On this site you´ll find several typical representatives of these strange looking fish.
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| There are about 200 different types of
pipefish all around the world, but only a few of them are regularly
imported.
On this site you´ll find several typical representatives of these strange looking fish.
|
| This species is coloured green or brown
and achieves a body lenght of about 11 to 12 inch. The head section is
very similar to their relatives, the seahorses.
The alligator pipefish are very friendly animals. They do not swim a lot actively, but like to float in the current. If you keep several of them in a tank, sooner or later you´ll see something really special: Two, three or more individuals of these pipefish hold each other forming a giant floating organism.
typical body position searching for food They eat mysis, young ghost shrimp and adult brine shrimp. Some of them only accept living mysis - that could be a real problem!
male and female syngnathus pipefish These pipefish have no pouch as seahorses or some other species of pipefish. While pregnant they fix about 50 to 100 eggs to the below of their body. A few weeks later the baby pipefish hatch one by one at a size of about 1 inch. Therefore it may be no problem feeding the babys by young brine shrimp from the first day of their life. The big problem is another one: To catch the babys before they swim into the next Caulerpa jungle.
eggs below the body of a female syngnathus pipefish
two syngmathus pipefish floating Interesting: Seahorses seem to have a special affinity to the alligator pipefish. They like to catch them by their tale and try to ride them like a horse. It´s the same the other way: These pipefish are searching for a close contact to seahorses.
"jippii!"
pipefish riding seahorse Very special too: The orange coloured worm sea cucumber (picture below) likes to clean alligator pipefish and seahorses from small particles of plankton and algae.
no car wash - but a seahorse and pipefish "wash" Comment: One of the most interesting pipefish species! |
| The other extreme: Very small (about 2-3
inch), very fast and brilliant swimmers. Male bluestripe pipefish have
small "hooks" near their mouth. Don´t keep two male pipefish in
the same tank - the are really aggressive against each other.
My bluestripe pipefish regularly mate. The
babys are relatively small (about 1/3 of an inch), there are about 5-10 of
them to be set off the pouch at the same time.
pregnant bluestripe pipefish in the background The bluestripe pipefish eats frozen brine shrimp and small pieces of mysis.
Comment: Easy to keep - please choose a pair! |
| That species is called also the "creeping"
pipefish.
two gilded pipefish searching for food Comment: No problems in keeping these interesting pipefish. |
| The banded pipefish is a very beautiful
und friendly species. These pipefish like to stay in pairs between
Caulerpa algae. If you´ve got a male and a female, you´ll watch nice
rituals between these partners: They seem to dance with each other,
bending their bodies to the half of a circle or choose the formation of a
cross. From time to time both of them will move their heads simultaneously
in a special rhythm.
male and female zebra-pipefish The banded pipefish love to eat for example
frozen brine shrimp and mysis. They also search the tank for living plankton.
Comment: Try to get a pair of them - the mating rituals are worth searching for a male and a female banded pipefish. |
| This pipefish is very similar to the
banded pipefish. Feeding is no problem, just choose living brine shrimp or
frozen food. As the banded pipefish, they place their eggs beneath the
body.
Comment: No problems in keeping this species. |
| A very decorative pipefish species. These
pipefish seem to swim upside-down most of the time: The lower part of the
body is always in contact to a rock or something like that.
Male Janss´pipefish have little "zacks" (looking like small teeth) near their mouth. They eat frozen brine shrimp and mysis.
Comment: The keeping of these attractive pipefish is easy. |
| Sometimes you may see some very rare sort
of pipefish. The darkbrown pipefish
on the photo below is really different from all kinds of pipefish I saw
before: The fish swims only in the upper part of the water, the mouth
pointing to the surface, picking up small food particles and plancton from
there. Meanwhile I could train it to frozen brine shrimp and mysis.
fungia-symbiosis-pipefish? Comment: Keeping pipefish of that not well known species could be problematic because some of them will probably only eat very special living food. |
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