Bluestripe pipefish

[ScooterTDI]

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.

[Cris]

That is pretty cool-keep the pictures coming-Cris

[paul b]

I love this.  Mine have been spawning for years but I never tried to raise them, or even see them.  Great job. 

[Leishman]

Awesome.  Such a nice fish.  Had a pair in my old 260g 10+ years ago.

[ScooterTDI]

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

[paul b]

I love this. 

[ScooterTDI]

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.

 

 

[YHSublime]

This is amazing! Commenting to keep up with the process!

 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

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!!

[Cris]

I love this so much.  It's great that you are able to raise the babies

[ScooterTDI]

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.

[ScooterTDI]

They really like to hang out together upside now.

[Cris]

That's such a cool picture-cris

[ScooterTDI]

29 dph and some are starting to develop their horizontal striping

[WheresTheReef]

Very cool! Can you show us your setup where you are raising them?

[arking_mark]

This is awesome! Congrats.

[ScooterTDI]

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).

 

 

 

[Cris]

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[WheresTheReef]

Thanks for the info. That’s some serious dedication.

[therootcause]

I'm raising them in my fish closet.

I want one of these.


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[therootcause]

What are all of the liter bottles in the sump?


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[ScooterTDI]

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.

[ScooterTDI]

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...

[YHSublime]

That's CRAZY! I've always wanted to keep seahorses, but I think I have to much flow.

 

[therootcause]

Wow. Yea that is amazing! Would we call it a mistake?


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