How many firefish can I keep?

[Stephen Hiatt]

I have a 65 gallon tank that I plan on making into a reef, and was originally planning on having 4 firefish, 2 red, and 2 purple. From what I've seen this won't work. How many can I keep in my tank? I'd also like suggestions on reef safe Starfish. I'm currently looking at a Red Brittle Star, but I'd like to see if there are other options.

 

[billdogg]

IME odd numbers work best. I really like serpent stars especially the harlequin serpents.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

When you say odd numbers, should I just get three? Or only one? From what I've read serpent stars wrap up their food and bring it towards their mouth. Will one do this to live fish?

 

[Joeb1983]

I bought 5 and still have 5. They all stay together. Pretty neat fish.

 

[A sea K]

I have never had any success with keeping multiple firefish. That said the Harlequin serpent star is a very good suggestion. I have two in my current tank, its a small 30 gal so all my fish are small and I have never had any issues with the starfish even trying to capture any of their tankmates. I got them from KP aquatics here in FL and couldnt be happier with them.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

I have never had any success with keeping multiple firefish. That said the Harlequin serpent star is a very good suggestion. I have two in my current tank, its a small 30 gal so all my fish are small and I have never had any issues with the starfish even trying to capture any of their tankmates. I got them from KP aquatics here in FL and couldnt be happier with them.

Knowing that I'll probably just get one Red Firefish. It will be cheaper to get less and reds are cheaper at my lfs. How much do Harlequin Starfish cost on average?

 

[billdogg]

Green Brittle Stars are known hunters. The other Brittle Stars and any Serpent Star are all great additions to pretty much any size tank.

My LFS, when they have them, sell Harlequin Serpents for ~$25 as I recall.

Also - remember that firefish can be very good jumpers. If you don't have one already, I would strongly suggest a DIY screen top made from BRS 1/4" mesh and window screen frame from HD/Lowes.

HTH

 

[A sea K]

Knowing that I'll probably just get one Red Firefish. It will be cheaper to get less and reds are cheaper at my lfs. How much do Harlequin Starfish cost on average?

The nano sized ones are $10.00 and the regular sized ones are $16.00 if you get them from KP Aquatics.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Generally speaking, multiple firefish in one tank (presuming the tank's big enough) do very well. Their living habits in the wild are small groups.

However, you can't just plunk several mature firefish together in a relatively modest sized tank - it's highly likely that there will be several dominant fish that will fight. Instead, you must get these fish when they are quite small - perhaps 1-1/2" - and immature. Under those circumstances, they will sort out a hierarchy as they grow, and generally do well in larger tanks (over 50 gallons).

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

The dimensions of the tank are 33 x 21 x 20

 

[dkeller_nc]

Given a tank of that size, I'd suggest a 3-fish group of small firefish, with the expectation that they'll get to be 4" long over time. But buy them at the 1-1/2" size. You will be able to keep a 2-3 other small fish with them without coming close to overwhelming your tank's filtration capacity.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

Given a tank of that size, I'd suggest a 3-fish group of small firefish, with the expectation that they'll get to be 4" long over time. But buy them at the 1-1/2" size. You will be able to keep a 2-3 other small fish with them without coming close to overwhelming your tank's filtration capacity.

I plan on running a skimmer, carbon, and I already have an ozonizer.

 

[Sk8r]

if your overflow box is one of the type with slits for intake, great box, but firefish and other small-diameter fish will head right for them and end up in the sump, somewhat banged up. I love them, but I've not had luck keeping them out of the sump.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

if your overflow box is one of the type with slits for intake, great box, but firefish and other small-diameter fish will head right for them and end up in the sump, somewhat banged up. I love them, but I've not had luck keeping them out of the sump.

My overflow has no protection, but I plan on changing that.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

If I do get 3 Firefish, can I mix colors? Could I get 2 red and 1 purple?

 

[Sk8r]

In a 50, I can say they didn't get along, but they came in as adults.

 

[dkeller_nc]

If I do get 3 Firefish, can I mix colors? Could I get 2 red and 1 purple?

I've actually never tried keeping different firefish species together at one time, so I really can't say. My guess is that the safest option is to go with 3 juvenile fish of the same species, but there's a great deal of variability when it comes to the finer points of reefkeeping, so a mixture of species might work, especially if they're juveniles.

 

[MillerR.]

In my 200 gallon, I had 2 purple and 2 red. They got along fine for a while then the purples became very aggressive to the reds. One purple mysteriously disappeared but now all is peaceful. The one remaining purple is much less aggressive and now spends its time in the vicinity of the reds.

 

[Stephen Hiatt]

In my 200 gallon, I had 2 purple and 2 red. They got along fine for a while then the purples became very aggressive to the reds. One purple mysteriously disappeared but now all is peaceful. The one remaining purple is much less aggressive and now spends its time in the vicinity of the reds.

I have a 200 gallon freshwater, but would never be able to fund or even set up a 200 gallon saltwater.

 

[Sweitz1972]

I have a 55 gallon 48"long.I've spread out my live rock, (60lbs) across the width of the tank. I have three firefish and they have spread out claiming their own territories and ascerting dominance. Biggest one claimed the biggest rock in the middle, and the two smaller ones claimed live rock on the ends of the tank. They do fight when they cross over territories, usually it only results in their dorsal getting torn, but for the most part thery get along fairly well, which I think I was a bit lucky.

My research before buying them suggested only one per tank, but I bought three because my lfs had a sale on 3 for 40 bucks, and the lfs employee assured me they would be better in a group. Just from my experience, if there wasn't as much live rock and enough hiding places for all three, they would fight. As long as you can provide that kind of a ecosystem for them, they should be fine, but personally, I don't think I would do three again, but it has worked out well for me. IMO, they are a fantastic starter fish, colorful, interesting, and very hardy. Extremely fast and jumpers, so make sure your tank is covered, but usually only jump when scared, and even then they usually bolt for their darthole. Not sure if different species can be mixed up.

Brittle stars in my experience are fantastic members of you CUC. I have a red and black one and they took a bit of time to warm up to the tank, but they come out more now and are all over anything that's decaying in the tank, mostly move around at night. Nor sure about the other stars that were mentioned, but some stars are predatory so be careful which ones you choose. just my two cents.