Schooling Firefish?

i love firefish. i've had some in various tanks over the past year or so and all but the purples i have now have jumped for unknown reasons, always when i was either asleep or not home. i don't even know why i took the chance with the purple considering that my previous ones had all jumped. but i have heard the purples are less apt to jump and are more social than the oranges, which are the kind i had that jumped. the purples are also in a tank with a tight fitting lid. i'm crossing my fingers that they stay put!
 
both firefish finally made an appearance..
wow..funny thing was is that i saw one of them fire up the top of the tank and just dissapear..it must of bounce of the top and i didnt see it come down...

i noticed the tail bitten off my bangaii...and decided i have had it with the bluethroat..tore the whole tank apart to catch the *****..was too weary of the quick net capture when he was feeding from clip last time. wouldnt go near it this time. ****

i was relieved to see the 1st one..half his rear fin is missing..but then soon after the 2nd one showed up in tact.
awesome!!! i'm gonna seal up the top a bit better now..just for added assurance..

i dont know what else could be trying to eat these fish..only other fish in there are:
med asfur angel
tricolor wrasse
maroon clown
perc clown
coral beauty
 
two years ago, I had (2) firefish- they hung out together for weeks, then seperated to opposite tank sides. One disappeared eventually.Last month the other disappeared. I bought (3) more- two stay on one side, the other stays by itself.
 
yeah,,these guys used to be pretty close..and i believe they used to share a burrow, until i had to move some stuff around.

they don't seem as close,,but last night they were out together for the 1st time in weeks..i think they sense the killer fish is no longer there...

i tell you,,seeing those fish back out together was very pleasing. and just to think a few days ago i thought they were both gone.
there a bit roughed up but both are feeding and seem ok otherwise.
 
My firefish was getting beaten up by the Blue Devil damsel that survived cycling. I tore my tank apart to catch the devil, freeze him, then feed him back to the tank.

Even tho he'd chase the firefish to the top numerous times, he never jumped. Now he's sharing a burrow with my purple reef lobster which I don't think is too smart. Oh well.
 
still together after 5 months.
thought they were both gone after being stressed and roughed up by my bluethroat.
they are now able to heal peacefully.

they are very awesome fish...

365firefish1.JPG
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6983659#post6983659 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Triggerfish
i noticed the tail bitten off my bangaii...and decided i have had it with the bluethroat..tore the whole tank apart to catch the *****..was too weary of the quick net capture when he was feeding from clip last time. wouldnt go near it this time. ****

i was relieved to see the 1st one..half his rear fin is missing..but then soon after the 2nd one showed up in tact.
awesome!!! i'm gonna seal up the top a bit better now..just for added assurance..

i dont know what else could be trying to eat these fish..only other fish in there are:
med asfur angel
tricolor wrasse
maroon clown
perc clown
coral beauty
Click to expand...

My money would be on the maroon clown. That would always be a better bet than a bluethroat trigger.

I also don't know if you could really say the bluethroat made the other one jump. Being in the tank made the other jump. Was someone mentioned, these guys jump, a lot. I've even had them jump through eggcrate.
Yes, if the tank is completely covered, they'll back off the cover and back into the water.

Dave
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7050306#post7050306 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
My money would be on the maroon clown. That would always be a better bet than a bluethroat trigger.

I also don't know if you could really say the bluethroat made the other one jump.
Click to expand...

very unlikely,, the maroon (5") stays to basically one area of the tank. and i have had the fish for 6 yrs with no other issues. its even in there with a 10x smaller perc. no problems.

well,,if i didnt actually see the fish jump when the trigger was going after him, i may agree w/you. the fish must have hit the top and came back in.
ya they are known to jump if startled.. basically if trying to be eaten by a larger fish..you would jump too,, wouldn't ya?

did i mention that i actually saw these things happen?
 
well,,sorry to report the pairing experiment has ended at the 7 month point.

they seemed to still be getting along fine, but haven't seen one of them for 2 weeks now..think it took a leap.. couldn't find it anywhere so maybe it ended up under the stand..
 
non-aggressive with other species.
the documentation with adults, is they could evenutally kill each other off.
i was trying to observe their behavior with each other as they matured over time. time was cut short.

they can be timid with other aggressive fish like some dottybacks and fish eating triggers.
 
My purple dissapered for over a month and then one day just reappeared. Also the 2 reds are most always right togther. The 3 have been in the tank for about 2 months.
 
I started out with 4 firefish several months ago and am down to one. At first they were all quite bold, coming out and feeding nicely. They all shared the same burrow and schooled regularly, but then two them just became more and more shy. When they did come out they were half the size of the other two. Eventually, I found the hermits cleaning up two small bodies.

The other two had paired off. It was terribly cute. Though I had to leave for a couple of days and figured 2 missed feedings wouldn't kill the tank because all the fish were beginning to become round. Apparently during this time, my male in the couple must have been picked upon too much by my imperator angel and decided not to come out after I came back home. Again I found the hermits doing clean up again. It really was sad seeing that they were such a cute little couple. The female is gigantic as far as firefish go. She's terribly brave brushing up against my wrasse and angel occassionally without a bite to pay for it.

I have noted a difference between the sexes. The male has a much longer dorsal than the female. It also seemed to have a whiter tip to it. While reading about firefish when I first got the cuties, it said that firefish are harem fish. It also said that the dominant fish would become the male and if the male leaves the next dominant female will take over as the male. I'm not sure if that is completely true, but I'll be watching my lone firefish for any changes.
 
odd that the pomac angel would bother with such a small fish like that..my asfur angel,,can be aggressive at times,never bothered with them and any of the other small fish.

that's the thing with these types of fish..if anything in the tank bothers them, they will become reclusive and starve.
it can be a challenge, but i think well worth it having at least a pair of these.
 
Moe, Larry and Curly hang out together. Curly is first up and last to bed. They seem to love playing in the flow of the streams.

20173MLC.jpg



David
 
Put a 9" facing board between lights and tank rim. Paint to match. Prevents jumpers pretty well---I have firefish and no casualties..
 
I have these two for since Dec.05 as the only fish of my 16G (topless) nano.

2006-03-29_003.jpg


They´re very shy, share the same burrow in a piece of LR and come out together for a swim or a meal.

When they were introduced, one of them immediately jumped out of the tank. I placed it in again and since then had no problems.
 
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