Breeding Journal, Species: Corythoichthys intestinalis (Indonesian)

Lost one today, so maybe instead of settlement, they are just dying…I don't know. I did snap a few pictures of the corpse:
The little specks are ultra small rotifers. About 1/3 the size of plicatalis. [CORRECTION] These are the rotifers that came in with the pipefishes from the store.  The store has normal plicatalis.  My rotifers that I culture are the super small ones.  I did not add my rots to the soup.  These must be from the store.


 

 
 

 

 
There is a bit of a fan tail.

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"dorsal" fin

 

 

 

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Do the others have that prominent bulge, too?  That just doesn't look right.

And one from my cell phone to indicate size:

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No, I think its an artifact of death.  That, or my attempts to suck the corpse into a transfer pipet.
 
  I was surprised to see a small fan on the tail of this one.  I didn't think this species had one.
 
Surprisingly, Crooktail is still alive.

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I have seen other syngnathids with a small fin on the tail before they developed more.  One of the seahorse org members got some good shots of H. comes (seahorse) fry with fins on the tail.
 
Dan

19 day pictures!
I have 2 left.  One spends most of its time at the bottom of the kreisel, and the other, Crooktail, still cruises the water column, but picks copepods from the sides.  There's one lucky shot where I got both in the same picture.  Seriously, I don't know how it happened.  I set the focal distance, and pointed the camera, as there is not enough headroom for me to get my head far enough away from the camera to see if I am in focus.  Sucks getting old. But these guys are sweet!

 

 

 

 

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Keep up the good work, Kathy!  Crooktail is very interesting looking.

Sadly, we are down to one, Crooktail, the survivor at 20 days:

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Get him into a different (larger) tank.  I've seen this before.  More water generally means more stable water with better parameters.  When I left pipefish fry in their kriesel too long, I'd end up losing them.  Just my $0.02.

Yeah, I think a sponge filter may be in order as well. Question is, to gravel or not to gravel (or sand).
 
I have a tank that I grew some neon gobies in, that has an established population of parvo and euterpina and probably rotifers. I was thinking of adding some sand to that, a sponge filter, and calling it a pipefish tank. 
 
Alternatively, I can do a massive water change.
 
Kinda worried that with either changes, it may stress the poor little deformed pipefish unnecessarily. Got any tips?

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Do acclimate slowly.  A tank with established copepod populations sounds ideal!  For this species, I would either go bare bottom, or else use a fine sand.  In my experience with the adults, they often spend a lot of time on the substrate, or else draped over the rockwork.  You might consider adding Tigriopus now, too, or else soon.

Here's a microscopic stitch of the one that recently died:

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OK, at 23 days, I am calling this settlement. Crooktail has color, eats off the sides and bottom and is large enough to see without a strong flashlight.  He is looking stronger than the ones who died, and never lies on the bottom of the tank.  He is constantly eating and moving around. Settled. 
He's gotten longer in the past few days, it seems:

 

 

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Woot!  Loving it, Kathy!!!!  Good work.

I actually saw him this morning without glasses, so he's a fish now.

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Hooray!

Day 26: I find it amazing how much he's grown over the course of a couple of days! He's now the thickness of a thick thread. I can see him easily from a couple feet away.  Seems to be thriving.  I did not move him, because me gut tells me, if it's working, don't change everything.  But I am preparing a tank for some brood stock, and another as a home for him and possibly some neon gobie babies. Here's Crooktail, Mr. Personality:

 

 

 

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Good job Kathy!  Seems weird it's Crooktail that makes it! 

Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]

What is he eating at this point? Mainly copepods, or is he eating bbs as well?

i haven't introduced NHBBS yet. Not sure I'm going to.  Maybe just a larger copepod. I'm thinking it might be time for Tigriopus.
 
Yeah, Mindy, why did this deformed one make it when the others failed?

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I wouldn't use nhbbs, but enriched brine shrimp might be safe...  But Tigriopus is probably the best choice.  
 

