School of Firefish

[Michael A Kurolvech]

This is my attempt to answer the age old question, will Firefish stay in a school?

I've always wanted a school of fish in my reef and today I decided to add 5 Firefish. I considered blue/green chomis, cardinals and but decided to add the Firefish. They join the following fish in my 90G Mixed Reef.

Yellow Tang
Longnose Geometric Hawkfish
Golden Rhomboid
Splendid Pintail Fairy Wrasse
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Blue Saphire Damsel
Yellow Watchman Goby
BiColor Blenny
Greeen Mandarin
Unknown Blenny or Dottyback or Goby
Pink Short Spine Urchine
Fire Shrimp

 

[soreefed]

How’s it going so far?

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

How’s it going so far?

Wrasses have stopped checking them out, so far so good!

 

[i cant think]

This is my attempt to answer the age old question, will Firefish stay in a school?

I've always wanted a school of fish in my reef and today I decided to add 5 Firefish. I considered blue/green chomis, cardinals and but decided to add the Firefish. They join the following fish in my 90G Mixed Reef.

Yellow Tang
Longnose Geometric Hawkfish
Golden Rhomboid
Splendid Pintail Fairy Wrasse
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Blue Saphire Damsel
Yellow Watchman Goby
BiColor Blenny
Greeen Mandarin
Unknown Blenny or Dottyback or Goby
Pink Short Spine Urchine
Fire Shrimp

Considering it’s the Nemateleotris magnifica this is the only species that is communal, the others aren’t. And even then they don’t necessarily school and more so shoal. You will probably find that they’re grouped together now for safety and will separate in their own ways (likely into pairs) once settled.

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

Considering it’s the Nemateleotris magnifica this is the only species that is communal, the others aren’t. And even then they don’t necessarily school and more so shoal. You will probably find that they’re grouped together now for safety and will separate in their own ways (likely into pairs) once settled.

Probably right, but its worth a shot. Maybe I'll introduce a new wrasse every so often keep em on guard

 

[i cant think]

Probably right, but its worth a shot. Maybe I'll introduce a new wrasse every so often keep em on guard

I don’t see harm in that

Hopefully they don’t just pair off and do actually stick together every so often.

 

[blaxsun]

I don’t see harm in that

Hopefully they don’t just pair off and do actually stick together every so often.

They probably will. I had 4 and they paired off.

 

[littlefoxx]

Ive got a purple and a helfrichi firefish together for about 5 months now! They kinda hang out but mostly they hang out with the purple floating near the sand and the helfrichi floating above him. Based on research I think they might be male and female, not sure! But you having 4 of them is super cool!

 

[i cant think]

Ive got a purple and a helfrichi firefish together for about 5 months now! They kinda hang out but mostly they hang out with the purple floating near the sand and the helfrichi floating above him. Based on research I think they might be male and female, not sure! But you having 4 of them is super cool!

Be cautious with those two, none of the 4 other species in the genus are communal and eventually seem to kill eachother.

Also I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting but the ‘Helfrichi’ Firefish we all know is actually a new species and got separated from the true Helfrichi from Cook Islands. Instead the yellow headed ‘Helfrichi’ is infact Nemateleotris lavandula.

 

[littlefoxx]

Be cautious with those two, none of the 4 other species in the genus are communal and eventually seem to kill eachother.

Also I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting but the ‘Helfrichi’ Firefish we all know is actually a new species and got separated from the true Helfrichi from Cook Islands. Instead the yellow headed ‘Helfrichi’ is infact Nemateleotris lavandula.

Oh wow really? So it isnt technically a firefish like my purple? I have noticed some distinct feeding habits and behaviors that are different from my purple which I just thought was just different personalities between the fish. My helfrichi likes to be near the top of the water and my purple likes to be down low. Very strange for sure, and yes Ive been watching them like a hawk!

 

[twentyleagues]

Be cautious with those two, none of the 4 other species in the genus are communal and eventually seem to kill eachother.

Also I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting but the ‘Helfrichi’ Firefish we all know is actually a new species and got separated from the true Helfrichi from Cook Islands. Instead the yellow headed ‘Helfrichi’ is infact Nemateleotris lavandula.

This is very true. I had a pair of helfrichi years ago in another tank I had a purple. The purple was in an 8g nano I had at work. Corporate came in and made me take the work nano down. At the time I only had one tank at home 120g. At that time I didn't really have a good place for a nano tank so I put all the nano stuff in the 120. Was fine for a month or so then the purple killed one of the helfrichi. Of course I couldn't get him out without destroying my tank. Daily aggression towards the helfrichi, eventually the purple won.

I was thinking I'd like to try a small group like this myself. Interested to see how it goes.

 

[i cant think]

Oh wow really? So it isnt technically a firefish like my purple? I have noticed some distinct feeding habits and behaviors that are different from my purple which I just thought was just different personalities between the fish. My helfrichi likes to be near the top of the water and my purple likes to be down low. Very strange for sure, and yes Ive been watching them like a hawk!

The genus Nemateleotris is the Firefish genus but there have been quite a few separations within it I mean, there’s N. exquisitus and N. decora which are both very similar and we’re once thought to be the same but got separated in 2013.

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

I don’t see harm in that

Hopefully they don’t just pair off and do actually stick together every so often.

So far their still grouped two days in but they haven't ventured far from the corner. Hopefully when I get home today they've started moving around the tank a bit

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

Oh wow really? So it isnt technically a firefish like my purple? I have noticed some distinct feeding habits and behaviors that are different from my purple which I just thought was just different personalities between the fish. My helfrichi likes to be near the top of the water and my purple likes to be down low. Very strange for sure, and yes Ive been watching them like a hawk!

Interesting

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

Came home from work today and could only find 3 Firefish. After feeding the 4th emerged from the creepy doll and rejoined the herd. No sign of #5. Too many hiding spots to panic. No evidence it made it out and CUC isn't swarming. MTF lol

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

Call off the Search Party. The experiment continues lol

 

[Moomee]

How is this going? Just picked up 6 for really cheap and going to eventually put them in my 210g after QT.

 

[TeeJay87]

In the long term, firefish will pick each other off. Never ending brutal battle until 1 remained in my case. Zebra firefish seem to be the exception and supposedly remain peaceful. Getting 1 of several different kinds (standard, purple, helfrichi, scissortail, etc) would be your best bet but no guarantee of schooling. They probably will prefer similar lower flow areas of the tank and might have the appearance of grouping.

 

[mizimmer90]

Any updates? I'm curious if you still have a nice firefish group!