Sexing blue stripe pipefish

[AlwaysHatingNathan]

Hey fellow reefers so within the next week I’m going to get my LFS to order me one of them and see how it goes in my tank. I’ve stocked it with pods and going add more and have brine shrimp eggs ready to. But I was just planning get one first then get another later. I know that you cannot have two males in one tank. So how do you sex them? I tried look it up and did not see much really.

 

[Katrina71]

The females have a rounded throat/belly. The males are flat.

 

[AlwaysHatingNathan]

The females have a rounded throat/belly. The males are flat.

Thank you! I saw one thing about that but link wouldn’t open so I wanted ask here to make sure

 

[ThRoewer]

Females have a smooth snout top while males have a saw-like series of bony plates there. If you spot the slightest hint of plates or needle-like structures on the snout it is a male.

(picture found on the web)

You can also go by the pouch the males have but that is usually more difficult to see without taking the fish out of the water (which most stores frown upon.)

Males without eggs also tend to have a slightly upward arched/bowed body posture while females hold themselves rather straight.

male top, female bottom

 

[ThRoewer]

Hey fellow reefers so within the next week I’m going to get my LFS to order me one of them and see how it goes in my tank. I’ve stocked it with pods and going add more and have brine shrimp eggs ready to. But I was just planning get one first then get another later. I know that you cannot have two males in one tank. So how do you sex them? I tried look it up and did not see much really.

Sexing see post above.
Males actually get along better than females. But ultimately, you can only keep one male and one female per tank, any extras, regardless of sex, will be fought and ultimately killed.

Bluestripes are actually very quick to accept frozen Mysis and easily hold their own against far larger and more aggressive fish. Usually, I didn't even have to "train" my Bluestripes to take Mysis.



They also do very well in reef tanks, even those with extremely high flow. I've seen my Bluestripes go in high flow areas all other fish would avoid...

 

[AlwaysHatingNathan]

Tha

Sexing see post above.
Males actually get along better than females. But ultimately, you can only keep one male and one female per tank, any extras, regardless of sex, will be fought and ultimately killed.

Bluestripes are actually very quick to accept frozen Mysis and easily hold their own against far larger and more aggressive fish. Usually, I didn't even have to "train" my Bluestripes to take Mysis.



They also do very well in reef tanks, even those with extremely high flow. I've seen my Bluestripes go in high flow areas all other fish would avoid...

Sexing see post above.
Males actually get along better than females. But ultimately, you can only keep one male and one female per tank, any extras, regardless of sex, will be fought and ultimately killed.

Bluestripes are actually very quick to accept frozen Mysis and easily hold their own against far larger and more aggressive fish. Usually, I didn't even have to "train" my Bluestripes to take Mysis.



They also do very well in reef tanks, even those with extremely high flow. I've seen my Bluestripes go in high flow areas all other fish would avoid...

thank you! This video gives me some hope I can keep one! Been doing research for awhile! I just hope my lfs I work at on weekends can get one for me

 

[AlwaysHatingNathan]

Females have a smooth snout top while males have a saw-like series of bony plates there. If you spot the slightest hint of plates or needle-like structures on the snout it is a male.

(picture found on the web)

You can also go by the pouch the males have but that is usually more difficult to see without taking the fish out of the water (which most stores frown upon.)

Males without eggs also tend to have a slightly upward arched/bowed body posture while females hold themselves rather straight.

male top, female bottom

Perfect thank you!

 

[Katrina71]

Females have a smooth snout top while males have a saw-like series of bony plates there. If you spot the slightest hint of plates or needle-like structures on the snout it is a male.

(picture found on the web)

You can also go by the pouch the males have but that is usually more difficult to see without taking the fish out of the water (which most stores frown upon.)

Males without eggs also tend to have a slightly upward arched/bowed body posture while females hold themselves rather straight.

male top, female bottom

Those are the best pics I've seen of sexing them.

 

[ThRoewer]

You may need a magnifying glass to see it. And many stores have rather insufficient lighting on their sales tanks. For that reason (and because my eyes aren't as good as they once were) I always bring a 4x magnifying glass and a strong LED flashlight when I go looking for fish.

Another thing to look for is health. Any pipefish that looks severely undernourished is not likely to make it even if given plenty of live food. And you should look for parasitic and bacterial infections. Fin-rot and skin infections are fairly common things with freshly imported specimens.