Disney movie! 

He hee!
 

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As if to celebrate his one month birthday, Crooktail came to the surface of the kreisel, and wasn't scared off by the flash:

 

 

 

 

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Nice colors!

Sweet!

Yeah, the yellow on his snout and body almost looks painted on.
I am thrilled to be able to finally see this guy.  One month of shadowy figures and now, finally, some clarity. His head looks fuzzy, and I'm hoping its supposed to look that way, and not the result of some fungus or something…In some of the pictures you can see the fan at the end of the tail. In some, one can barely make out a dorsal fin, but the rest of the fins are a complete blur.  I have a few more pix that I'm saving in case I get to write an article.
 
I fed some tigriopus, just a few, but I am sure they are still too big for his jaw.  At least I now have some tiggers to culture.   I am continuing with Apocyclops and Parvocalanus and Euterpina, and whatever ciliate is contaminating everything in the basement.  I think the majority of the rotifers have given up due to low food levels.  Still feeding the kreisel light loads of Isochrysis.  Clearly, Crooktail is eating something.

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similar to the parental fish, taken from a tank in the store:

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Awesome, Kathy! I love the second pic and the last pic...he looks like he is modeling

Great photos! How big is Crooktail now? I really want to try some pipes in my refugium someday....... ( So many wants, and so little time & space!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ken

i'm thinking he's about 1.5 inches, but its hard to tell.  He seems to be getting bulkier rather than longer.
 

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DANG! HYDROIDS! ARGGHHH!
 
I noticed the clustered trio of spots when I was checking for food levels in the kreisel with a flashlight.  Now that I look back on recent photos, you can see 2 or 3 bright white dots clustered together.  Those are hydroids.  Might be why the other two pipefish died. I'm presently reading the instructions for Panacur…….Dang.

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the Panacur isn't working very fast.  Yesterday Crook was squirming like he itched something awful.  This morning he was lying on the floor of the tank. Sign of impending pipefish death…. I changed 1/3 of the water and gave another dose of panacur, parvo and Iso. This evening he looks more lively.  I still see hydroids in the water, but fewer of them.  At 5 weeks, it would be a shame to lose him now.

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Sorry to hear this, Kathy.  If it were me, I would get him into a different tank ASAP, and make sure no hydroids tagged along.

I would, but this tank has cycled by now,and I don't have a tank that's ready to accept a tiny pipefish and all his food, and I am not sure i have enough copepods to replace all that I've put into his tank. I am also concerned about the stress of moving him.
 
Perhaps I should reconsider, though. This fish has already survived its traumatic birth and the handling thereafter, having it's tail permanently bent, being sucked into a siphon tube and  traveling the length of an airline tube to be dumped into a bucket of dirty water, and then transferred back to its tank.  It should be able to survive getting put into some clean hydroid free water.  What am I thinking?

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But this morning he looks fine, snicking, swimming, wonderful.  There are far fewer hydroids in there as well. Still, i will prepare a tank. The trick will be to make sure it is hydroid free.

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Week 5:  So, I prepared the tank with a sponge filter and clean water, and as many copepods as I could possibly spare.  It's a ten gallon that previously had raised a neon goby on nothing but parvocalanus and isochrysis, but had not had a fishy occupant in a couple of weeks.  I cleaned the bottom, but kept the growth of algae on the sides as I suspect there are tons of harpactacoids lurking there. I acclimated Crook overnight by removing half a his kreisel water and dripping in water from the ten gallon tank overnight. Then I just moved him in a cup this morning.  He freaked out in the cup, but calmed down and laid low for a few hours .  Then I found him later swimmin and snicking aroud the tank and I took a few pictures.  Later I went back, and he is on the floor again.  I don't know if this is a bad sign or not. But it is what it is.  we shall see.

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And pictures:

 

 

 

 

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He's starting to get the patterned black markings around his head and upper body.  Look closely!

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