pipefish with eggs, now what?
 

I noticed yesterday that my male multi-banded pipefish is carrying eggs. I have raised seahorses from birth but not pipefish. Any suggestions?

The pipefish we had were very difficult becuase they ate the fry as fast as they were delivered.

Determined we purchased one of those small plastic breeders that forces the fry into another chamber via an airline. Even then the adult pipe managed to eat a bunch of fry.
The challenge is figuring out when the fry will deliver becuase leaving a pipefish in that contraption more than a couple days is rough on the fish.

We then fed them exactly as we feed pelegic fry To me they seem much more fragile than seahorse fry.

Thanks for the info!! Any idea how long the gestation period is and what time of day the fry usually hatch? I use kreisel effect nursery bowls set inside the main tank for my seahorse fry -- I found about 40 erectus fry in the sump this morning. They are large enough to eat freshly hatched artemia, but I suppose I should start some rotifers if I want to try to save pipefish fry. I start my seahorse fry on frozen oyster eggs 3-4 times daily for the first 4-5 days in addition to the artemia. I'm thinking of moving the male pipefish into a 2.5 gal nursery with lots of plants for the fry to hide in.

What do you feed and have you had any success rearing pipefish to adult size? What type of pipefish fry did you have? I had some caribbean pipefish fry come in the shipping bag. They looked like little threads.

Yes the fry did look like small threads!

We placed an order with a collector out of Florida and he threw in 8 pipe fish as a freebie, they were the basic pipefish very sandy colored and definately from florida.

They followed the seahorse gestation almost to the T, carrying for approx 14 days - the eggs would drop and they would be loaded again within a day or two. The fry seemed to appear between 2 am and 6am.

It didn't take long for me to realize I was no competition for the adults they suck those babies in so fast making it impossible to snag any of them - the hatcher made a difference.

Adding plants for the fry the fry to hide is an excellent idea. I fed the fry rotifers then switched to freshly hatched brine to enriched brineat approx 5 weeks began feeding cyclopeez - which they didn't seem to enjoy at all. I did not kreisel them, I don't kreisel peligic fry either.

I had them for about 8 weeks and gave them to a friend to complete the process - she didn't do very well and lost the fry within days. I think the challenge as with horses is converting them to quality frozen foods that deliver the proper fats and nutrients.

Hey if we can raise horses to adulthood I can't see Pipes as impossible - I also think there is a market for them do you ? .

Oh ... the water quality is vital the ones I had were much more sensitive than horse fry.

i have been looking for a good health pipe if you raise them let me know

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11387945#post11387945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seacraze [/i]
[B]

Hey if we can raise horses to adulthood I can't see Pipes as impossible - I also think there is a market for them do you ? . [/B][/QUOTE]

I'm sure there is a market for every captive raised sea creature, but the profit potential is poor. I raised 2 out of 800 seahorses the first year at a cost of about $750 each and THOUSANDS of hours time spent. Last year I managed 5 out of 40 at a cost of about $10 each and maybe 40 hours work. I now have about 50 fry that are 3 days old. I plan to spend as little as possible -- this will probably be my best year yet, LOL. Practice does make perfect and I have more equipment than I need.

Next week I'm going to start some rotifers and put the male pipefish in a kreisel with minimal water flow and lots of plants. I'll let you know if I have any luck.

Please post baby pictures if you get them. They are so small and cute - I think everyone would love to see them - I sure would!

Oh Yah .... $750 each sounds about right for the first round ... its the cost of education :)