Sam, with, respect, I think in the context of this discussion, the following quote from the that same article would have been more appropriate and the conclusion you posted is misleading. They are not easy fish to keep.

Quote:
Ensuring the proper size food, and that enough of it reaches the pipefish is another major concern. Thankfully, hobbyists are becoming more informed on this important detail, and as such many ill-prepared hobbyists have rightfully avoided this family.

The artical you posted first details in specific terms the needs, which most hobbyist cannot meet and only than comes to the conclusion you posted

Robert Fenner, a noted author states as follows
:As for Pipefishes, they're survivability is, if anything, even more dismal than wild-collected seahorses. They should only be attempted by folks in the know and of dead earnest. Reef-type set-ups with few or no competing fish tankmates are best for providing conditions conducive to their care. Various banded pipefishes, in the genera Dunckerocampus and Doryrhamphus are available from time to time mostly out of the Indo-Pacific. The creeping Pipefishes of the genus Corythoichthys are probably the most popular, best-lived forms, some known to have lived for months in well-established reef tanks. Some of the temperate species of Syngnathus, likewise have been kept and bred in aquarium confinement, as "species-tanks" by themselves.:

Thank you for posting the artical of pipefish.

Having seem you fuge, can't see what more a pipefish would want.

Old age? Wasn't like you grew this one from an egg to know how old it was.

.

Hi,

I do not agree that they are almost impossible to keep; however, setting that aside, I feel that many of your posts, however well-intentioned by you, are mainly composed of you telling other people what to do and "thanking" them, which is very superficial and arrogant to me.

I rarely see you tell others what to do; just what not to do. That said, you seem to speak with authority yet you are not as sincere as members such as Michika, Aquattro, or christyf5.

E.g., "Please don't keep this fish. Thanks."

Make no mistake, I have no hard feelings against you as you do not berate our fellow Canreef members. You offer good information sometimes but I think people would consider your opinions more if you addressed them in a more sympathetic and less assertive manner.

Ok that is fair comment.
Thank you oops

Thanks! I like to think it's a pretty good home for a pipefish :biggrin:

a behaviour I had yet seen in my pipefish.
 

I would say I am a middle experienced level fish keeper, and with some knowledge rather than experience, I have been able to keep my blue stripe pipefish alive (knock on wood), happy, and very fat for 4+ months in my main system. Originally I built them their own hideaway in a HOB refugium complete with lots of macro, lots of pods and they did OK. Til one day they both "prison breaked" and entered the main system. Now they're fatter than ever and I don't directly feed them anything. They just live off whats happening in the main and no one in my tank bothers them. They even love playing in the current of my koralia 3 for some reason.

Heres the behavior though that I was wondering if anyone has experienced...
Has anyone noticed their bluestriped's cleaning other fish??? I looked in my tank this evening and both the male and female were cleaning the sides of my foxface in the open water column of my tank. at first I thought they were biting him or something like that, but the foxface was dorsal fin down and sitting there accepting it.

I have never seen my pipefish clean other tank mates.... I have kept mine for over 6 months in my main display with tunzes, for the most part he resides in the back of the rock work and comes out at night when the lights are off cause the flow is less turbulent. At feeding time I have a stainless steel stick that I use to feed though he is the last to eat he swims right up to the feed stick and does a head nod while sucking motion which usually breaks the mysis in half then goes for it a few more times. He usually eats 2-3 at one feeding and a truly awesome fish to watch almost seahorseish ways of swimming. Funny thing is I never saw him for a few months when I first put him in, but he's still kickin and I would miss him lots if he was gone.

I'm sorry to hear about your pipe fishe's sudden death.....
I have had a few different fishes eat and live for awhile then die for no apparent reason. The sad thing is you never know how they have been caught/handled upon arrival that could lead later to death.

A few lfs stores have them in all the time however they are straight up to warn you if it's a good or bad idea to keep them. I almost wanted to P/u a dragon pipefish a few times but decided against it as it wouldn't take frozen, the way I see it is if you think you can keep them and have the right enviroment to let them live then why not..... It's not like the fishes have a choice to return to the ocean once it's arrived in a store.