Freshwater Pipefish

[Pigeonduck]

I thought that maybe some people might be interested to see my freshwater pipefish Doryichthys martensii.

I'd also be interested to hear from anyone keeping these or similar species. Has anyone bred them? Apparently it's not too difficult with some species. They're like sea horses so the male takes the eggs from the female and holds them in a pouch until they hatch.

These guys are also known as long shouted Pipefish and they come from Southeast Asia. They're true freshwater fish unlike many that are estuarine or fully saltwater. 

I have 5 in a 50l tank because they enjoy company. They're not quite full grown yet (assuming 15cm full size) so I might upgrade them but for now the tank works well because they don't move much or fast and they require mostly live small foods. The smaller tank size makes it easier to get the food to them. I have neocaridina shrimp and amano shrimp with them as an extra food source. They will pick eggs straight off the amano shrimp, it's quite funny to see. 

Here's a video of them being useless at hunting daphnia. I like how they move their eyes. It reminds me of puffer fish.

 

 

[Vanish]

I've never seen them before. Neat!

[PineSong]

Wow, those are neat! It's funny to see how the shrimp boldly walk up.

[DannyBWell]

Those are awesome could definetly watch them for a long time!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Do they use their tails like seahorses to hold on to things?

[Colu]

do you need to have a constant supply of live food in there tank like you do with seahorses

[Robert]

Kept a group of 4 of these last year. Awesome fish. Just found the daily feeding of live baby brine to be bit much for me. I did get them on frozen daphnia and cyclops though. Certainly a fish I might reconsider down the road. Be very curios on how your breeding project goes.

[Pigeonduck]

On 10/8/2021 at 11:40 PM, PineSong said:

Wow, those are neat! It's funny to see how the shrimp boldly walk up.

The blue dream shrimp ride them occasionally! 

On 10/9/2021 at 12:53 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Do they use their tails like seahorses to hold on to things?

They do. Often they sit in the plants in a vertical position and hold on with their tail. 

[Pigeonduck]

On 10/9/2021 at 12:55 AM, Colu said:

do you need to have a constant supply of live food in there tank like you do with seahorses

They can go overnight or a few hours in the day without food so they don't need a constant supply but very regular feeding is required because like seahorses, they have no fat reserves. They do actually eat frozen cyclops which is handy as a backup food.

On 10/9/2021 at 1:00 AM, Robert said:

Kept a group of 4 of these last year. Awesome fish. Just found the daily feeding of live baby brine to be bit much for me. I did get them on frozen daphnia and cyclops though. Certainly a fish I might reconsider down the road. Be very curios on how your breeding project goes.

They're definitely on the high maintenance end with their food needs. It will be nerve wracking trying to keep the fry fed if they do ever breed.

[Phoenixfishroom]

I ordered 10 of these guys and they are the best looking pipes I ever got in the mail. 9 of them look great and are eating frozen baby brine, rotifers, and calannus for me. The daphnia I have is too big I have to get some hikari daphnia tomorrow. once they are out of quarantine they will go into a 30 gallon walstead style tank with shrimp and daphnia in it (eventually, it took awhile to get the daphnia established in the other Pipefish tank…. A long while, and a lot of daphnia). I thought about adding scuds but I don’t know if they will hunt the daphnia or not. I am pretty comfortable with them because I also have the other doryichthys species, doras Pipefish, I have been keeping those for about 2 years now and I am hopeful that they will spawn soon. There are 2 males and 5 females in that group (and I am always looking for more, my dream is to have like a 60 breeder with nothing but like 30 fresh water pipes in it) My understanding is they become sexually mature at around 2 years. I love them so much and my goal is to eventually find all of the species of freshwater pipes, I would like to have some of the African species like enneacampus ansorgii  but I have not ever seen those for sale. I did made an attempt with rainbow belly and all I am gonna say about that is I would be willing to try one more time but I would definitely not order them from the place I got the first batch, they were very small and came looking like they hadn’t eaten in a while. For a minute I thought that a couple of them might bounce back but unfortunately even the ones that kind of started eating never really bounced back. Once they go too long without food and their gut bacteria dies you can’t really save them. 
Anyway, I would love to hear an update on how yours are doing!

[Phoenixfishroom]

Mine are too young but I do know people who have spawned them, they do not receive parental care but are unlikely to get eaten by the parents. To raise the fry you need to have infusora as the first food. Then you can move up to things like micro worms, rotifers, and finally baby Brine.