Firefish lifespan

lba4590

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I have a red firefish that was the very first fish I added to my tank in May of 2019. He’s 6 years old, possibly/probably older as he was full size when I got him. He even survived jumping out of the tank lol love this little guy. He even came from petco!

Well he’s been acting weird the last few days and I’m wondering if he’s dying from “old age”. He hasn’t been darting into his hidey hole and instead has been weirdly hovering at the water surface. I caught him to move him to my smaller macro tank as there are just 2 clowns and there and no one would mess with him. Some of my fish were messing with him. He was very easy to catch.. red flag. Now he’s doing the same thing in this new tank and seems to be having swim bladder issues. He’s still eating though

How long do they typically live? I read 3-5 years but is that really true? Hope little dude has had a long happy life in that case
 

MikeyZo

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I had one in my old tank that went about 5 years before passing. So it sounds like he’s had a good long life with you. I would think the 3-5 year is pretty accurate, but there’s always an exception to the rule. Keep him where he will be the least stressed. It’s possible that he was being bullied but if you don’t see any sign of injury, it may just be time. Good luck!
 

amberkate

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I have a red firefish that was the very first fish I added to my tank in May of 2019. He’s 6 years old, possibly/probably older as he was full size when I got him. He even survived jumping out of the tank lol love this little guy. He even came from petco!

Well he’s been acting weird the last few days and I’m wondering if he’s dying from “old age”. He hasn’t been darting into his hidey hole and instead has been weirdly hovering at the water surface. I caught him to move him to my smaller macro tank as there are just 2 clowns and there and no one would mess with him. Some of my fish were messing with him. He was very easy to catch.. red flag. Now he’s doing the same thing in this new tank and seems to be having swim bladder issues. He’s still eating though

How long do they typically live? I read 3-5 years but is that really true? Hope little dude has had a long happy life in that case
How many gallons is your tank?
 

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