[tang daddy]

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.