Help Blue stripe pipefish

[oceanrider]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Yes I considered this, and can see no other way to get around it than to buy a pair and hope for the best... I will be ordering them online, so beyond making a note that I would like a somewhat obvious pair, it will be somewhat out of my hands. Unfortunately.

true. It is harder to distinguish the male from female....since the male pouch is not all that visible.

Hmm am I to understand that these guys don't generally accept prepared foods?

When I set up the tank it will be with mud, sand, uncured rock, some limestone for ledges and whatnot, and some sort of macroalgae (likely calcareous). I will do heavy water changes, skim heavily, and cycle the tank with the rock... hopefully, once this process is over, I'm left with some 'pods that will reproduce to feed my pipefish. And the tiny goby that will live with them. And the bumblebee shrimps

Well, you can turn off the pumps and filters, and then dump in your own newly hatched brine shrimp once in a while. I find this process tedious in the long run.

Getting new live rock with micro fauna like copepods, minishrimps, etc on it is the best way to stock the tank . I would seriously reconsider adding the goby,,,since it will eat up the pods on the substrate level, and thus not allowing a mature breeeding population for the pipefish to survive.



good luck.

[BlueAbyss]

Thanks for the info all, much appreciated.

The tank will be up and running for at least 6 months before adding fishes... actually, the tank will be up and running for 6 months before I even plant the seagrass! After reading up a bit, seagrass seems to do best in tanks that have been running for a while to build up some sediment and nutrients in the substrate. The mud will help, but since Halophila and Halodule spp. are difficult to find (I have been unable to find a source in Canada on the internet) I would like to give them the best chance possible.

After the grasses are planted, I'll let them get growing before I add any fish... so it will likely be a year before I even get the pipefish. The Bumblebee shrimp will go in when the grasses are planted, the pipefish when the grasses have started to grow, and the goby later if the tank can support it. The real reason I wanted a small goby was to have a different colored fish in there, but in the end the tank is for the pipefish and shrimp, and the goby was an afterthought.

I kinda figured there was a way to tell male from female, I'm just hoping that I end up getting lucky and they don't send me 2 males

[BlueAbyss]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I will also be dosing my tank with homegrown phytoplankton that I will culture... This will hopefully feed the zooplankton which will hopefully feed the 'pods, which will end up as healthy snacks for my pipefish. If anyone that's kept these guys is interested, here's my build thread for your consideration... http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=45990, and I may yet start a thread about the care and behaviour of these interesting tiny beasts.