Purple firefish

[FishWife]

So, after research, I bought two purple firefish from Johnny at BRK, along with an AMAZING Golden African Midas blenny. We brought them home, acclimated them for about 8 hours ('cause they had to come up from .13 to .24 salinity) and put them into our QT system.

 

Now, our QT system (thanks to donations via WAMAS) is bigger than most. It's two long tanks (a 55 and a 45) on a stand. In the top tank, we have three pieces of live rock and a little substrate in a corner for those fish or snails who need it, and in the tank below we have a bunch of live rock and rubble. (Mostly rubble.) The upper tank has a cannister filter and then its overflow has a UV sterilizer. Water flows via a pump from lower to upper and via the overflow/UV from upper to lower. This setup means we can easily keep fish long term in QT while we observe them. (We use our hex 30g for a hyposalinity, no rocks hospital tank when needed.)

 

Already in our QT was our copperband butterflyfish, who had FINALLY kicked her backteria infestation (at least I think that's what it was--ich-like white encrustations on fins and dorsal, but not on her body that lasted a month). She was eating ok, but not great, so we wanted another few weeks to get her eating really well and also have her in with other tankmates for the first time.

 

The point is that we got the firefish and blenny into the QT system with the copperband For the first day we saw only one firefish. Today, the second one made a brief appearance. They seem to spend all their time hiding in and around one of the live rock pieces.

 

Question: will they eventually be good community members, or are they too quiet for a tank (large, 175g) that has two active tangs, a maroon clownfish, a CBB and a midas blenny?

 

We aren't planning many more fish: probably just a wrasse in this tank; looking at the Melanurus wrasse, since its a little less aggressive by most accounts.

 

For those of you who've had purple firefish, what else is in with them, and how long should it take for them to come out and be comfortable, if they're going to at all?

[Guest ozzy]

I have a 75 g mixed reef, 2 chromas, yellow tang, scooter blenny, maroon clown,

carpenter wrasse, engineer goby, royal gramma.

I added a purple firefish and it took her/him a day or so to stay out and play.

I think thy will be fine in my opinion from what I have seen w/ mine.

[vaironman]

Hello Marcia,

 

A word of caution, the beautiful purple firefish is well known to jumping out of open tank from sudden light on/off. If you have eggcrates, it is a good idea to place on top of your QT tank.

 

Those are beautiful firefishes. Awsome.

 

KLee

[FishWife]

Hello Marcia,

 

A word of caution, the beautiful purple firefish is well known to jumping out of open tank from sudden light on/off. If you have eggcrates, it is a good idea to place on top of your QT tank.

 

Those are beautiful firefishes. Awsome.

 

KLee

 

THANKS! We did know this and have covered accordingly, but you are kind to take the time to warn us!

[jnguyen4007]

I have my purple firefish for 4 months now in the 30 gal tank with the light about 18" over the top of the water. I was a bit nervous before I bought it because they were known to be a jumper. In my tank, it has not been a problem. I guess the light distance is not so high up to be a problem.

[yauger]

So, after research, I bought two purple firefish from Johnny at BRK, along with an AMAZING Golden African Midas blenny. We brought them home, acclimated them for about 8 hours ('cause they had to come up from .13 to .24 salinity) and put them into our QT system.

 

Now, our QT system (thanks to donations via WAMAS) is bigger than most. It's two long tanks (a 55 and a 45) on a stand. In the top tank, we have three pieces of live rock and a little substrate in a corner for those fish or snails who need it, and in the tank below we have a bunch of live rock and rubble. (Mostly rubble.) The upper tank has a cannister filter and then its overflow has a UV sterilizer. Water flows via a pump from lower to upper and via the overflow/UV from upper to lower. This setup means we can easily keep fish long term in QT while we observe them. (We use our hex 30g for a hyposalinity, no rocks hospital tank when needed.)

 

Already in our QT was our copperband butterflyfish, who had FINALLY kicked her backteria infestation (at least I think that's what it was--ich-like white encrustations on fins and dorsal, but not on her body that lasted a month). She was eating ok, but not great, so we wanted another few weeks to get her eating really well and also have her in with other tankmates for the first time.

 

The point is that we got the firefish and blenny into the QT system with the copperband For the first day we saw only one firefish. Today, the second one made a brief appearance. They seem to spend all their time hiding in and around one of the live rock pieces.

 

Question: will they eventually be good community members, or are they too quiet for a tank (large, 175g) that has two active tangs, a maroon clownfish, a CBB and a midas blenny?

 

We aren't planning many more fish: probably just a wrasse in this tank; looking at the Melanurus wrasse, since its a little less aggressive by most accounts.

 

For those of you who've had purple firefish, what else is in with them, and how long should it take for them to come out and be comfortable, if they're going to at all?

 

I have 2 of them in my system for about 15 months now and they are about as out going as my clowns... however it did take them about 3 to 4 months to get this brave... before they would float about the system only at night and when no one is near the tank... but now they act like the king of the hill...

[FishWife]

Thanks, all!

 

 

I sure love this club!

[jason the filter freak]

I had one with an elibi angel and bi-color angel and a clarkii clown. Occasionally the clark would chase it about but other than that it popped in and out of caves and nooks pretty animate little fish. I lost mine to jumping. :(

[fishcam]

THANKS! We did know this and have covered accordingly, but you are kind to take the time to warn us!

 

I had a jumper as well (a red one), so now I have the crate on top. Also, mine hides fairly regularly in a 55 with a clown and a tang, but used to swim about. Perhaps they are moody...

[davelin315]

They also are not friendly to conspecifics. Contrary to popular belief, they are mostly solitary fish unless you can get a mated pair. They tend towards aggression which in turns causes them to be jumpers.

[FishWife]

They also are not friendly to conspecifics. Contrary to popular belief, they are mostly solitary fish unless you can get a mated pair. They tend towards aggression which in turns causes them to be jumpers.

 

These were together for two weeks at BRK; Johnny thought they were compatible, but didn't know if they were a pair. Anyone know the difference betw. male/femail for these guys?

[davelin315]

I don't think that they are sexually dimorphic, so there's really no way to tell the difference unless you go surgical on it, which I can't imagine you want to do! Anyway, in QT, I would imagine that they would pick on each other. I had a "pair" before that was doing just fine together and then one day one turned on the other and chased it mercilessly. This was in a 58 with tons of rock, and they did not get along.

[st9z]

Same here I have one regular red firefish and one purple firefish it took them a good month or two before they started to come out from their rock hole. Now they hang out mainly in the mid-front of my tank.

[hbh]

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