The up to 15 cm long becoming freshwater pipefish Doryichthys martensii is widespread in southeast Asia, one knows it from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In nature, it is mainly found in flowing waters (streams, small rivers), where the animals can be found in the undergrowth of riparian vegetation. As with all pipefish, the male takes care of the brood and carries the eggs in the large and easily recognizable brood pouch until the young animals hatch. In other words: the males of D. martensii have, as with us humans, the thick belly, the females are always slim.
The adult pipefish live exclusively in freshwater, but it is not known whether the freshly born young animals may spend a period of their life in brackish water or in the sea. D. martensii lives more bottom-orientated than many other long-nosed pipefish species, but also often swims in open water. The species can easily be confused with Hippichthys spicifer, which looks very similar and also occurs in the same area. In H. spicifer the dorsal fin starts behind the anus (in Doryichthys before the anus) and H. spicifer has 9 caudal fin rays, Doryichthys 10.
Freshwater pipefish are care objects for advanced aquarists, which can especially meet the high food requirements of the animals. The needles only eat live food, such as Artemia nauplii, Cyclops, small water fleas etc. The water temperature can be between 22 and 28°C, the chemical composition of the water is not important, but the pH-value should be above 7 if possible.
For our customers: D. martensii has code 414301 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
