Bootsmann
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Dunckerocampus pessuliferus Fowler, 1938
This pipefish is often confused with Dunckerocampus multiannulatus. However, Dunckerocampus multiannulatus has white transverse bands on a reddish background!
The caudal fin of Dunckerocampus multiannulatus also has a white border on both sides. Only Dunckerocampus pessuliferus has the distinctive white upper edge, but Dunckerocampus pessuliferus has a yellow central spot in the caudal fin.
The body is orange, rust-brown to black with narrow yellow rings. Like all flag-tailed pipefish, the caudal fin is fan-shaped. The snout is long and pipette-shaped. In the wild, the pipefish prefers a muddy seabed near solitary coral stalks, as well as areas that are calmer, i.e. not affected by waves. It feeds on small crustaceans, mainly copepods. As an adult, the Sulu pipefish usually lives together in pairs, with the male taking care of the brood and carrying the spawn around on the sponge-like modified ventral side until the larvae hatch.
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
A delicate pipefish that has already been bred.
Should be kept in a tank with fish that are not too large, the more live rock there is in the tank to begin with, the better. Otherwise you should make sure that the pipefish accept food.
Breeding information:
Young male pipefishes need some time or mating before they carry the attached eggs to maturity.
The spawning interval* is approx. 12 days; the color of the attached eggs** indicates when the young pipefish hatch.
* The water temperature influences the number of fertilized eggs and the spawning period (with a difference of e.g. 1° C, the difference can be ± 2-3 days) and, in the case of gonochoristic (separate-sex) fish or shrimp, the sex. If the temperature is below the usual regional temperature, mainly female larvae will hatch from the clutch, above this temperature mainly male larvae will hatch. Furthermore, the aquarium conditions (e.g. light duration, density) can also influence the sex.
** The spawning size or the number of larvae depends on several factors - age and condition of the parent animals, water conditions, food quality, stress factors and the dissolved oxygen content.
Synonym: Doryrhamphus pessuliferus (Fowler, 1938)
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
This pipefish is often confused with Dunckerocampus multiannulatus. However, Dunckerocampus multiannulatus has white transverse bands on a reddish background!
The caudal fin of Dunckerocampus multiannulatus also has a white border on both sides. Only Dunckerocampus pessuliferus has the distinctive white upper edge, but Dunckerocampus pessuliferus has a yellow central spot in the caudal fin.
The body is orange, rust-brown to black with narrow yellow rings. Like all flag-tailed pipefish, the caudal fin is fan-shaped. The snout is long and pipette-shaped. In the wild, the pipefish prefers a muddy seabed near solitary coral stalks, as well as areas that are calmer, i.e. not affected by waves. It feeds on small crustaceans, mainly copepods. As an adult, the Sulu pipefish usually lives together in pairs, with the male taking care of the brood and carrying the spawn around on the sponge-like modified ventral side until the larvae hatch.
Feeding intake.
The fish take a long time to eat at the beginning, before the food is taken up, a close inspection is carried out. After acclimatisation, the offered frozen food is eaten without problems. It should be noted that wild-caught fish behave differently than offspring when it comes to food intake. In the case of offspring, the size of the fish purchased also plays a role in the choice of food.
A delicate pipefish that has already been bred.
Should be kept in a tank with fish that are not too large, the more live rock there is in the tank to begin with, the better. Otherwise you should make sure that the pipefish accept food.
Breeding information:
Young male pipefishes need some time or mating before they carry the attached eggs to maturity.
The spawning interval* is approx. 12 days; the color of the attached eggs** indicates when the young pipefish hatch.
* The water temperature influences the number of fertilized eggs and the spawning period (with a difference of e.g. 1° C, the difference can be ± 2-3 days) and, in the case of gonochoristic (separate-sex) fish or shrimp, the sex. If the temperature is below the usual regional temperature, mainly female larvae will hatch from the clutch, above this temperature mainly male larvae will hatch. Furthermore, the aquarium conditions (e.g. light duration, density) can also influence the sex.
** The spawning size or the number of larvae depends on several factors - age and condition of the parent animals, water conditions, food quality, stress factors and the dissolved oxygen content.
Synonym: Doryrhamphus pessuliferus (Fowler, 1938)
The term "reef safe" is often used in marine aquaristics, especially when buying a new species people often ask if the new animal is "reef safe".
What exactly does reef safe mean?
To answer this question, you can ask target-oriented questions and inquire in forums, clubs, dealers and with aquarist friends:
- Are there already experiences and keeping reports that assure that the new animal can live in other suitably equipped aquariums without ever having caused problems?
- Is there any experience of invertebrates (crustaceans, hermits, mussels, snails) or corals being attacked by other inhabitants such as fish of the same or a different species?
- Is any information known or expected about a possible change in dietary habits, e.g., from a plant-based diet to a meat-based diet?
- Do the desired animals leave the reef structure "alone", do they constantly change it (boring starfish, digger gobies, parrotfish, triggerfish) and thus disturb or displace other co-inhabitants?
- do new animals tend to get diseases repeatedly and very quickly and can they be treated?
- Do known peaceful animals change their character in the course of their life and become aggressive?
- Can the death of a new animal possibly even lead to the death of the rest of the stock through poisoning (possible with some species of sea cucumbers)?
- Last but not least the keeper of the animals has to be included in the "reef safety", there are actively poisonous, passively poisonous animals, animals that have dangerous biting or stinging weapons, animals with extremely strong nettle poisons, these have to be (er)known and a plan of action should have been made in advance in case of an attack on the aquarist (e.g. telephone numbers of the poison control center, the treating doctor, the tropical institute etc.).
If all questions are evaluated positively in the sense of the animal(s) and the keeper, then one can assume a "reef safety".
