Banded pipefish

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep banded pipefish in a mature tank of at least 200 litres with abundant live rock, caves and ideally a refugium that breeds copepods, at 24 to 27 C and pH 8.0 to 8.4. The challenge is feeding: they hunt tiny live copepods and amphipods and often need a steady supply plus training onto small frozen mysis and enriched foods. Keep them with only peaceful, slow tankmates and no fast feeders or aggressive fish. They are best in pairs, but two males will squabble.

In the wild

The banded pipefish is a slim, snake-like relative of the seahorse ringed in bold red and white bands with a small red paddle-shaped tail. It hovers under ledges and inside caves, often oriented head-down, and picks tiny prey off the rock. It moves with a gentle rippling of its fins and is completely harmless to handle but easily starved.

Good to know

Dunckerocampus dactyliophorus, long listed under the name Doryrhamphus dactyliophorus, reaches around 19 cm and is one of the larger reef pipefishes. As in seahorses the male broods the eggs, carrying them attached under his tail rather than in a closed pouch. Its bright banding is thought to advertise that it also cleans parasites off other fish.

Did you know

Banded pipefish act as cleaners on the reef, and small fish will sometimes hang motionless in front of a pair to let them pick off parasites, much as they would visit a cleaner wrasse.

Related species

• 

  Yellow seahorse

  Hippocampus kuda

  7.9 in (20 cm)40 gal (150 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Lined seahorse

  Hippocampus erectus

  7.1 in (18 cm)29 gal (110 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Brazilian seahorse

  Hippocampus reidi

  6.7 in (17 cm)29 gal (110 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Bluestripe pipefish

  Doryrhamphus excisus

  2.8 in (7 cm)26 gal (100 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Dwarf seahorse

  Hippocampus zosterae

  1.4 in (3.5 cm)5 gal (20 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Christmas Wrasse

  Halichoeres ornatissimus

  5.9 in (15 cm)70 gal (265 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)