Thanks, I've been browsing his threads.I'm pretty sure that @Paul B has kept shrimpfish and since everything he has breeds in his tank, then he must know something helpful here.
I'm planning to create a tank around their needs and I'm going to try my hand at growing different livefoods including mysis before I get them. Actually I can't decide which track to put them in. I was going to use a 40 gallon hex, but my mom is giving me her 10 year old 55 gallon, so that's another possibility. Which do you think that will be happier in? Do they prefer vertical or horizontal space to swim in? Whichever tank I go with will be converted into an urchin/shrimpfish tank for the purpose of attempting to keep and raise these fish.You can see some here at my feeder.
Not a real easy fish because they can and should eat new born brine shrimp constantly, like many more than mandarins. They are very thin and have no fat reserves that I can tell. I also don't think they will eat anything that is not in the water column. I have kept them a few times and none of them were successful ventures in my mixed reef. You can probably keep them in a separate tank by constantly hatching shrimp.
I really like them but I can't keep them for long in my tank with so many other fish that eat the same food. I wish I could.
Do you have any idea if they would be okay in a tank with a bubble tip anemone. I'm finding I love the colors now adays. I originally set up the 55g 10 years ago and I do not remember colors like these. If not I may need to plan for a 3rd tank ...
I'll be doing more reading and will post if I find anything that might answer this question. I do think that they seem to be better swimmers than pipefish and seahorses and they use a different part of the water column to swim in.
