These pipefish are larger and sturdier than others that I’ve tried to keep. They live in estuaries but I kept healthy adults in fresh, soft water for quite a while.
They ate a lot of standard frozen foods, but their staple was live glassworms which were plentiful the year I kept the pipefish but probably unnecessary to maintain them. Any time I fed them frozen mysis they would spawn a day or two later.
Post spawning the eggs would be visible on the underside of the male (between flaps rather than in a pouch like a seahorse.) The eggs lightened as they developed, and I had good luck collecting and preserving fry by placing the gravid male in a guppy-style breeding trap in an otherwise empty tank.
The fry were fully-formed miniatures of the adults. I tried feeding them a variety of foods; baby brine shrimp seemed too large, and I was never convinced that they would really eat vinegar eels. They survived the longest on rotifers. An online article suggests that the fry should be raised in brackish water, which would suit the rotifers just fine.
The adult fish died from fungal infections while I was traveling. I’ve lost pipefish of other species to fungus as well, so it must be true what they say about Syngnathidae having a weakened immune system.
I hope I get a chance to try again with this species but they rarely show up on import lists. They will probably appreciate the harder/saltier water that I have in Northfield.