Yellow-Banded Pipefish (Dunckerocampus pessuliferus)
Fish in the family Syngnathidae. Hard care. Reef Safe.
Quick facts
Appearance
The Yellow-Banded Pipefish is a slender, elongated fish with a tubular snout and a distinctive prehensile tail. It features yellow and white or cream-colored bands running along its body, with a small mouth characteristic of the pipefish family. The body is flexible and relatively delicate in appearance.
Diet and feeding
Feed small live or frozen foods including copepods, amphipods, mysis shrimp, and other small crustaceans. Frequent small feedings (multiple times daily) are necessary as pipefishes have high metabolic rates and small digestive capacities.
Difficulty and care for the Yellow-Banded Pipefish
Yellow-Banded Pipefishes are challenging to maintain due to their strict dietary requirements, reliance on live foods, susceptibility to disease, and need for calm, established environments. Not recommended for beginner aquarists.
Common health issues
Starvation (difficulty accepting non-live foods), parasitic infections, bacterial infections, decline in captivity without proper copepod/amphipod populations
Origin and habitat
Indo-Pacific region, found in coastal waters from Indonesia and the Philippines throughout the Indo-Pacific, typically in shallow reef environments and seagrass beds.
Log Yellow-Banded Pipefish in your reef tank
Reef Trak gives you the full record on every species in your tank: acquisition date, source, photos, parameters at time of stocking, and links to maintenance and feeding events. Track Yellow-Banded Pipefish alongside everything else in your reef.
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