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Anita
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Big Kauna

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pipefish & cyclop-eeze - 2005/10/19 14:03 Hi. I really wanted to get pipefish for my sea horse tank, but I decided it wasn't a good idea about having to train them to eat frozen foods & quartantine them.

I found a website: www.aquaspot.net, they sell pipefish. I called & spoke to the guy & he was really helpful. Actually he said that most people today say that quarantine isn't good (he doesn't do it either) because after shipping & being introduced to a medicated & isolated tank it actually makes them more prone to disease. He said that the best thing to do is to put them directly into an established tank w/good filtration, LR, etc.

For feeding, he said that he doesn't use frozen mysis because it's too big for them. He said he feeds his pipefish cyclop-eeze, it's a frozen food that's smaller than the frozen mysis. He said that pipefish love this food, & the ones he sells are trained to eat it. Pipefish, he says, are actually easier to take care of than sea horses because they can catch their food more easily. He just throws some cyclop-eeze in the tank & the pipefish catch it & eat it pretty quickly. Whatever's left is eaten by the nassarius snails or sea stars.

He also told me he has a pair of captive bred H. reidis w/ 2 pipefish & they have been thriving for 2 years.

Can anyone comment on this or make suggestions? I'm really confused, since everything this guy told me was the opposite of what I thought.

Anita

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Leslie
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Re:pipefish & cyclop-eeze - 2005/10/19 15:34 Hi Anita,

You are going to get alot of conflicting information it is just part of this hobby.

I can give you a clue or 2 when it comes to sorting out conflicting info. When the source of the info is a merchant and it is in direct conflict with info you have received from knowledgeable caring hobbyists that have no vested interest in selling you something, it would be best to go with the advice from the hobbyists without the vested interest. Write to the crew@wetwebmedia and ask them how they feel about quarantining vs. not.

I can almost promise you are flirting with disaster if you place WC pipes in with your CB seahorses without first quarantining them. In my opinion and in my experience it is risky even after quarantine and I would not do it. I speak from experience and learning my lessons the hard way.

All quarantine means is that you keep the fish separate, how you go about it can be done in many different ways. Medication is not necessary in a quarantine tank unless the fish get sick. They typical quarantine tank is not well established but that does not mean you cannot set one up for the purpose of quarantining pipes or any other fish that typically would not do well in quarantine.

You mentioned you are thinking about 2 Mustangs, 2 Sunbursts and 2 Fire Reds. That is close to $840.00 in precious seahorses. Are you really willing to risk that. I can tell you from personal experience it is no fun at all caring for sick seahorses. It is a lot of work not to even mention the emotional component.

My advice would be to put your desire for pipefish on the back burner until CB pipes become available. I adore pipefish and so I can empathize with you, but I will not purchase WC pipefish because they carry with them all the same inherent problems, as do WC seahorses. They have a very poor survival rates in captivity due to difficulty feeding and disease susceptibility.

HTH,

Leslie

Post edited by: leslie, at: 2005/10/19 15:54

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Anita
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Big Kauna

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Re:pipefish & cyclop-eeze - 2005/10/19 21:41 Leslie-

Yeah, I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to doubt you & Pete. Oh well, maybe OR will start breeding pipefish

Well, since you are better informed about this kind of thing, let me know as soon as you hear about CB pipefish.

Could you approve/disapprove my list of corals?

Thanks,
Anita

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Leslie
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Re:pipefish & cyclop-eeze - 2005/10/20 00:01 Hi Anita,

No worries. There are all types of amazing fish out there and believe me they are quite tempting. I fight with myself all the time and thank goodness the one who knows best wins these days, but I am still tempted every time I walk into a lfs.

I would be happy to look over your coral list..... where is it?

Leslie

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Anita
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Big Kauna

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Re:pipefish & cyclop-eeze - 2005/10/20 01:03 Leslie-

Oops! I totally forgot. It's on the 5th page of my "I'm new to seahorses..."

Wow, 5 pages, I really did have a lot of questions, lol!

Anita

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