Schooling Firefish?

[Triggerfish]

have heard if kept in group 4-5 they will hang together.

wondering if anyone has attempted this and what your experience was?
tank is 125 mixed reef with about 160lbs LR.

thx

 

[Shade00]

I work at an LFS and we generally have 4-6 firefish in a tank together. They do like to hang out in groups.

 

[Triggerfish]

yeah,, i've seen that in temp holding tanks..wondering more specifically over time with same specimens.

 

[reefin300]

from what I can remember males do not do well together. But I could be wrong please don't quote me on it.

 

[Triggerfish]

ok,,not quoting you.. how the heck can ya tell the difference..any idea?

 

[JustFishes]

I hear it's possible to make them school as long as their put in at the same time. If you put them in seperately then they'll fight. Anyone else knows about this, I'm willing to listen. Just something I came upon in books.

 

[fishfanv]

the males have longer top fins i believe.

 

[ozadars]

Just like bangaii cardinals and many other fish, firefish do school when young but get territorial as they grow.

 

[Triggerfish]

well..picked up another today..
so far so good..3 hours..

 

[johnb0184]

I used to work at a fish store and found that large groups of them were fine meaning 6 or more if there are 2 or 3 though they tend to fight unless you are lucky enough to find a male female pair. I am not sure how to tell the difference though. Maybe try adding a purple firefish instead of two regular firefish

 

[AquaticFins]

As ozadars stated, firefish do not school as mature individuals. Exactly like green chromis, the more dominant fish will kill off the less dominant one by one...eventually, you'll be left with a dominant single specimen who may or may not allow a mate to live, depending on the size of the aquarium and individual personality.

If large enough, an aquarium can support multiple pairs, but they will not school.

 

[Triggerfish]

4 months later

4 months later

almost 4 months later and they still hang close by. although, do not think they are male/female, they were sharing same burrow today.

 

[Triggerfish]

well.. really ****ed off here..
my bluethroat made one leap out and i could not find him behind the stand.
i removed the trigger after this happenned but still a couple days later the 2nd one disappeard.
these fish were still doing great together.
man, seems there will always be something in this hobby that just goes wrong.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6975646#post6975646 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Triggerfish
well.. really ****ed off here..
my bluethroat made one leap out and i could not find him behind the stand.
i removed the trigger after this happenned but still a couple days later the 2nd one disappeard.
these fish were still doing great together.
man, seems there will always be something in this hobby that just goes wrong.

Sorry to hear that. Frankly, I've NEVER owned a firefish that didn't jump out of the tank. I refuse to own them without a lid. Don't blame that trigger too much. You sneezing could have had the same result

 

[Triggerfish]

funny thing,, these fish would basically stay in the lower half of the water column..just recently did they begin to hover higher.

also...what would happen if there was a lid over entire tank and the fish ended up leaping and whaling its head off it?

these fish were never skittish when i approached or entered the tank.

 

[IanInDC]

I have spent literally hours trying to figure this thing out, and the best conclusions I've come to are that there's a random breeder somewhere in Wisconsin who figured out that right before lights out, the females get slightly yellow in coloration and their bellies distend slightly. That's a pretty tough thing to notice, however.

If you can figure it out, or if you have other behavioral characteristics to go by (the males are more agressive, for example), you can more than pair them, you can actuall harem them. One male will go with two females.

Purple firefish are a little more agressive, but the same thing applies if you're lucky.

This is just from some of the papers I've read on the matter, and from previous posts here.

 

[Triggerfish]

i think there's a find difference b/w the sexes that is distinguishable.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6975792#post6975792 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Triggerfish
funny thing,, these fish would basically stay in the lower half of the water column..just recently did they begin to hover higher.


these fish were never skittish when i approached or entered the tank.

Yeah, mine too...until that one time. A shirt color....vacuuming...whatever. And boom, out it flies. And mine always hovered at the bottom too, which is why I never understood why these things shoot up instead of down into a burrow for example.

 

[Triggerfish]

good point..all it takes is that one time whatever the reason and it's gone...

 

[Blazer88]

I've had three firefish in my tank for a few months now. Sometimes all three hang out together but generally one is off by himself. These fish seem rather bold and aren't scared of anything. I can nearly touch them in the tank without them hiding and they don't mind when the mag float goes screaming across the glass. Hopefully they won't feel the need to jump out.