So i went to my LFS and they had these things called freshwater pipefish, its living in my 55 gallon wiht my pleco, what other tank mates will live with it, and it isnt eating my frozen brine shrimp.
Freshwater Pipefish
- Thread starter l.MetalHead.l
- Start date
I would suggest researching before you buy a fish. These are I believe brackish to marine fish which will not adapt readily to captive-bred conditions, let alone feeding.
:iagree: completely. I live across from a brackish river, which all kinds of sea creatures stumble up, and there are a few pipefish.
Take it back immediately, unless you are prepared for a large SW tank. I have no idea what they eat, but I'm guessing the same as their close relatives, seahorses.
There are freshwater pipefish, it just isn't something you'd likely find at the LFS. Try getting an ID on it, then you can find out more information.
If you're talking to me, I don't know if I can get a pic & am looking all over the net for the species. It's bright red with a pink back, yellow mouth, about 5". Swimming all over the tank.
Freshwater Pipefish are among the most difficult fish to maintain in the hobby. They need large amounts of live food every single day. Daphnia, brine shrimp, insect larvae, perhaps even livebearer fry. After a few weeks of being fed live foods they can, with care, be trained to take wet frozen foods. But they NEVER flake food or freeze-dried food. They CANNOT compete with any other fish in the aquarium except perhaps small gobies. Finally, because some species are brackish water and some truly freshwater, you need to know PRECISELY what the species is. The retailers will tell you they are "true" freshwater pipefish, but 50% of the time they are lying or ignorant! Trust me on this! By all means set up a 20 gallon tank just for Pipefish if you have access to sufficient live foods (e.g., a garden pond). But otherwise avoid. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brackishsubwebindex/fwbracpipeshorsart.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brackishsubwebindex/bracpipefishes.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brackishsubwebindex/fwbracpipeshorsart.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brackishsubwebindex/bracpipefishes.htm
pipefish are complicated but ive found them with the saltwater feeder shrimp at the LFS and at the cost of 1 dollar i couldent resist. they lived about 4 months on dry food ALONE before i took them back to make room for other fish. im sure they nibbled at the live rock tho
