Keeping Solenostomus paradoxus

[FuEl]

Healthy specimens are hard to come by. Individuals that have difficulty maintaining position in the water column are most likely doomed. Ghost pipefish are different compared to seahorses as it is the female that carries the eggs, in a modified pouch formed by the modified pelvic fins.

This species needs low flow, peaceful tank mates and an ample supply of live foods. Newly hatched brine shrimp will not be taken, these are too small and will not attract any attention. The moment mine went into the tank, an hour later it had eaten a small peppermint shrimp (around 1cm would be my guess). As such, live small shrimp will be a good food source for these beautiful fish. Probably the best way in maintaining this fish and with any other problematic feeders like mandarins would be to establish a good self-sustaining population of mysid shrimp in the aquarium. The tank should be innoculated with mysid shrimp aka possum shrimp and fed with newly hatched brine shrimp daily. The bbs will help to feed the mysids. When the population is there, the fishes can be added.

Occasional treats like enriched adult brine shrimp should be able to be accepted, although I have not tried. I believe that ghost pipefish should also be able to be weaned onto frozen mysis shrimp, considering that their wild diet consist of mainly small shrimps.

The tank.

The mysid population.

I will be documenting the process in its care, hopefully being able to wean it. In the meanwhile I will be on the lookout for more. The mysid population in this tank should be able to sustain another 1-2 specimens.

[yikai]

excellent! jiayou..!

[Gouldian]

Way to go bro!

[FuEl]

Tried adult brine shrimp today. The ghost pipefish did not seem to recognise this as food. It just kept its attention to the live mysids. Will keep trying for a few more days to see if eventually it will take enriched adult live brine shrimp. Added a pair of blue stripe pipefish too.

[Terryz_]

Kudos to you.. Only one specimen?

[FuEl]

Kudos to you.. Only one specimen?

Only left one pc when I got there. This one is a female as it has a modified pouch. Will be on the lookout for either a male or another pair. Not too sure if the male will be too exhausted with 2 females.

[yikai]

Only left one pc when I got there. This one is a female as it has a modified pouch. Will be on the lookout for either a male or another pair. Not too sure if the male will be too exhausted with 2 females.

there were two that day. hope whoever bought the other one takes as much care of it as u did with yours

[Terryz_]

Only left one pc when I got there. This one is a female as it has a modified pouch. Will be on the lookout for either a male or another pair. Not too sure if the male will be too exhausted with 2 females.

Should be okay bah... Haha.. The only place you can try is CF bah.. I wouldnt try other LFS for such a delicate fish...

[FuEl]

The only other place I have seen them is at Ahbeng's in Pasir Ris, but that was more than a year ago since I last saw them. I did not try back then as most of them seemed to have buoyancy issues.

If only I can get my pair on the pink Solenostomus cyanopterus.

Check out the pictures at:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/hcs3/index.php

[Terryz_]

The Pink one is Cool!!!

[FuEl]

Check this out too. Tropical pygmy pipehorse. Looks like a seahorse cross with pipefish.

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/pygmy-pipe...thys-rumengani/

[Terryz_]

It is super small!!! But found in sulawesi.. Very surprised we have so much gems in Asia waters..

[FuEl]

Sadly the female did not make it due to a lethal snout infection. I recently acquired another pair. The male is exhibiting the same symptoms that killed the previous female. Somehow this species seem very susceptible to a certain snout infection. It starts off as a little fungus type of appearance and within 12 hours the whole snout appears to be somewhat paralysed by this mucous. I treated my previous female too late, formalin could not save her. I am performing daily formalin dips for the male, hoping he can recover from this. At the moment he is not eating as his snout is infected. The female is actively hunting.

Here are pics of the female. She is able to turn a little darker pink, now she is in her lighter tone.

This is where the female holds the eggs. The pouch expands and compresses for oxygen to reach the developing young.

The modified pelvic fins. A good analogy is like your hands clasped together with your fingers interlocked.

Close-up of the pouch where the embryos could be seen.

[Terryz_]

It is Pregnant?

[FuEl]

It is Pregnant?

Yes, I believe the larvae should be hatching real soon. She released some larvae last week while it was transported back home. I did not try the larvae as I tried the previous time as I think premature larvae will not fare well. If it releases this time, I will harvest the larvae to try. It should release tonight or tomorrow night based on its pouch inflating behavior and my hunch.

[Terryz_]

Cool, but think the fries will be more challenging then seahorses right?? Seahorse fries are hard enough liao...

[FuEl]

Cool, but think the fries will be more challenging then seahorses right?? Seahorse fries are hard enough liao...

Heard its larval phase is many many months. Will try to see if can get them past a week first.

[yikai]

i ever saw the ghost pipefish that looks like the halimeda algae at CF before. but not the brilliant pink ones! so nice.

[Terryz_]

Heard its larval phase is many many months. Will try to see if can get them past a week first.

That is going to be so difficult to maintain..

[Terryz_]

Bro, so how is it???

[FuEl]

I lost the male but the female is going well. She is hunting and I will supplement her diet with some live mysid shrimp that I will get from LCK. The larvae got released last night, I missed the release..too tired to stay up. My blue stripe pipefish pair are both eating frozen hikari mysis but the ghost pipe has yet to learn to eat them.

[Terryz_]

I lost the male but the female is going well. She is hunting and I will supplement her diet with some live mysid shrimp that I will get from LCK. The larvae got released last night, I missed the release..too tired to stay up. My blue stripe pipefish pair are both eating frozen hikari mysis but the ghost pipe has yet to learn to eat them.

Cool.. Blue Stripe eating frozen mysis.. Aiya.. So it will be sometime before we see any ghost pipe larvae...

[FuEl]

I have just come to realize that these fish are able to take live adult brine shrimp.

This fact will certainly make them easier to keep, although the adult brine shrimp will have to be enriched prior to feeding.

[marinebetta]

Get in touch with Edwin Lam. He has bred and raised them before ....but he used to be very closed about it when it came to information. Maybe by now he will be more free with the info.....