Pipefish and a reef tank?
 

I just love pipefish!


So I have been lookig at various online sources and they all seem to say that they should be in a species specific tank.

Is this true?


How many people have had pipefish in a reef tank without any problems?

This fish will be in a 65GAL AGA tank with moderate to high flow.
All the fish in this tank with be reef safe and peaceful!

Which species is the best to have (hardiest)?


And what's the name of the pipefish that is yellow with pink stripes?



Sorry about all the questions!
I just want all the info I can get!

A few different pipes can be kept in reefs.
I believe alligator pipes can, and so can tassled or ghost pipefish (though they aren't true pipefish)

I have had a Banded pipe in my 120 SPS dominated reef for 6 months, he eats like a champ and hunts all day long. I have an Oceans motions 4-way and Dart sequence pump as well as two maxi mods for current, so my tank is high flow. He/She handles the current with ease and at feeding time rubs noses with the big dogs in my tank, Kole tang, Foxface, Mystery wrasse, 3 Bangni Cards and an algae blenny. He enjoys frozen mysid, Plankton, Brine as well Cyclopeez. In my opinion, a banded pipe is a good choice for a reef.

Geo

my bandeds are in a reef, also dragons can be kept in a full blown reef

Thanks Guys!



Also- Are they very active?
- Do they hang out on the rock or sand all day, or do they swim all over the tank?
- Will they do okay singlely (SP)?


Keep all the advice coming!

you need a very established codepod population with fuge, live rock, rubble, etc.
I have had 2 dragonface for well over a year now.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11546740#post11546740 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blugobi [/i]
[B]I have had a Banded pipe in my 120 SPS dominated reef for 6 months, he eats like a champ and hunts all day long. I have an Oceans motions 4-way and Dart sequence pump as well as two maxi mods for current, so my tank is high flow. He/She handles the current with ease and at feeding time rubs noses with the big dogs in my tank, Kole tang, Foxface, Mystery wrasse, 3 Bangni Cards and an algae blenny. He enjoys frozen mysid, Plankton, Brine as well Cyclopeez. In my opinion, a banded pipe is a good choice for a reef.

Geo [/B][/QUOTE]

I've had a very similar experience with banded pipefish as above. They are very good in reef setups. The only limitation in my experience is not to keep them with wrasses or aggressive clowns or damsels. They absolutely can not tolerate being pestered by fish that have similar feeding habits.
Otherwise they are really awesome fish to have. Just make sure you have plenty of mature live rock with lots and lots of copepods. They usually only eat live food from the rocks, but sometimes you'll get lucky and find one who eats prepared foods.

Janns are a really good choice too, just a little harder to find. the LFS I work at has a pair in their reef for over a year and I have one in my tank for about 3-4 months now. So far so good!

I have 2 multi-banded, 1 banded and a Janss in my seahorse/reef tank. The multis are my favorite as they don't hide -- and they spawned a few weeks ago. They all eat frozen mysis and frozen bloodworms and probably snack on pods.

I have 2 banded, 2 blue-stripes, 1 multibanded, and 1 Janns, and the multibanded and bluestripes are the boldest. I don't have any mean fish among the 25 to 30 others in their reef. All of them eat frozen, from cyclops to arctipods to minimysis to even the big PE mysis.

Bluestripes are a great choice- very active and they do well in a reef. I've had my pair in my sps tank for over 2 years. One species I would stay away from in the reef setup are the Alligator pipes. They need to hitch to things and arent strong swimmers as a result, kinda like seahorses. All other pipes are pretty good candidates for your tank and come from a reef enviroment.