African red-striped pipefish

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep a small group in a calm, mature, densely planted tank of around 120 liters, either alone or with very gentle surface fish that leave the bottom in peace. It eats slowly and only takes small live or freshly thawed foods such as baby brine shrimp, daphnia, and blackworms, so food competition is the main risk. It often rests motionless at an angle among plants and wood, easy to mistake for a twig.

In the wild

This pipefish comes from coastal rivers, creeks, and estuaries of West Africa, from Senegal south to Angola, with most trade fish exported from Nigeria. It lives among marginal plants and sunken wood in slow, warm water that ranges from fresh to lightly brackish. Keep it at 24 to 28 degrees Celsius with a pH of 7.0 to 8.2 in a densely planted tank with fine sand and calm flow. A small addition of salt is optional, not required.

Good to know

Microphis aculeatus reaches about 20 centimeters and, unusually for a pipefish, the male is the colorful sex, with a red stripe down the back and a patterned snout. He broods the eggs in a pouch under his trunk for one to three weeks and releases fully formed young about 1.5 centimeters long, with no marine larval stage. That makes it one of the few freshwater pipefish with documented captive breeding, including a published public aquarium account.

Did you know

An African red-striped pipefish holding still among waterlogged branches is nearly impossible to pick out, and it leans into the disguise, drifting stiffly like a stick until prey comes within reach of its snout.

Related species

• Barhead pipefish

  Microphis leiaspis

  7.5 in (19 cm)32 gal (120 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Opossum pipefish

  Microphis brachyurus

  8.7 in (22 cm)32 gal (120 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Rainbow belly pipefish

  Microphis deocata

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)77–82°F (25–28°C)

• 

  Freshwater pipefish

  Doryichthys martensii

  5.9 in (15 cm)32 gal (120 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• African freshwater pipefish

  Enneacampus ansorgii

  5.5 in (14 cm)32 gal (120 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Long-snouted pipefish

  Doryichthys boaja

  16.1 in (41 cm)53 gal (200 L)79–82°F (26–28°C)