Not furry, but we like them anyway.
Bluestripe Pipefish
Doryrhamphus excisus
Also called Blue-striped pipefish, Pacific bluestripe pipefish, Fantail pipefish, Flagtail pipefish, Blue-and-orange cleaner pipefish
From Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific: from the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and East Africa across to the Pacific coast of the Americas12
At a glance the quick version
Looks how to spot one
Long, slender body covered in bony rings, with a tube-shaped snout and a rounded fan tail
A thin, pencil-like fish with a warm orange to reddish body and a bright blue line running along each side. Its round, flag-shaped tail is dark with a white edge and can show touches of yellow or orange. Males carry small bumps on the snout, while females have a smooth one.23
Personality what they are like
Peaceful and quiet. It tends to keep to shady crevices and is usually seen with its partner, gently bobbing above the bottom.213
Daily activity how busy a day looks
Low to moderate. It spends daylight hours tucked under ledges or in crevices and becomes busier at dawn and dusk when it hunts for tiny food.31
Grooming and care the hands-on bits
Best suited to experienced marine keepers. It needs frequent small feedings of very small live or frozen foods and calm tankmates that will not outcompete it at mealtimes.32
Home where they are happiest
A marine reef aquarium of at least 30 US gallons (about 114 L) with plenty of rockwork, overhangs and crevices. LiveAquaria gives 72-78 °F (about 22-26 °C), pH 8.1-8.4, dKH 8-12 and specific gravity 1.020-1.025. In the wild it lives on lagoon and seaward reefs at 2-50 m depth.31
Food basics what goes in the bowl
Carnivore that sucks up tiny prey with its tube snout: small crustaceans, zooplankton and small bottom-dwelling invertebrates. In aquariums it takes copepods such as Cyclops, small mysis and brine shrimp.123
Company who they like around
Best kept as a bonded pair or a small harem. Wild pairs are monogamous and share a home range without fiercely guarding it.13
The story where it all began
The bluestripe pipefish is a small reef pipefish found across a huge stretch of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has long been offered in the marine aquarium trade and has been bred in home aquariums.12
Fun facts for the dinner table
- 1
As in seahorses, it is the father who carries the eggs, in a brood pouch under his tail.1
- 2
It cleans parasites off much bigger fish, including moray eels, and attracts them by bobbing up and down above the reef.2
- 3
Pairs are monogamous both socially and genetically.1
- 4
It is the smallest reef pipefish commonly seen in the aquarium hobby.3
Recognised by the official bits
- IUCN Red List
- Least Concern (assessed 2015)1
- Taxonomy (via FishBase)
- Family Syngnathidae (pipefishes and seahorses); three subspecies are recognised across its range.1
The care rhythm Furry Diary remembers it for you
A typical home-care rhythm for a Bluestripe Pipefish. It is our own starting plan, not a vet's advice, and you can change every line in the app.
- FeedingSmall amounts once or twice a dayevery day
- Temperature checkevery day
- Salinity checkevery week
- Top-upTop up evaporation with fresh RO water, not salt waterevery day
- Water testevery week
- Water changeAbout 10 to 20% of the waterevery 2 weeks
- Glass cleanevery week
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Where this comes from
Every breed page shows where each fact comes from. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are pet people, not a science magazine. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
- Doryrhamphus excisus, FishBase fishbase.seused for names, range, size, depth, IUCN status, diet, pairing, breeding
- Doryrhamphus excisus (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.orgused for names, appearance, cleaning behaviour, diet, breeding, history
- Bluestripe Pipefish, LiveAquaria liveaquaria.comused for care level, water parameters, tank size, aquarium diet, max size
Checked 2026-09-30. Text is written in our own words from these sources.