The beautiful Enneacampus ansorgii is a small (8 – 12 cm) freshwater pipefish and at the same time the species most commonly available for the hobby, especially as it is propagated by commercial breeders. The ground-dwelling pipefish belongs to the short-snouted members of the family. It is native to West Africa and is occasionally offered as a wild catch from Nigeria. The young animals can be fed with Artemia nauplii immediately after release from the paternal brood pouch.
Regarding feeding, all pipefish are very demanding animals and their care cannot be recommended without a reliable live food source. While larger species are very happy to eat live red and white mosquito larvae, these foods are not well suited to the short-snouted E. ansorgii. It is best to give it small crustaceans (cyclops, water fleas, etc.), and freshly hatched Artemia nauplii are also very suitable. If you feed Artemia frequently, you should add some salt to the water (about 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water), the needles tolerate this very well and the Artemia stay alive longer.
At the moment we have large, adult specimens in the stock as offspring.
For our customers: the fish have code 128513 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
