Dragonface pipefish feeding and care

[jumpinjoker]

I just got a dragonface pipefish. Any advice on feeding care etc?

[Jan]

Same as a mandarin and all other dragonettes. They need an established tank with lots of copepods or they will starve.

[jumpinjoker]

Thanks

[Chad]

Same as a mandarin and all other dragonettes. They need an established tank with lots of copepods or they will starve.

 

+1, this is a reasonable starting point.

 

I just got a dragonface pipefish. Any advice on feeding care etc?

 

Questions that I HIGHLY suggest you know the answer to BEFORE you bring them home. ESPECIALLY for special needs species like these.

[Matt LeBaron]

Not to seem like a jerk or anything but as jumpinjoker already has the pipe fish advice other than "You're basically screwed" might be a bit towards the helpful side of things.

 

There is an EXCELLENT article in the latest Coral magazine about getting mandarin fish to eat frozen food, I would highly suggest trying to find that article as I believe you could use a very similar method with a pipefish.

 

Beyond that find a LFS that carries live adult brine shrimp. (not sure where you live but House of Tropicals in Glen Burnie and Aquarium Depot in Randellstown both do) I keep a 2 gallon bucket that I keep a supply in and feed them phytoplankton to keep them alive until feeding. The phyto also helps to enrich them although I would HIGHLY recommend getting some Selcon and putting the adult brine shrimp in a small cup with some Selcon for 20-30 minutes before feeding. Ideally you target feed the pipefish, get a turkey baster and squirt them near him and monitor him to make sure that he is eating. You'll need to do this at LEAST twice a day, three would be best initially until you can be sure he is eating regularly and then you can go back to twice a day.

 

In the long term you want to get him to eat frozen but in the short term to keep him alive and fatten him up a bit (he probably hasn't eaten properly in weeks during capture and transit) adult brine shrimp that have been enriched might work.

[watson_barrett]

I have had a mated pair for over two years and did nothing but pu them in a well est tank

Like others have said it should be fine if plenty of pods are in there and a lot of rockwork

Good luck!

[gizmoody]

Pods of course and also oyster eggs worked. Mine didn't eat red bugs :(