp in there, you will have a shot. I don't have much luck with them in my reef because that food gets lost before they can find them. It is also hard filtering such a tank without losing shrimp.

Here is the actual pipefish i got, started a new thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/379826/

nanomania · Apr 14, 2018

@Paul B #Paul B have also sent u a pm. Thank you

Paul B · Apr 14, 2018

I forgot to mention in the text, you should hatch two batches of shrimp maybe 12 hours apart for those fish

nanomania · Apr 14, 2018

Paul B said:
I forgot to mention in the text, you should hatch two batches of shrimp maybe 12 hours apart for those fish

Oh, howmuch time does eggs take to hatch? I saw online, some say 12, and some say 24. Its confusing. I stay in a warm climate zone though.

Paul B · Apr 14, 2018

I don't know for the banded pipefish but the bluestrips seem to hatch in a few days as I don't see them for long. I never times it though because they spawn all the time so i am not sure if he is still carrying the same eggs, or new ones.

rayjay · Apr 14, 2018

I think the question was how long for artemia cysts to hatch.
In any case, cysts hatch out at time intervals based on water flow, temperature, salinity and light for the most part, but even then, they don't all hatch around the same time.
At around 25-26°C they will start hatching at around 12 hours but some a bit sooner, with the bulk of them having hatched out within 24 hours but even then I find still some not hatched until a day later when I return the unhatched cysts to new salt water. The cooler the water the more drawn out the hatching time interval will be.

nanomania · Apr 15, 2018

rayjay said:
I think the question was how long for artemia cysts to hatch.
In any case, cysts hatch out at time intervals based on water flow, temperature, salinity and light for the most part, but even then, they don't all hatch around the same time.
At around 25-26°C they will start hatching at around 12 hours but some a bit sooner, with the bulk of them having hatched out within 24 hours but even then I find still some not hatched until a day later when I return the unhatched cysts to new salt water. The cooler the water the more drawn out the hatching time interval will be.

Great, i stay in a warmer zone, means temps are 28c-32c for atleast 8months

Gray Levison · Apr 15, 2018

nanomania said:
These pipe fishes are available with my lfs. I saw online, and nauplii are good enough for them with some copepods. I have frozen mysis and cyclopeeze too.

Current setup is a 15g tank with sand and rocks, and some macros like featger caulerps and red macro.

I have a coral banded shrimp in there too. No fishes.

Can i house it? Howmany can i keep together? Wud it eat molly fry too?

Hey I was flipping through posts about keeping pipefish and noticed you mentioned feeding cylop eeze to them...I've heard great things about cylopeeze but can't find them anywhere...I work at a fish store and my coworkers say they were discontinued a few years ago. Where are you able to find them?

nanomania · Apr 15, 2018

Gray Levison said:
Hey I was flipping through posts about keeping pipefish and noticed you mentioned feeding cylop eeze to them...I've heard great things about cylopeeze but can't find them anywhere...I work at a fish store and my coworkers say they were discontinued a few years ago. Where are you able to find them?

We dont get here in india, so i arrange to get them from uk through a friend

kirbuno · Apr 18, 2018

Keeping the copepod population up is best if you can. I've had good luck with adding powdered spirulina on a regular basis works well, though I've only had two dragon face and one dragonette in my 45 gal tank w/15 gal sump at once. All kept fat, might be pretty tough with a smaller tank, just speculating.

nanomania · Apr 18, 2018

kirbuno said:
Keeping the copepod population up is best if you can. I've had good luck with adding powdered spirulina on a regular basis works well, though I've only had two dragon face and one dragonette in my 45 gal tank w/15 gal sump at once. All kept fat, might be pretty tough with a smaller tank, just speculating.

Will call for spirullina powder

Darryl · Apr 18, 2018

i would not have the coral banded shrimp they would kill or damage the pipefish

Paul B · Apr 19, 2018

kirbuno said:
Keeping the copepod population up is best if you can. I've had good luck with adding powdered spirulina on a regular basis works well, though I've only had two dragon face and one dragonette in my 45 gal tank w/15 gal sump at once. All kept fat, might be pretty tough with a smaller tank, just speculating.

You need pods for the dragon face pipefish but not for the banded pipefish as they will only eat out of the water column. So you need swimming food for them.
Here are some of my pipefish eating new born brine shrimp

Bluestripes eating at the feeder. The male is very pregnant

Here is another one with janss pipefish and bluestripes.