Firefish observations and a question

[Steve Fast]

First a bit of a background/experience... when I set up my 120 8 months ago, one of the first fish I added was an exquisite firefish. Then about two months later, after finding a presumed dead and replaced firefish in another tanks's sump sock, I added him to the 120. He seems to hang out on the opposite side of the tank that is separated by a very large toadstool leather from the original firefish's territory. So then about 6 weeks ago, I found more exquisite firefish at my LFS and figured I had sufficient space for another. The original exquisite kept the new one pretty much holed up immediately. So to diffuse the aggression I added three more. One immediately began swimming with the original without any aggression while one was also holed up and the third stayed at the other end of the tank peacefully with the regular firefish. After about 2 weeks the two that were holed up figured out that there was strength in numbers and now swim behind and mostly out of sight and mind of the original one. I have noticed that the original will occasionally go to the other end of the tank to harass the one living there, though as the new one at that end of the tank is bigger and now well fed and adjusted, he can hold his own. So wondering about everyone's thoughts on adding a couple more to ensure that the alpha's aggression is minimized and distributed equally among the group. Lastly another, perhaps relevant, fact is that competing for perhaps similar hiding places are a zebra bar goby and 3 shrimp gobies.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Long-term, the dominant pr usually kills off any other firefish 1-by-1.