I bought a male/female pair of blue stripe pipefish from Aquatic Treasures in Watertown about 4-5 months ago. I bought the male first and within a day realized how cool these guys are and went back to grab the female. They are together all the time and have been a great addition to my 30g mixed reef - fun to watch swim around hunting for copepods and interacting with the other fish.
To keep them I built a bottom feeder (a la @Paul B) and hatch baby brine shrimp clutches twice a week. Between new clutches I feed the baby brine spirulina so they can eat once they finish off their yolk sack. I add these baby brine to the feeder twice a day - I also feed the rest of the tank with frozen brine/mysis/krill/oyster twice a day, but don't see the pipefish eat that.
I was rewarded this week by seeing eggs deposited on the abdomen of the male (see photo).
I want to give a special thank you to @Paul B - between his posts on BRS, his articles on Reef2Reef and this book (The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist - available on Amazon) it made keeping these pipefish very easy. Thanks, Paul! We are lucky to have you!
One issue I haven't been able to figure out is how to feed these guys when I am away on vacation. I've been lucky enough to have a friend able to come by and refill the feeder every day, as I'm not sure the pipefish can go all that long without feeding and I'm not sure my copepod population is high enough. Anyone have experience with this issue?
To keep them I built a bottom feeder (a la @Paul B) and hatch baby brine shrimp clutches twice a week. Between new clutches I feed the baby brine spirulina so they can eat once they finish off their yolk sack. I add these baby brine to the feeder twice a day - I also feed the rest of the tank with frozen brine/mysis/krill/oyster twice a day, but don't see the pipefish eat that.
I was rewarded this week by seeing eggs deposited on the abdomen of the male (see photo).
I want to give a special thank you to @Paul B - between his posts on BRS, his articles on Reef2Reef and this book (The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist - available on Amazon) it made keeping these pipefish very easy. Thanks, Paul! We are lucky to have you!
One issue I haven't been able to figure out is how to feed these guys when I am away on vacation. I've been lucky enough to have a friend able to come by and refill the feeder every day, as I'm not sure the pipefish can go all that long without feeding and I'm not sure my copepod population is high enough. Anyone have experience with this issue?