I went to my lfs yesterday and saw two Alligator Pipefish available. Both were active, eating mysis shrimp well, and were of opposite genders. I decided to take one home with me since it was eating, I knew enough about them from research, and so he (I took the male) ended up in my seahorse tank. He adjusted very well and is actually eating better in my tank after just one day than he was at the store. The question now is, should I go back for the female? I have room in the tank and like I said, she was doing well. The only reason I chose the male over the female was because he was swimming around a little more, whereas she was just floating around, although this is very common for this pipefish since it likes to just float in the current.
Alligator Pipefish
- Thread starter Mike612
- Start date
I picked up the second pipefish and the two seem to be getting along very well. They are swimming around together all the time. My only problem now is that the first of the two pipefish I got is being a finicky eater. The second one that was introduced gobbles up the frozen mysis like there's no tomorrow. The first one usually takes a bit or two when I first start adding it but then stops. The pieces it takes aren't even whole pieces of the shrimp. It's usually the eyes or the stomach that he goes after. He was eating well the first day I got him but the second day he started striking. I tried enriched frozen brine since it's smaller but he showed no interest at all in that. I was better off with the mysis. I also thought that if the second pipefish was introduced and thus the pair would be formed again that maybe the second one can influence the first to eat better but so far that plan is going down the drain. The first does seem interested in eating but acts a little lazy. He chases the food when it's moving around the tank but doesn't snap it up and he won't eat off the ground.
Any ideas? I'd like #1 to be just like #2 in terms of feeding. Should I try one of those feeder dishes next?
Any ideas? I'd like #1 to be just like #2 in terms of feeding. Should I try one of those feeder dishes next?
Never mind, figured out the problem. The crazy little thing doesn't like to eat big foods, in other words, whole mysis shrimps. I've got to mush it up a bit so that there are parts of the shrimp flying around the tank, rather than entire shrimps. I've also got to add the food very slowly because neither pipefish like to eat the food once it's on the ground or on the plants, probably because it's not moving. Good thing the seahorses eat the leftovers.
.Not 100% sure, but one is a lot wider than the other. They're both fat, but one's body shape is wider than the other. I don't know which is which. I guess I'll just have to wait until they breed. Pics might be up over the weekend, depending on whether I decide to have a life this weekend or whether I want to study chem.
Didn't you say taht you initially got the male AP (Alligator Pipefish) before the female one?..What was the characteristics of the male one when u got him?
My AP's paired up into 2. all of them are fat. I noticed that one pair, one is slightly more wider & the other one is more slender.
Should I assume that the wider one is a male?
My AP's paired up into 2. all of them are fat. I noticed that one pair, one is slightly more wider & the other one is more slender.
Should I assume that the wider one is a male?
I was told that the less wide one was the female. I know what I said but I'm not sure. I think the wider one might be the male like you think because the other one is usually following it around. When I look at my seahorses, my female is usually following my male around so I assume it's the same behaviour. This is just a hypothesis though. I don't think what I was told was true.
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