Helfrich Firefish Compatibility

[ingros]

I'm looking for opinions on a shoaling fish to add to our tank that contains a Helfrich firefish. We recently removed a Sankey pseudo that attacked the firefish any time it could and prevented it from eating. Now that the pseudo is out we are looking for next month's addition - either 9 blue-green chromis or 5 cardinals (bangaii). Which would be less likely to bother the firefish, or do you have any other suggestions for shoaling fish?

Other tank residents include yellow tang, ocellaris clown, lawnmower blenny and, supposedly, 2 yellow head jawfish that have not been spotted since they were placed in the tank on July 19.

Thanks in advance for your input.

John

 

[BigShade]

i have a helfrichi in my tank with 9 blue/green chromis and they get along just fine. the schooling chromis adds a really dramatic effect to the tank, i like it a lot

occasionally my helfrichi gets annoyed and "darts" at the school of chromis, but there really is no aggression at all. however my pseudo also doesnt like the firefish.. only thing is the chromis school eats like piranhas, so make sure they leave some food for helfrichi

Helfrichi!!! theres a picture of mine in my gallery.. awesome fish

 

[Fishfirst]

5 cards (bangaii) would be a bad idea I think, you probably would need at least 8-10 cards to keep the aggression down. They aren't very good tankmates for eachother, otherwise a m/f pair wouldn't be bad for your tank.

 

[ingros]

Thanks guys. Sounds like the chromis get the nod then. I had heard that both school, at least for awhile, but I didn't know how they would treat the firefish. Apparently the cardinals aren't the most docile of fish?

My tang protected the firefish by chasing the pseudo away each time it attacked, but that protection ended after 1 day. For the next few days the firefish could not eat because the pseudo kept attacking him. Now that the firefish is not being bothered she is out and about constantly so I'm restricting new fish to those that will leave her alone. Chromis it is!

BigShade - you managed a nice picture of your fish. Mine won't stay still long enough for me to focus nicely. My avatar is the best I've been able to get so far.

Thanks again.

John

 

[Fishfirst]

The cards are docile, its just a matter of how docile they are to eachother and not different species.

 

[Ross33]

I'd prefer a nice school of Hawaiian Bicolor Anthias. Theyre gorgeous, good eaters, and should leave the Helfrich's Firefish alone

 

[ingros]

Ross33,

Just checked them out on LiveAquaria. At 5" per fish, a school would take up more room than I'm willing to offer at this time. I'm mainly looking for smaller fish. The price too would tend to keep me away from buying a school of them. Nice looking fish though. Thanks for the suggestion.

John

 

[Duce]

I know this is an old thread....
Would the Helfrichi get along with a Magnificant in a 40G reef?

 

[Bret61081]

at a LFS they have a school of 7 disbar anthias and 5 lyrtail anthias with a helfrichis and they seem to get along great...

 

[zemuron114]

blue-eyed cardinals are great. Stay small and actually school (and dont bicker amongst eachother)

i actually just got a pair of helfrich. they are in a temp QT right now with a pair of rhomboids and a male balteatus. They come out to eat very greedily, and actually try to out compete the rhomboid (which is 4") and the helfrich is 1" lol.. great little fish

 

[SuperNerd]

Yeah get blue eyed cardinals. I think out of all the "schooling" fish those are most likely to stick together as opposed to killing each other off like the chromis and bangaii.