Purple firefish

[booyaa138]

I got what I think is a pair of purple firefish this last weekend. Right now they are in TTM after a formalin bath. I always thought you could keep a pair of these but after reading up I see that maybe this will be a problem. What should I do? Sell one of them? Put them both in and roll the dice?

The 2 reasons I'm thinking about keeping them is they are stuck to each other in the tank. when 1 swims the other follows. Also they were at my LFS for about a month in the same tank always swimming with each other. Maybe I did get a true pair, who knows?

 

[sdbc]

I did the same with a pair of regular firefish. They were together at the LFS and I kept them in QT for 5 weeks together with no problems. One jumped out of the acclimation tank before I could get them into the DT, so I never saw how they interacted when other fish were around. I would say keep them both until you see some sign they don't get along.

 

[A sea K]

It is a possibility they are a true mated pair, anything less and one will surely meet it's demise. Roll the dice but have a removal plan if things go south is the approach I would take. Have no doubt, they will be difficult to catch so keep that in mind if you decide to keep both of them.

 

[mike61289]

I lucked out and got a true pair years ago. They were fine together.

Having said that, I also got what I thought was a pair of helfrichi firefish. They were together without issues at the Lfs for a month. I brought them home and one bullied the other to the point that the other one refused to come out and eventually died.

I would keep an eye on them for now. If there's no persistent nipping or chasing, you should be in the clear.

 

[booyaa138]

No fighting at all. They hang out with each other all day long. Sometimes even touching each other when they swim. I think I'm going to keep them and roll the dice.

 

[hotdogoramer]

I bought a trio years ago. And then there was one. Lesson learned the hard way because the purple firefish are expensive up here

 

[GimpyFin]

It's a roll of the dice, IME. I had a hefrichi and a purple that acted like a bonded pair together for almost 2 years. Always swimming right next to each other. Had the purple by himself for about year+ prior to that. Unfortunately the purple died not too long ago so I just have the helfrichi. Probably not going to add another.

 

[booyaa138]

Didn't take long but I'm down to 1 firefish. Still in the middle of TTM. The one that died looked pretty beat up and had some bites out of it top fin.
Learned my lesson. Should always research before I buy fish!

 

[hotdogoramer]

That was quick.

 

[sdbc]

Bummer. This raises the question, how do you determine if you have a mated pair when there aren't any marked differences between the sexes?