Firefish pairing and mating.

[JokersAce69]

So currently in my tank i have a red firefish. The wife wanted a purple so i picked one up today. Did the acclimation and both of them seemed to have paired up instantly. Swimming side by side. My question is.. Are they actually paired up or just getting to know eachother? Also i know it's next to impossible to tell the sex apart. But if they are in fact male and female can/will they spawn?

 

[Deinonych]

Only time will tell. Most firefish groups will whittle themselves down to only one over time. If they are still buddies after 6 months or so, they will probably stay that way. Not sure if dissimilar species will spawn, but I suppose it's possible.

 

[JokersAce69]

Bummer, that's kinda sad to hear. Well then.. The clock is ticking.

 

[Beefy_Reefy]

Yeah takes time I guess. I bought a "bonded pair" from divers den. One tried to kill the other shortly after I received them. Fun fun.

 

[JokersAce69]

Ahh that's a shame. The red firefish has been in there for a year and a half. I was expecting territory issues but nope. I'm just worried about the purple getting "shot" by my pistol for trying to enter his home.
Haha, we'll see!

 

[RayL]

Don't give up hope, I had 4 red firefish and 1 Helfrichi firefish. It took a few months but the 4 red firefish ended up being 1 and now that 1 and the Helfrichi are together all hours of the day. It's been over a year like this.

 

[Meanmike]

The red and purple firefish will never pair with each other and as others have said if you had more of either kind they will eventually kill each other off. I started with 10 red and 8 purple around 8 months ago and now I have 4 red and 3 purple and their still fighting.

 

[snorvich]

Only time will tell. Most firefish groups will whittle themselves down to only one over time. If they are still buddies after 6 months or so, they will probably stay that way. Not sure if dissimilar species will spawn, but I suppose it's possible.

Basically this. Alienation does not happen immediately, but when it does, the dominant one will intimidate the passive one to hide and subsequently starve to death.

 

[GroktheCube]

I purchased a "bonded pair" for Helfrichi's firefish from LA DD as the first fish I put in my 120 nearly a year ago. After 6 months, one got brutally violent to the other, to the point where it was nearly dead and needed to be removed within 24 hours. It's too bad, because it was fun watching them swim side by side bopping their little fins.

 

[discocarp]

It wasn't firefish it was cardinals, but I'll add to the chorus of "bonded pair" being a meaningless descriptor on DD. They had a violent divorce very quickly.

 

[Marshall O]

From what I have seen, mixing single members of different species is not an issue. Trying to do a group from the same species is where the issue is. Please keep us updated, but you may be just fine with the Red and Purple.

 

[JokersAce69]

Thank you everyone for your stories. I will definitely keep this updated over the next few weeks/months. So far so good on day 2.