ScooterTDI October 24, 2020 Share October 24, 2020 Breeding bluestripe pipefish has been a goal of mine for years, but I haven't made a serious effort in quite a while. Around 2009, I attempted to raise them on rotifers and artemia based on a German report that they could be raised without copepods, but I suspect they may have had some copepod contamination of their rotifer cultures. I never once saw the larva ingest rotifers or artemia and it seemed all died of starvation by day 3. By 2013, Parvocalanus were more available and so I tried to acquired broodstock for another breeding attempt, but all of the wild stock I received over several online orders was either DOA or in very poor health, so I gave up. Now, I have two healthy breeding pairs and appropriate copepod cultures, so I'm giving them another try. I currently have about a dozen at 9 days post-hatch and haven't lost any since about day 3, but there are a few that are clearly weaker and developing more slowly. The first picture is 5 dph and the second is 9 dph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris October 24, 2020 Share October 24, 2020 That is pretty cool-keep the pictures coming-Cris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b October 24, 2020 Share October 24, 2020 I love this. Mine have been spawning for years but I never tried to raise them, or even see them. Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leishman October 24, 2020 Share October 24, 2020 Awesome. Such a nice fish. Had a pair in my old 260g 10+ years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI October 25, 2020 Author Share October 25, 2020 (edited) As of 10 dph, I believe I am seeing settlement behavior in a few of the larva. A few are now swimming horizontally near surfaces whereas before they typically were oriented vertically and floating around with the current. The seemingly settled individuals also frequently adopt an "S" shape. I think 2 are too weak to make it more than a couple more days, but the other 10 are growing pretty well. Edited October 25, 2020 by ScooterTDI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b October 25, 2020 Share October 25, 2020 I love this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI October 28, 2020 Author Share October 28, 2020 They have definitely settled now and I still have 11. I didn't know they would get vertical striping. These guys really gobble up the Parvocalanus. I'm not sure when they'll be ready to transition to other foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime October 28, 2020 Share October 28, 2020 This is amazing! Commenting to keep up with the process! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 October 28, 2020 Share October 28, 2020 This is simply amazing. This fish has been on my bucket list for a while now and I am in the process of redoing my entire 25 lagoon for them. Now I have the possibility of getting some aquaculture ones from a local member. The amount of work and dedication to this is just out of this world. So very cool!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris October 28, 2020 Share October 28, 2020 I love this so much. It's great that you are able to raise the babies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI October 29, 2020 Author Share October 29, 2020 Thanks everyone! This has been a really fun project. I can't wait to see them develop adult coloration, but that may take a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI November 6, 2020 Author Share November 6, 2020 They really like to hang out together upside now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris November 6, 2020 Share November 6, 2020 That's such a cool picture-cris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI November 13, 2020 Author Share November 13, 2020 29 dph and some are starting to develop their horizontal striping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheresTheReef November 13, 2020 Share November 13, 2020 Very cool! Can you show us your setup where you are raising them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arking_mark November 13, 2020 Share November 13, 2020 This is awesome! Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI November 14, 2020 Author Share November 14, 2020 22 hours ago, WheresTheReef said: Very cool! Can you show us your setup where you are raising them? Sure, no problem. I'm raising them in my fish closet. The top shelf has my algae cultures, artemia, and copepod cultures. Middle shelf is the broodstock tank with a sump on the bottom shelf that is also connected to the main display. The larval tank is a 1 gallon DIY kriesel made from a standard fish bowl aquarium sitting inside a 5 gallon aquarium on the right side on the closet. The kriesel tank isn't plumbed into the sump, but I manually do a 50% swap of water from the main display every day or two (after filtering down to 25 um). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris November 14, 2020 Share November 14, 2020 Keep the pictures coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WheresTheReef November 14, 2020 Share November 14, 2020 Thanks for the info. That’s some serious dedication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therootcause November 14, 2020 Share November 14, 2020 I'm raising them in my fish closet. I want one of these.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therootcause November 14, 2020 Share November 14, 2020 What are all of the liter bottles in the sump?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI November 14, 2020 Author Share November 14, 2020 7 hours ago, therootcause said: What are all of the liter bottles in the sump? They are just sitting in front of the sump. I prep a bunch of sterile algae culture media all at once in 1 liter water bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterTDI November 19, 2020 Author Share November 19, 2020 I may have made a mistake. I had some surprise dwarf seahorse fry and decided to throw them in with the pipefish and now this is happening... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime November 19, 2020 Share November 19, 2020 That's CRAZY! I've always wanted to keep seahorses, but I think I have to much flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therootcause November 19, 2020 Share November 19, 2020 Wow. Yea that is amazing! Would we call it a mistake?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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