Caring for striped shrimp fish?

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 3, 2012

Hey! I've become interested in Striped shrimp fish and was wondering if anyone has had personal experience or has any care tips? I'm hoping to get three and keep them in my 72 gal bowfront (reef tank) in the next few months. I know they need live foods so I'm going to start hatching my own brine and see how that goes and possibly add a small fuge for pods to "grow."
Thanks!

revsgirl · Dec 4, 2012

:bump2:

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 4, 2012

Thanks for the bump!

Nordic · Dec 6, 2012

In my experiences with these fish, they need very small foods and initially enjoy eating live foods first. I would not attempt them unless your system is very mature and has plenty of copepods and other fauna. They are like seahorses; very delicate (but tolerant of high flow unlike seahorses) and need to be maintained on a good diet. I have managed to get them before to feed on P.E. mysis (chopped) as well as NutraMar Ova. But they have to be conditioned and fattened up. Use enriched gut-loaded live artemia (brine shrimp), live copepods, live feeder shrimp, or live molly fry (or guppy/gambusia fry). These are a alot of fun when you get them in a small shoal but keep in mind they need lots of space. Try to keep rockwork towards the back to allow them adequate space. A tank full of live macroalgae would be an ideal setup.

Good luck!

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 6, 2012

Thanks for the reply!

are there a certain "type" of pod that I'm looking for to get them to eat or does it not really matter?

Nordic · Dec 8, 2012

Amphipods or other natural pods from your tank are the best foods. They will locate these on their own. A method of replenishing pods is to cycle out macroalgae from your refugium on another system or if you have friends you can trade some with. Just be sure their system is clean and doesn't have any parasites like crypto (marine ich).

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 9, 2012

Thanks for the advice!

hopefully I can get these guys in the near future!

Nordic · Dec 9, 2012

I work and worked for a few LFS. In my

Nordic · Dec 9, 2012

I work for and worked for many LFS. I can say that the best wholesaler for shrimpfish by far is Quality Marine. Ask your LFS to get them from QM, they have the best survival record and highest likelihood to eat frozen from them. (Sorry double post my Android app glitched)

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 10, 2012

Alrighty will do! Thank you for telling me that, as I had no idea where to start!

Yeah, phones can be obnoxious, mine wont let me edit posts...

KoleTang · Dec 10, 2012

Will they eat cyclops?

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 11, 2012

From all I've gathered (from both this thread and my research) it's a hit or miss, so be prepared to feed other foods (including live)

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 11, 2012

From all I've gathered (from both this thread and my research) it's a hit or miss, so be prepared to feed other foods (including live)

Theclutziestspazzofaninja · Dec 11, 2012

Oops sorry for the double post!

Nordic · Dec 11, 2012

Theclutziestspazzofaninja said:
Alrighty will do! Thank you for telling me that, as I had no idea where to start!
Yeah, phones can be obnoxious, mine wont let me edit posts...

That makes two of us! I can't edit posts on my phone or on the computer, haha.

As for the cyclops, they may be too small. However if it is cyclopeeze and the frozen version, I would give it a shot! NutraMar Ova was almost too small for them, but that food is like fish crack so everything tends to go for it even if they don't usually eat something so small..