Pipe Fishes

[Kingfisher]

Saw some Pipe Fishes for sale at $18 each at Eco Culture. The fish look just like those found in saltwater type. Very tempted to get it. Anyone kept this fish before?

[budak]

there are freshwater (actually brackish) pipefishes as well. however, you need a constant supply of minute live food (daphnia, mysis shrimp, etc) to keep them surviving.... the ones at Eco are very small..... probably the best solution is to keep them in an establish tank with plenty of microfauna amongst the plants and mosses.

[Kingfisher]

They are at least 11-13cm long and still consider small? How big or long can they grow? So it's not suitable for a planted tank since they are may not do well in freshwater? I tried searching the web but all I get are references to the saltwater types.

[hwchoy]

yah, my algae-infested hairgrass used to be excellent.

[budak]

even at that size, their mouths are hardly big enough to eat anything larger than daphnia.... and as far as i know, they only accept live food... I have seen freshwater pipefish over a foot long in public aquaria, and these are kept in tanks with a constant supply of brine shrimp/mysis. (see pic below)

[hwchoy]

you got to understand their body is designed to be VERY long, so 10 cm is nothing. The ones I had used to be so long that I managed to cut one of their tail while trimming the hairgrass, even though I could see the head quite a distance away!

budak, actually when they open their mouths it could be quite big, mine managed to swallow the smaller adult brine shrimps.

[Kingfisher]

Yep, the fish look like the picture above but they are more like white in colour.

[Sky Devil]

I once bought a pipefish from Long Hu 2 years back. Around 15 cm and it takes small fish already. But I still feed it Brine Shrimp. I kept it in my brackish water tank. And it cost me $5

I saw some yesterday at AMK ave 3's aquarium. The aquarium is in a market. But don't the block number. They have pretty small and cute ones. Around 2 inches plus

[juggler]

[quote:6e7cc7ae7b="budak"]even at that size, their mouths are hardly big enough to eat anything larger than daphnia.... and as far as i know, they only accept live food... I have seen freshwater pipefish over a foot long in public aquaria, and these are kept in tanks with a constant supply of brine shrimp/mysis. (see pic below)

[/quote:6e7cc7ae7b]

Budak's intended pic:

[Kingfisher]

Got their sciencific name: DORYICHTHYS MARTENSII

[CP]

I had one some years back. Trust me, I will clean up all your shrimps (as big as adult malayan shrimps) in no time.

[Kingfisher]

But it look so thin to me, can swallow a shrimp?