Seahorse & Pipefish Haven Part II

[Domboski]

As you can see, the Northern Pipefish are not free swimmers. They kind of cruise on the bottom like snakes.

Can anyone ID this macro algae? It is white with a red stem.

Here is a couple of short blurry videos but you can see the piepfish eating mysis.

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2
http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/?action=view&current=Picture443.flv

 

[steveo32]

Dom, if you still need rock I can bring some down on thursday. I hav some sand too pm if interested

 

[ellebelle]

Love all the snails on the glass, Dom. Great photo skillz.

 

[jejton]

Dom - I have some extra aragonite ( dry ) which I can spare. Depending on how much you need, you can take some when you bring the turtles.

 

[jejton]

Thanks Jonathan. Well, I keep my apartment at 68-70 all year round (finally) so the chiller should not go on too much. I bought a heavy duty air conditioner to help with all of my tanks. I've burnt through 3 ACs in 4 years so I went for a commercial grade. :splitspin The lighting is only compact fluorescents as well. Hopefully the cost won't be too bad.

In the past, I haven't had luck keeping the pipefish long term in warmer temps. IME, 75 is about the warmest I've been able to keep them. I had two for a year in 74-75 degree water and when I moved it up to 78, they died in about a week. It's hard to say it was definitely the temp but I'm pretty sure the water on LI never gets up to 75 for an extended period of time if at all. Maybe in tidepools where pipefish are found as well but still only for a short period of time. I'm also exploring salinity because the local waters I tested this weekend were only at 1.016 SG.

As for the tank, I need to get more macro algae that will grow towards the surface. I have a few that should but I would like to get some Red Garcilaria or something similar.

I was actually going to ask about this as I recently read ( The Natural History of Long Island or something similar ) that the Sound is actually brackish. As for the temps, will using CF still keep the macro growing? Why not use all local macro instead of ordering tropicals? Maybe even some of the brackish plants that grow along the sound. I'm sure the pipefish would appreciate it.

 

[RyanG]

What are you going to do for pods? Between the pipefish, and eventually the seahorses and jawfish. I would imagine that a supply would be exhausted rather quickly.

 

[Domboski]

Love all the snails on the glass, Dom. Great photo skillz.

Thanks. I know I stink at taking pics. I need your help picking out a camera and lens.

 

[Domboski]

Dom - I have some extra aragonite ( dry ) which I can spare. Depending on how much you need, you can take some when you bring the turtles.

That would be awesome Eric Thanks!

 

[Domboski]

I was actually going to ask about this as I recently read ( The Natural History of Long Island or something similar ) that the Sound is actually brackish. As for the temps, will using CF still keep the macro growing? Why not use all local macro instead of ordering tropicals? Maybe even some of the brackish plants that grow along the sound. I'm sure the pipefish would appreciate it.

I had some tropicals already so I added them to the tank. The CF's will work great. Right now I am using 10,000K bit I have 6500K and 7100K bulbs too. I wanted to see if I got better growth with the 10Ks.

A few years ago I tested the salinity of the bay and i'm pretty sure it also had a similar SG.

 

[Domboski]

What are you going to do for pods? Between the pipefish, and eventually the seahorses and jawfish. I would imagine that a supply would be exhausted rather quickly.

I never rely solely on pods no matter the fish. I catch live mysis and amphipods and order live mysis too on ocassion. The main food will be frozen mysis and grass shrimp which spawn regularly. All of my seahorses, pipefish and jawfish eat frozen mysis. I also add BBS to the tank as well.

 

[jhale]

they look and act similar to the Corythoichthys haematopterus.

 

[jhale]

Thanks. I know I stink at taking pics. I need your help picking out a camera and lens.

i'm not lissa, but I'd say a nikon D80 and a tamron 90mm 2.8 both good values.

 

[ellebelle]

i'm not lissa, but I'd say a nikon D80 and a tamron 90mm 2.8 both good values.

I am pretty sure you can advise him at least as well as I can.

 

[Domboski]

they look and act similar to the Corythoichthys haematopterus.

Their behavior is pretty much exactly the same The one big difference is the Dragon Pipefish snout / mouth is very small and can not eat frozen mysis. They are mainly pod eaters IME. The Northerns have a big snout / mouth and can eat even baby fish and will.

 

[Domboski]

i'm not lissa, but I'd say a nikon D80 and a tamron 90mm 2.8 both good values.

Thanks Jonathan. This is what I will get then. I may lean on you and Lissa for some expert training advise :splitspin

 

[Domboski]

 

[Domboski]

I'm hopefuly going to take better / more pictures this weekend but I wanted to show quickly the change in color of one of the macros I collected locally. It seemed to be dead / dying when I collected it but now look how bright the red coloring is. the tips where translucent or whitish and now everything is a nice dark red.

 

[johnmaloney]

I think the macroalgae you wanted an id for before is actually wineglass hydroids. At least that is what they look like to me. They have hardly any sting, none would be noticeable by you. How is the macro I sent you doing. Looked okay in the first couple of pics, the pink galaxy still holing up?

 

[Domboski]

I think the macroalgae you wanted an id for before is actually wineglass hydroids. At least that is what they look like to me. They have hardly any sting, none would be noticeable by you. How is the macro I sent you doing. Looked okay in the first couple of pics, the pink galaxy still holing up?

Hi John,

Everything is holding up well besides the shaving brushes. I never could keep them alive even under halides. The Pink Galaxy has turned more a dark red and is doing great. I am going to post better pictures hopefully over the weekend. The grow out has been good thus far. I like that hydroid!

I'm not 100% thrilled with my lighting at the moment and have bought a few other fixtures to try. I think I am going to use a 36" 4 bulb T5 setup. 16 hours on and 8 hours off. The water is kept around 70-71 degrees so I expected some of the carribean macros not to do so well.

Any additional advice on lights? Ideas?

 

[johnmaloney]

Sorry to hear about the brushes, how long did they last? Sometimes they lose their leaves and will regrow them, but if they slump over they are dead, that is the real test. Colder water may have got to them, as they are generally sparse in the winter here, when the water gets down to a brisk 72, the reds do much better during that time.

I like those hydroids too. Some hydroids are really nice to look at. There is this feathery hydroid down here that is just awesome, but it packs a pretty powerful sting. Hurts like hell., and you get lots of bumps. Halecium hydroids are also very nice, much less of a sting, more like the wineglass that way. They are everywhere down here, even though field guides say they are a pacific ocean species. One of these days I am going to get a hydroid tank, I think that would be fun.

Go with a full spectrum. 5k-6k the best range, this is what I use, but a lot of people also get great results with 5k-10k. I have dumb luck it seems with a lot of plants so it may not be too great of an idea to do what I do, maybe you should get the Kelvin they are using.