Banded Pipefish

D

dan2381

Joined
8 Dec 2008
Posts
143
Reaction score
0
Location
Cape Town
14274bb1b1e819413.jpg


14274bb1b20545cfd.jpg


14274bb1b22e55d79.jpg


Bad idea, stupid very stupid of me to buy these, but it would b great to get them onto frozen brine shrimp and mysis, so far they have not eaten anything except for the tiniest pods floating at the surface of the water once the pump has been turned off, doubtful that it would ever be enough 2 keep them going, sure i can breed some brine shrimp eggs, but that would still not b enough of a food source to sustain them, what to do? take them back? I would love 2 b able 2 keep them, i just wish there was an easier way 2 feed them, does anyone have any information on how 2 get them onto frozen foods? Are there any special tricks i could try 2 get them 2 eat without having 2 go through the endless process of breeding brine shrimp? mayb tie a single mysis to a string and dangle it infront of them? LOL, really id b willing to do that if it would work. Im very interested in breeding them, if i could breed them in captivity on frozen foods i will b able 2 supply others with these wonderful creatures.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have not, do they even eat krill?
I have looked on the great internet of ours and mainly they eat mysis and brine shrimp from what ive seen, i have not heard of krill, and they even mention how brine shrimp isnt the best food source for these creatures. I heard cyclopeez works well but also not enough to sustain them for long enough. And also not easy to find.
 
That is the quarintine tank, I have a much larger tank that has been running for about a year now, loads of pods in my filter mesh but catching the buggers is a different story, if only there was an easy way 2 get those pods into a container it might b enough, and i mean literally thousands, when i change my filter mesh they jump off like fleas, so now there must b a way to get these pods 2 breed like crazy in a small container, any ideas? is there a specific food type that pods love more then others? cause then mayb i can DIy a "fish trap" to catch these buggers, would b fun to watch them get chomped.
 
Its worth a try, if i can get those pods to them and try and get them onto frozen foods, mayb ill give it 2 weeks and c how they fair on the pods while throwing in some frozen mysis along with the pods, i will try later today and c how they react 2 the pods and mayb set up a "pod factory" somehow, 2L Coke bottle with a airpump should b enough im hoping, are there any other threads on how 2 feed pipefish/seahorse?
 
I have a refugium, it use 2 b my pod farm, untill i had 2 remove a angry damsel and place him in there, i dont c so many pods in there anymore but he can b removed and mayb get those pods 2 increase in numbers.
 
if you have a good healthy pod population then they will breed fairly fast. having a dsb, a refugium and or algae of some type really increases the pod production, often the smaller pods make their way back into the main tank via the return, but larger onse can be killed in the process.

If the refugium is largish i would take the damsel out (why is he there anyway? either put it in DT or sell him IMO) and use the pods that are there to feed the pipe fish. Ehile they are living there you can start trying to coax them onto a frozen food, mysis, brine shrimp, krill, blood worm etc. Id give them a little time while they eat the pods in the refugium and you try get them eating frozen.IF however they dont take to frozen in two weeks I would look at taking them to a reefer that can look after them.

Also if u really want them and can get them feeding you realy should look at gettinga species specific tank for them, they are great fish but have specific needs which you have an obligation to look after.

PS, if you have fast feeding and hunting fish in the DT there is no point in adding these there as they cannot compete with the likes of wrasses, CBB, mandarins etc for live pods and thus would starve. So if you ahve any wrasses or butterflies in the DT that option is out :(
 
I would suggets that you look at possibly feeding them Brine Shrimp, larger brine if you can (buy at local pet-shop). You would also need to enrich the brine similar to the way we feed sea-horses. Training them to eat anything frozen takes a long time but normally the method that works best is adding some frozen food with the live food.

Hope this helps a little
 
Still no success on the feeding, not even pods could interest these guys, no to mysis no to brine shrimp no to pods, now what? Could it b stress? They seem to move around more when they can smell the food in the water but they dont really care much for it. I even put a few pods in a see through glass tube in the tank, they looked interested for a split second and then moved along. Eh ill give it one more week.
 
Such a pity that they are not eating, Stress might be a factor. I doubt there is much more you could be doing to get them to eat. I would also leave them and monitor there developments. Maybe they are eating at night ?
 
I have taken them back, although they do seem to eat at night under blue light with the flow turned off i dont think it would b enough to avoid starving over a long period, so i have taken them back, a bit dissapointed that they are so difficult to keep, and the fact that they have been bred in captivity, it would have been great.
 
dan2381 said:
I have taken them back, although they do seem to eat at night under blue light with the flow turned off i dont think it would b enough to avoid starving over a long period, so i have taken them back, a bit dissapointed that they are so difficult to keep, and the fact that they have been bred in captivity, it would have been great.
Click to expand...

Good on you dan, please PM me where they are
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom