Banded Pipefish

[FISHCHEF]

I have a well matured 125 mixed reef with some fish, SPS, LPS, and assorted softies. 1 Foxface, 1 small Purple Tang, 1 Kole Tang, some Cardinals, 1 China Wrasse, 1 small Clown, and a couple of Salley Lightfoot crabs. About a year ago I had a Ph swing which I caused with buffers and I lost some fish including 2 Dragon Faced Pipefish. So time has passed and I was thinking about adding a couple of Banded Pipefish. The Dragons were doing well and being such a large tank none of the fish bothered them...lots of live rock to hide in. The only new addition was the Purple Tang recently. Lots of opinions out there and was curious about this addition. They're eating nicely at the shop and are about 3-4 inches.

[Cronamator]

i dont see any issue w/ that. i congratulate you on keeping such a diverse array of surgeonfish w/o any problems w/ dominance or ich

[Wetplants]

How "hyper" is the tank? I've heard pipefish, like horses, dont like boisterous tankmates. Otherwise, I don't see a problem.

[FISHCHEF]

Thanks for the positive input about my tank Frank. I've had fish of some kind since the '80's. I still have an African tank. To answer your question Wetplants the only time the tank gets crazy is at feeding time. I'm planning on feeding away from the pipes so as not to startle them. There's lots of rock work for them to avoid things. I've talked to many people who have done this successfully. All my powerheads have protection screens and my water flow is even, but not turbulent. They're in as of today and they're really cool.

[Wetplants]

Awesome! Pipes are so cool. You might want to distract everyone else and trough feed the pipes.

[FISHCHEF]

Please explain " trough feeding ". They actually have been eating frozen cyclopeze, prawn eggs, and some other foods. One is pretty big 5/6 inches. They're not very shy.

[Wetplants]

If they're eating I wouldn't worry about it, but with horses you can use certain corals or shells as little food dishes, like feeding stations, so they don't have to chase their food