Author
|
Message
|
Breeding Journal, Species: Corythoichthys conspicillatus (Tahitian Dragonface Pipefish)
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 3:17 PM
( permalink)
Breeding Journal DataSheet General Species: Corythoichthys conspicillatus (Tahitian Dragonface Pipefish) Social Structure: Bonded pair Size of Individuals: 4" and 4.5" Age of Individuals: N/A Date added to Tank: 6/22/2016 Broodstock Tank Details Size of Tank: 75 gallon (48" x 15" x 24") Substrate Details: Sand (Caribsea Fiji Pink) Filtration Details: Activated carbon and protein skimmer. Water Changes: Monthly 50% water changes. Water Temperature: 80 F Lighting: LED (Kessil A150W) Lighting Cycle: 9:00 AM ON, 8 PM OFF: I use ambient window lighting for sunrise and sunset. I have midday lighting that increases the output of the LEDs at 12 PM and this lighting turns off at 6 PM. Other Tank Inhabitants: Paracentropyge multifasciata x 1, Paracentropyge Venusta x 2, Lysmata amboinensis x 1 Broodstock Feeding Details Food Types: Feeding Schedule: Spawning Details Date of First Spawn: Spawn Time of Day: Dates of Consecutive Spawns: Courtship Details: Egg Size: Egg Color: Egg Count: Hatch Details Hatch Date: Hatch Time of Day: # Days after Spawn: Larvae Description: Consecutive Hatch Dates: Larval Tank Details Temperature: Size of Larval Tank: Substrate Details: Other Tank Decor: Filtration Details: Lighting: Lighting Cycle: Water Changes: Larval Feeding Details Food Types: Feeding Schedule: Metamorphosis/Settlement Date of Settlement Start: Days after Hatch: Date of Settlement End: Description of Fry:
Grow-Out Tank Details Temperature: Size of Grow-Out Tank: Substrate Details: Other Tank Decor: Filtration Details: Lighting: Lighting Cycle: Water Changes: Size at Transfer: Age at Transfer: Grow-Out Feeding Details Food Types: Feeding Schedule: Additional Information Miscellaneous Information:
<message edited by tannersmith2000 on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 8:33 AM>
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 3:20 PM
( permalink)
I snatched this pipefish pair from DD yesterday. I had been wanting a pair for a while and always wanted to work with this species. Obviously the goal is to breed them but I don't expect it to be easy. I have a nice 75 gallon tank full of microfauna and suitable rock work for this pair. I expect to supplement their diet with some prepared foods such as mysis, tigger pods, and some PE calanus copepods. Anybody have any experience with these fish that they would like to share? I assume the darker red pipe is the male and the pale one is the female. I could be wrong but just a hunch. 
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 12:31 AM
( permalink)
beautiful pipes! I did attempt Corythoichthys once, and got one that was born in the shipping bag to settle, but I did'nt have the right food for a juvenile, and it eventually died. They have such small mouths, you have to have a lot of live feeds or otherwise get them to eat.
Males have a dark spot on the underside, about midway along the length. Females have a spot that is not so prominant.
Good luck! If you get babies, ---parvocalanus is a good choice.
Owner of Kathy's Clowns, LLC Yes, we have no more clownfish. We have no more clownfish today!
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 6:05 AM
( permalink)
Thank you Kathy for the reply! I am gonna check out that spot to determine the sex. Interesting observation.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 6:07 AM
( permalink)
Kathy? When that young 47 DPH pipe died, any idea what may had lead to its demise? Nutrition, water change, water parameters, etc?
Thanks
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 8:52 AM
( permalink)
I think it was nutrition, but I'm not certain. I found it difficult to keep adult pipes, as I don't have a reef tank or any kind of refugium.
Owner of Kathy's Clowns, LLC Yes, we have no more clownfish. We have no more clownfish today!
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 8:58 AM
( permalink)
 Originally Posted by KathyL
I think it was nutrition, but I'm not certain. I found it difficult to keep adult pipes, as I don't have a reef tank or any kind of refugium.
I understand. Thanks. I have a reef tank and that's the reason I got them. I believe they will do well in it. Fingers crossed. Would they be a species first? I have not seen anywhere where someone bred them in captivity and got the fry past 60 DPS.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 11:50 PM
( permalink)
Yes I think so. You can raise them, it's not that hard. Hard part is getting them to spawn. The only times I've heard of spawning this species is in the wild, and then they hatch in the shipping bag after the adults are collected. Not that I really looked very hard, though.
Owner of Kathy's Clowns, LLC Yes, we have no more clownfish. We have no more clownfish today!
