Narrowstripe Pipefish

Care at a glance

Overview

Males are territorial with one another, so keep a single fish or a bonded pair in a quiet tank with gentle flow. It feeds slowly and needs small frozen foods such as baby brine, chopped mysis and Calanus offered three or four times a day.

In the wild

Comes from the western Indian Ocean, recorded from Sodwana Bay in South Africa north to Mozambique and across to the Maldives. Like other flagtails it stays close to the bottom, working caves, crevices and ledges rather than open water.

Good to know

At around 8 cm it is one of the smaller flagtail pipefish, and the male carries the eggs in a brood pouch under his tail. It was only described in 1981, and the IUCN still lists it as Data Deficient because wild populations are so poorly known.

Did you know

The few narrowstripe pipefish that reach the hobby are captive bred by a European hatchery, which is far more practical than collecting a small cave dweller from its remote Indian Ocean range.

Common questions

Related species

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