OMG! Pipefish babies!

[JennM]

Hi all!
Just when I thought I had a tiny break from baby H. reidi (Brazillian seahorses - lost the last of this batch this week, have a week before more are due, and preparing a better nursery system for them), I have baby pipefish!

Two weeks ago, in the Gulf of Mexico, we caught about 11 pipefish (Sygnathus scovelli I think). Most are brown, two are larger and almost black and one of them was distinctly male *g*. I jokingly wondered if he was pregnant. Well this morning I counted 10 babies that I can see, and I think there are more hidden in the caulerpa that's in their quarantine bucket.

Anybody have rearing info for these? I'm proceeding as if they were baby horses, with one exception. I'm leaving them in the q-bucket with the others. The bucket is in a sunny window, and the water is turning nice and green. I've been feeding the pipes brine from the growout tubs on my back step, who are growing in greenwater. I've offered mysis once, a few showed interest, so I'll try it again. The bucket has a sponge filter which I turn off during feeding and provides good turbulance on the surface, although these pipes don't seem too compelled to go to the surface (yet?).

Since I have no seahorse babies currently I had no brine hatching, but I've set a pot on to hatch...no rest for the wicked!

Any and all info gratefully invited.

Jenn

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Baby pipefish! That is awesome JennM! Wish you the best of luck in caring for them!! Johnny

[Doug1]

Hey jenn, that is really great. My friend Reefkeeper had some from the store that had babies a few times but was never setup to deal with the infants at least you are dialed in for seahorse so the care is probably similar. You might also search the Marine Fishes Breeders Registery(sorry no link) and see what they have for info. Good luck and congratulations

[Brooke]

Hey Jenn!

Cool news on the pipefish. I think raise them just like your horses, should be similar. Sorry, don't have any practical info. I could e-mail you some baby brine, though . You might also look for a local source for frozen prawn eggs. My banggers are eating them now and they are much better nutritionally than baby brine.
Have fun!

Brooke

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hi JennM! You might find this info helpful:
http://www.seahorses.de/pipefish.htm Johnny

[Alice]

Wow, that's awesome Jenn! I've got my fingers crossed, keep us updated!

Not bad for an idjit

Alice

[JennM]

Thanks fellow idjit...

Hope I have better luck with these guys than I have with my seahorse fry...I'm doing searches to find out whatever I can. The adults and juvies are eating the brine I am haphazardly growing on my patio in tubs...so far so good.

BTW the baby count is at 30 now. I went out for a while he must have had more! Hard to see them all in the caulerpa!

Jenn

[Doug1]

tag for archive
Please copy anymore good links you come up with, please

[JennM]

Great link but didn't find my specimens there. I didn't know that all pipes don't have brood pouches...mine does

I've been searching all over the 'net. I appear to have 2 species. Sygnatus scovelli is one, but that's NOT the one that gave birth. I have two larger, more black than brown pipes, and the male of that speci is the one that gave birth.

Any ideas?

Jenn

[galleon]

Jenn, until you can get some positive ID, and maybe pick out any specialized needs or behaviors, I'd go about raising the yunguns the same way you'd deal with H. erectus...

[JennM]

Thanks Chris.

Any ideas where I can try ID'ing with photos? I've found a few taxonomy pages, but without a photo, a pipefish is a pipefish.

I found nice pix of Sygnathus scovelli, of which I have several, but the one that gave birth is larger, darker, almost black or charcoal in colour. I have 2 like that, the daddy and another, most likely female as I could not see any brood pouch on her.

I'm hatching nauplii, they don't seem as vulnerable to gulping air as my H. reidi do, but I think their snouts are smaller, and I'm hoping that the nauplii will work for them. Meanwhile I'm experimenting with some zooplankton generator I have I've mixed some in a jar of greenwater to see what happens.

Stay tuned....

Jenn