school of firefish

[JerryJ]

Very nice...do the firefish all use the same hidey hole?

[zygote2k]

I can't keep firefish because they jump out, so to save time, when I buy them and open the bag, I throw them on the floor.

good procedure. love it.

[treesprite]

Very nice...do the firefish all use the same hidey hole?

 

I have lots of little places for them to hang out in. Most of the time they are all out until the lights go out. I have no idea which one goes into what part of the tank

[kjamaya]

I had 16 firefish at one point. They all did well and didnt fight. I did have 2 jumpers.... I had them in my frag tank and they all just Hung out with each other. I placed a large rock and the majority used it as a shelter while the others used the egg crate.

I was pretty happy with them. I had them for about 6 months and then went a different route. I did notice that there qas always one fish in front of every1 else.... anyways cool fishes to have and looking forward to your updates.

[treesprite]

How big was the tank?

 

It appears that one of them is missing, or at least never came out when I put food in the tank. I thought they were all in there yesterday. None on the floor. It may have managed to get in the plumbing, so I guess tomorrow I'll be taking the rocks out of my sump to look for it. I hope it's in there.

[kjamaya]

It was a 55g breeder. Petco had a sell on them and friends were closing there tanks down. In a matter of 3 months I had 16 of them. Everyday I did a head count and was always missing one or two. After searching the tank I eventually found them. This happened everyday too... As I had so many I was able to some what tell those 2 apart and thought that they were females. It kind of explain why they always stayed tucked away and only came out for food....

[treesprite]

Wow, I thought you were going to say like 180 or something. Sounds like the tank was really crowded with them. It's interesting that you could add them at different times and they still not fight. I'm afraid that if I put my original ff back in the tank, it will disturb the social balance, though at this point with the rockwork changed and all the time elapsed, it would probably not recognize the place and not act territorial over it..

[kjamaya]

Yeah, it was crowded but those were the only fish I had in there. When I added a single one they fought for a bit but when I added 2 or 3 at the same time they all stared at each other.

[treesprite]

It's a lot of orange in the tank, which isn't really the best in color scheming, but the activity is really nice.

 

I just now remembered I was supposed to search for the missing FF in the sump.... too tired now.

[treesprite]

Well, got over being tired and took out the rocks and the skimmer... nope. It's not on the floor anywhere either. Another possibility is it was in the sump then went over the sump overflow into the refugium; I only see one FF in the refugium, but that doesn't mean there isn't a second one in there. It could have died in the tank, chased to death by the chromis. The force through the plumbing could have killed it. I hope it's just hiding.

[ohaverd]

Do you have a lid on your tank?  Or just hopeing none of them commit suicide?

[treesprite]

I have eggcrate on top of it, but the eggcrate has "cut outs" in it because I didn't want all the light getting blocked.

[ohaverd]

hmm, nice... I'll deploy this tactic after I buy my firefish!

[treesprite]

 If I find that fish alive in the sump or fuge, should I even try putting it back in the tank? If I were to do that, should I take advantage of the situation of adding a now-unfamiliar fish by putting the other FF back in the tank (the one that was in the tank alone before I got the group)?

Edited August 13, 2013 by treesprite

[treesprite]

hmm, nice... I'll deploy this tactic after I buy my firefish!

A screen might be better.