bluestripe pipefish feeding

[Kremis]

Hey all, I purched a bluestripe pipefish a few days ago for my 28 gallon. So far he has not really shown any interest in any foods i ahve tried to feed him (cyclops, frozen adult brine) but I am currently hatching baby brine to try to see if he will eat that. he goes around eating pods all day. There is basically 0 competition for him because there are no other pod eaters in the tank (only garden eels)
what are the best foods to feed these guys? and I know that since they are pipefish they should be fed a few times per day, right? I was looking at someone (i think paul b) who made like a baby brine shrimp fish diner. would something like that be beneficial and how would I go about setting that up ?

 

[leahfiish]

Baby brine is a good food to try, or you can buy bottles or packages of live copepods. You can also culture your own in a seperate tank.

 

[YellowFinsReef]

If you can find nutramar ova, it's a really good product. Otherwise, LRS fish eggs can be good too, although it is a bit pricey.

 

[LetItReef]

I can't seem to find any Nutramar Ova near my LFS, shortage I guess.

 

[Rybren]

In addition to bbs, my pipes readily go after Reef Nutrition Arcti Pods and Oyster Feast

 

[Skimmer Juice]

my pair ended up eating mysis after about a week . And now they eat almost anything I put in there. But like most people recommend getting some pods until it takes frozen , can you get any reef nutrition products ?
Also if you are in USA you could try the Algen foods from liveaquaria.com

 

[fishnchip]

This is a little off topic but where did you guys get your bluestripes from?

 

[Rybren]

Just the LFS. The four closest to me often get them in.

 

[oceanrider]

new bluestripes pipefishes often only eat copepods, which is their natural food. They are opportunistic predators, so in the ocean they would readily eat the plankton . IE....larvae of any kind of shrimp, lobster, fish fry ( small larvae fish), large rotifers, even fish eggs etc.

In the aquarium they prefer copepods. But if they see other fish eat artic pods, mysis, brine shrimp, nutramar ova, etc, then they can go after them.

I have even heard of some pipes go after pellet foods. LOL But that is rare.

Be careful of just feeding baby brine shrimp, unless they are freshly hatched. since the nutrition parameters are less . ie they have less Highly unsaturated Fatty Acids and omega 3 fatty acids.

try to soak other types of food and target feed near them, and perhaps slowly they will learn.