FRESHWATER LONGSNOUTED PIPE FISH – 淡水海龙

Freshwater pipefish are not commonly traded but they do turn up in the better aquarium shops from time to time. They belong to the same family as the seahorses, the Syngnathidae, and like seahorses have armoured bodies that make it impossible for them to swim very fast. These were once very rarely seen in aquaria, but in the last year or two have become quite widely traded. They are not at all delicate, and in fact can do extremely well in aquaria. But the main problem is feeding them, as pipefish usually only ever accept live foods, and will certainly need live foods for the first few weeks of captivity, even if they can eventually be trained to take wet-frozen alternatives. Without exception, pipefish require a steady supply of live foods. If you’re not able to provide these on a daily basis, then it simply isn’t worth trying to keep them. Pipefish have been trained to take wet-frozen foods including bloodworms and cyclops, and this is certainly worth trying once your specimens are feeding well. Flake or pellets will never be accepted. Depending on the size of the pipefish, possible live foods include adult brine shrimp (though these are not very nutritious), brine shrimp nauplii, daphnia, midge larvae, mosquito larvae, small oligochaete and nematode worms (such as vinegar eels and microworms) and livebearer fry. Pipefish do best when given several small meals per day rather than just one big meal. Some success has been had using floating worm feeders that allow the pipefish to graze on worms before they fall and get lose in the substrate. Most pipefish are gregarious and should be kept in small groups.