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Thursday, June 30, 2016 9:00 AM
( permalink)
Just wanted to make a quick update with my pair. My pair is doing very well. They spend all day with one another snicking copepods from the substrate. My 75 gallon reef has a very good pod population as of now but I will be curious to see how they decrease the density over time. My understanding is that they are going to be difficult to breed in home aquaria either due to there not being enough food items available (food density) or that the food items do not possess the right nutritional qualities that we would find in their natural habitat or that their is some other environmental stimulus/parameter that is lacking in home aquaria. Plan A is to leave this pair in my 75 gallon reef tank for at least a month with my fingers crossed that they will spawn. My bluestripe pipefish spawned one month after introduction to one another. If they fail to spawn, I have a plan B in place and would like for anyone to chime in on this plan to get their thoughts as to what other tactics can be done in order to promote spawning success with this species. PLAN B *The goal here is to treat this as a new tank setup with close to the exact same water parameters these pipefish currently reside in (75 gallon reef). Whenever I set up a new tank with new sand and live rock, at around the 4-6 week mark I notice an explosion of tisbe copepods all of the glass that gradually declines due to fish being added and the like keeping their populations in check. With very dense tisbe copepod population established in the new tank and the introduction of parvocalanus crassirostris and pseudodiatomus pelagicus copepods, I would have to assume that this would be an environment that would meet the food density demand and nutritional level of the dragonface pipefish to breed in captivity. Of course there would be no mechanical filtration. I can't have my food sources sucked up by filtration. Only water changes and biological filtration(macroalgae, microalgae, and bacteria). Water circulation would be accomplished with a single return pump with an inline valve to manage flow and to keep flow soft enough for the parvo. and pseudo. copepods to remain suspended in the water column gently. Gently enough for the pipefish to snick them from the water column and the sides of the tank. 1) Set up a 30 gallon rimless species only tank (in this case Corythoichthys conspicillatus). 2) Add brand new substrate (fiji pink sand) and add 30-40 lbs of live rock. *10-20 lbs coming from my reef tank loaded with tisbe copepds in order to inoculate the 30 gallon tank. 10-30 lbs of dry LR added as well. 3) Once the tank has matured and is overrun with tisbe copepods, add parvo and pseudo pods and treat it like a culture vessel dosing phyto and sustaining copepod blooms. 4) Add pipefish to this tank and hope for the best. 
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Friday, July 01, 2016 8:08 AM
( permalink)
Good luck! I need to do a similar thing. I would love to have a pair of dragonettes, but I don't have the reef tank to support them.
Owner of Kathy's Clowns, LLC Yes, we have no more clownfish. We have no more clownfish today!
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, July 06, 2016 2:17 PM
( permalink)
My dedicated pipefish tank is up and running. The target species for breeding is the Tahitian Dragonface Pipefish (Corythoichthys conspicillatus). It's a JBJ 30 gallon rimless nano tank with dual overflows and a single return pump (265 g/hr). No mechanical filtration whatsoever. Only water changes and biological filtration only. Each overflow chamber is filled with live rock rubble. Water flows right through the rubble and this was placed in order to increase surface area for an increase in copepod population and biological filtration. There is approx. 25-30 LBS of live rock in this tank that is fully cured and covered in tisbe copepods. The sand bed is 80% new Caribsea fiji pink and 20% is from my mature reef tank. I want to accelerate the maturity of this tank quickly. The four copepod species I want to be able to sustain and culture in this tank are as follows: - Tigriopus californicus
- Tisbe biminiensis
- Parvocalanus crassirostris
- Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus
Prior to the addition of the pipefish, I will add all four copepod species and test to see how well they coexist. I have no experience with keeping four copepod species together but I assume that this is very possible considering the tank setup I have. Here's some pics of my tank setup:    
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, July 06, 2016 2:20 PM
( permalink)
Looks good
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, July 06, 2016 2:59 PM
( permalink)
Hi Tanner, did you order your pipefish online or did you get them at a LFS. Pipefish are one of my favorites.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, July 06, 2016 3:04 PM
( permalink)
Originally Posted by ray2111
Hi Tanner, did you order your pipefish online or did you get them at a LFS. Pipefish are one of my favorites.
My mother in-law got my a gift certificate from Live Aquaria for my birthday and I saw this pair on Divers Den and I pulled the trigger. So yes, I ordered them online.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Wednesday, July 06, 2016 3:08 PM
( permalink)
Here is a quick video of this pair about a week ago. The male wanted to show off. I do not know what to think about this behavior.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Sunday, July 10, 2016 11:53 PM
( permalink)
Cool video.
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Friday, July 15, 2016 9:47 PM
( permalink)
Bad news to report. The female of this pair slowly faded away and passed this morning. She didn't look good for the past three or four days. The male however is as spunky and active as he has ever been. But I have added a new female to the mix. I was at my LFS this week and noticed that they got three nice looking dragonface pipefish females in stock. I decided to buy one today and put it with my male. The female I bought is a different species. Her snout is much longer and the caudal is larger. Both fish are about 4" long. If anyone can identify what species she may be, I would appreciate it.  I placed both pipefish in a small fishbowl kreisel and put some cured sand and LR in it. I dosed a bunch of parvo pods in their tank and they are eating them voraciously. I figure that this has to be good for them.
<message edited by tannersmith2000 on Friday, July 15, 2016 10:17 PM>
|
|
|
Re: Breeding Journal, Species: [Insert Species Name Here]
Saturday, July 16, 2016 8:50 AM
( permalink)
Sorry to hear about your female. Hopefully the new one will jump right on-board. 
|
|
|
|