Fire dartfish pair or individual

[mushy coral]

I got a small frag tank where curently house a male mandarine dragonet. I want to add anither female as well as fire dartfish. Know 1 guy that is leaving the hobby and sell his dartfish for a good price. However he only sell 2 or more, when i only need 1. I read that dartfish will eventually kill the others until there is only 1 individual or a pair left in small system so i cannot buy a school of them. If i cant buy 1 i will try to look to buy a pair from him. Is there anyway to pick out a male and female pair from his dartfish school?

 

[twentyleagues]

I got a small frag tank where curently house a male mandarine dragonet. I want to add anither female as well as fire dartfish. Know 1 guy that is leaving the hobby and sell his dartfish for a good price. However he only sell 2 or more, when i only need 1. I read that dartfish will eventually kill the others until there is only 1 individual or a pair left in small system so i cannot buy a school of them. If i cant buy 1 i will try to look to buy a pair from him. Is there anyway to pick out a male and female pair from his dartfish school?

Its pretty much impossible to tell them apart. I have had good luck in the past with the red firefish and Helfrichi buying 2 and having them coexist for years both pairs lived in the same hole under a rock, not the 2 pairs together different types will fight. I dont believe they are hermaphroditic, so I guess I just got lucky. I made the mistake when I had to take my office nano down and I put the purple in with my 2 reds the purple beat on of the reds to death. That was in a 120g tank lots of room and rock not too many other fish.

 

[mushy coral]

I think i will pick 2 ramdom out of his school. Maybe ill get lucky and have a pair. If not then i guess i might have to look for someone to take care one of them lol.

 

[mushy coral]

Its pretty much impossible to tell them apart. I have had good luck in the past with the red firefish and Helfrichi buying 2 and having them coexist for years both pairs lived in the same hole under a rock, not the 2 pairs together different types will fight. I dont believe they are hermaphroditic, so I guess I just got lucky. I made the mistake when I had to take my office nano down and I put the purple in with my 2 reds the purple beat on of the reds to death. That was in a 120g tank lots of room and rock not too many other fish.

Oh and do you know any sign showing that they were pairing when you got them in your tank. I want to know it in case the 2 i buy would get along or not.

 

[twentyleagues]

Oh and do you know any sign showing that they were pairing when you got them in your tank. I want to know it in case the 2 i buy would get along or not.

All the ones I had found each other right away and pretty much stayed together from the start. The reds came from a group like you have access to but at the lfs. My Helfrichi were purchased separately with in a couple days of each other and also "paired" almost immediately with the addition of the newest one. I have never seen a group of Helfrichi at the lfs they are typically singles, but reds are almost always in a larger group say 10-15. I just picked the 2 from the group that looked healthiest.

 

[twentyleagues]

Another option are Scissortail dartfish. They are not as brilliantly colored as the others but still have same body shape and overall same size slightly larger. These typically live in groups and do not typically fight each other. I had three recently but one went missing. I have had a few trying to get a group of 6-8 but I lost a couple during qt and 2 jumped. I think my tang is part of the issue hes not mean but does sometimes charge the other fish and dartfish doing what they do they dart. Of the two that I know jumped one went in the overflow and got sucked into the full siphon pipe. I fixed that with a lid over the overflow. the second one ended up on the lid of the overflow and did not get back to the water so I fixed the lid so if something was to end up there it would most likely slide back into the tank just from gravity or a couple flops. I have been good with the 3 for almost a year now. They always came out together and constantly swam close to each other rubbing on each other, and they all went to bed at the same time in the same cave. I am not sure what happened to the 3rd one no body found and its is not possible to get out of the tank. Make sure you have a lid. I have a canopy with plastic mesh over the one large opening in the back.

 

[mushy coral]

All the ones I had found each other right away and pretty much stayed together from the start. The reds came from a group like you have access to but at the lfs. My Helfrichi were purchased separately with in a couple days of each other and also "paired" almost immediately with the addition of the newest one. I have never seen a group of Helfrichi at the lfs they are typically singles, but reds are almost always in a larger group say 10-15. I just picked the 2 from the group that looked healthiest.

thanks! Hope that i get a pair like you. Just wish that these guys can change gender like lyretails or clowns XD

 

[twentyleagues]

thanks! Hope that i get a pair like you. Just wish that these guys can change gender like lyretails or clowns XD

Yeah I hope you get them to pair up too I love them. I honestly dont know if they switch sexes or not, I dont believe they do though.

 

[Zionas]

I saw Scissortail Dartfish in very shallow water (at the harbor) in northern Taiwan (Keelung). If you want multiples I think them and their genus are a safer bet than the Firefish, which I believe form pairs.

P.S. The Dartfish were with a big group of Sergeant Majors and Neopomacentrus (Lyretail) Damsels.