PETCO advice, 'Fire Fish Goby too aggressive to house with same species'

[MnFish1]

For how long?

To answer you - more than a year. were there some squabbles - yes. Did they all make it - yes.

 

[eatbreakfast]

To answer you - more than a year. were there some squabbles - yes. Did they all make it - yes.

How much longer? They live to be 3+.

Because I have tried it in 8ft 850g tank with 20+ individuals, and an 11ft 1000g aquarium, and also a 120g with 12, as well as smaller groups in other sized tanks. In these cases they all invariably were reduced to a pr.

There may be exceptuons to rules, but it doesn't mean it is sound advice.

 

[Rakie]

They are not the same schooling fish in our tanks. Lack of territories lack of free space, something about about a glass box makes most systems with more than 1 not in a true pair, eventually become just 1 surviving fish.

I agree with this 100% in general...

I WILL say, I have seen tanks with ONLY a pair of trio of Firefish seem to survive for awhile... I also know in several videos, Jake Adams has shown he has a shoal of 5 firefish and they have all gotten along for years now (unless hell broke loose recently).

That said, this is an outlier. EXTREMELY uncommon. I would not bet on it. It's either some extremely advanced husbandry, luck, or both.

 

[Rakie]

How much longer? They live to be 3+.

My firefish is approaching 4 years old now, and she was grown when I got her.

I also have no clue if she's actually a she, everyone asks when I call her a 'her'. But as a docile, pretty, and calm fish we just call her a she.

 

[scardall]

one per tank. https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2971+168&pcatid=168

 

[Gareth elliott]

Slight change of subject. i wish they would hire people like this at my petco [emoji23]
Last time i was there a customer was talking about algae in his 10 gallon fw, and the sales associate was pointing out this bristle nose pleco as the solution.

The only question i am ever asked if i buy something marine, is “your tank is salt water, right”?

 

[MnFish1]

How much longer? They live to be 3+.

Because I have tried it in 8ft 850g tank with 20+ individuals, and an 11ft 1000g aquarium, and also a 120g with 12, as well as smaller groups in other sized tanks. In these cases they all invariably were reduced to a pr.

There may be exceptuons to rules, but it doesn't mean it is sound advice.

You asked me I answered. Both of our experiences are anecdotal. I never gave 'advice' per se - I suggested that the only way to attempt it was to use a large number of fish. I did not have a bad experience with it. You did. Ok - I bow to you lol.

 

[MnFish1]

You asked me I answered. Both of our experiences are anecdotal. I never gave 'advice' per se - I suggested that the only way to attempt it was to use a large number of fish. I did not have a bad experience with it. You did. Ok - I bow to you lol.

And BTW - lots of people have bad experience with it - because most people don't buy 10 of them at a time. But - I would say generally - you're correct - if you dont have enough room to buy a large number - its best to keep them singly

 

[Thomasj616]

I must have weird fish I guess.
I have 3 in my 125.
Have had them for a while. And I love them.
There is one larger then the others, but when I got them it was like this.
When I feed the tank the larger one will go get the other two if they are not out.
It’s great to see everyone getting along.
They are housed with a pair of clowns, a algae blenny, a yellow tang, a file fish, a watchman goby, a Panama cardinal, 3 cleaner shrimps, 2 blood shrimp and a few peppermint shrimp.

Thankfully my entire tank coexists
It’s awesome to see absolutely no aggression

 

[eatbreakfast]

I must have weird fish I guess.
I have 3 in my 125.
Have had them for a while. And I love them.
There is one larger then the others, but when I got them it was like this.
When I feed the tank the larger one will go get the other two if they are not out.
It’s great to see everyone getting along.
They are housed with a pair of clowns, a algae blenny, a yellow tang, a file fish, a watchman goby, a Panama cardinal, 3 cleaner shrimps, 2 blood shrimp and a few peppermint shrimp.

Thankfully my entire tank coexists
It’s awesome to see absolutely no aggression

How long is awhile? That's a subjective determination of time.

 

[MnFish1]

I agree with this 100% in general...

I WILL say, I have seen tanks with ONLY a pair of trio of Firefish seem to survive for awhile... I also know in several videos, Jake Adams has shown he has a shoal of 5 firefish and they have all gotten along for years now (unless hell broke loose recently).

That said, this is an outlier. EXTREMELY uncommon. I would not bet on it. It's either some extremely advanced husbandry, luck, or both.

I think as @eatbreakfast has said - it was probably luck in my case as well. But - I do think there is some validity to keeping a large number in a larger tank. In my tank - It wasn't the filefish that were killing or fighting with each other - it was other larger fish that constantly chased them. But again - it is one anecdotal experience.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have 6 long term in my large tank and a trio in my 93 cube with no issues what so ever.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Or was this what they were thinking why it is dangerous??