Squishie89
Glub Glub
So I have two dragonface pipefish, a bonded pair, in my reef tank. They are lovely fish, eat nutramar ova and pods.
A couple weeks ago I was having trouble finding one of the pipefish during my nightly check before turning in (this is after lights have gone out in the tank). I just brushed it aside and thought he was hiding very well. The next day I still could not find him, and now I was getting concerned. Wasn't on the floor, wasn't in the overflow, could not find him in the tank. I could find his mate and she seemed worried, she seemed to be searching for him. I had glanced at the sump but didn't see him. So I turned off the pumps and looked in the sump, and there he was looking at me from the refugium. Caught him in a net and put him back in, his mate immediately swam to him and they spent a long time on the sand together. Luckily my sump was built that has a removal mesh screen that keeps things from going into the return section, otherwise he would have been sushi, and also lucky he decided not to see what the skimmer was all about. Figured this was just a freak occurrence and moved on.
Last night could not find one of the pipefish again. So after some looking in the tank I looked in the sump, and there he was in the refugium again. It took a bit but I caught him and put him back in the display. This time I decided I was going to do something about this. I had some mesh on hand because I kept meaning to put it over the drain for the overflow to keep snails out of the sump. So what we did is we took the overflow cover off, which has the teeth, and used zip ties to attach pieces of the mesh so hopefully the pipefish will no longer be able to get into the overflow and sump. There is only one other way to get over into the overflow and I am just hoping he doesn't go that route because it would be a big pain to mount mesh on there.
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Pipefish in the refugium
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Ugly mesh and zipties, but at least it is safer now.
A couple weeks ago I was having trouble finding one of the pipefish during my nightly check before turning in (this is after lights have gone out in the tank). I just brushed it aside and thought he was hiding very well. The next day I still could not find him, and now I was getting concerned. Wasn't on the floor, wasn't in the overflow, could not find him in the tank. I could find his mate and she seemed worried, she seemed to be searching for him. I had glanced at the sump but didn't see him. So I turned off the pumps and looked in the sump, and there he was looking at me from the refugium. Caught him in a net and put him back in, his mate immediately swam to him and they spent a long time on the sand together. Luckily my sump was built that has a removal mesh screen that keeps things from going into the return section, otherwise he would have been sushi, and also lucky he decided not to see what the skimmer was all about. Figured this was just a freak occurrence and moved on.
Last night could not find one of the pipefish again. So after some looking in the tank I looked in the sump, and there he was in the refugium again. It took a bit but I caught him and put him back in the display. This time I decided I was going to do something about this. I had some mesh on hand because I kept meaning to put it over the drain for the overflow to keep snails out of the sump. So what we did is we took the overflow cover off, which has the teeth, and used zip ties to attach pieces of the mesh so hopefully the pipefish will no longer be able to get into the overflow and sump. There is only one other way to get over into the overflow and I am just hoping he doesn't go that route because it would be a big pain to mount mesh on there.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Pipefish in the refugium
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Ugly mesh and zipties, but at least it is safer now.
