mixing firefish??

[jjgomillion]

So I added a firefish gobie a couple of days ago, but understand they do better in pairs. I like both the firefish and the purple firefish. Will they live in harmony if I added a purple firefish? Or is that not a good idea and should I just stick with another firefish?

 

[big]

I have heard about issues with pairs at times, but I do not know for sure. My one Purple does fine all to his lonesome. Hangs out in the middle of the tank, just waiting for a bit of food to drift by in the current. Also he has been with us for quite some time now, maybe a year. No single fish issue here..... Warren

 

[jjgomillion]

ok, so 1 is ok. does anyone have a mixed pair of firefish out there?

 

[king_nothing_]

the first fish I got for my 38 gallon tank back when i first set it up (after it cycled, of course) was a school of firefish. I got 3 of the normal ones, and they all did fantastic together. it was really cool looking actually, watching them in a loose formation in the tank "clicking" their dorsal fins into that upright position at odd intervals. It was really sweet. No fighting or anything.
Then one of my LFS got in a purple firefish for like 20 bucks, which is a very good deal, so I bought it. Added it to the tank, and the other firefish started kinda messing with him. So I caught him, and got one of those small animal plastic cages with the slotted lids...I think they used to call them "kritter keepers" and put the firefish inside that and submerged that in the tank. After about 3 days I let him out, and he joined the school with no incident. So if you decided to mix, I would follow this procedure that I used with great success.
Of course, all my firefish died about 2 weeks later when the power went out for 2 days and my tank plummeted to like 65 degrees. But had that not happened, I'de probably still have them all today....actually talking about it again makes me want to go buy some lol. toodles

 

[jjgomillion]

thats a good trick. I am sorry to hear about that. I am so happy that this little bugger is still swimming. We set up our tank in the beginning of October and added 2 percs about a month ago. They only lasted 1 and 2 days. Found my emerald crab eating them.... we were bummed. Then this guy disapeared all day yesterday after being in the tank on ly 24 hours. Thought for sure he became crab snack. Untiul about 15 minutes ago he darted out so I fed him. I was so happy I called my husband at the military base. lol

 

[king_nothing_]

if you had 2 clownfish die, you probably have something seriously wrong with your water = ( I would do a very thorough check of EVERYTHING. Clownfish shouldnt die like that lol. my LFS got an order of little clownfish on one time and were selling them for A DOLLAR A PIECE if you bought a thing of frozen food....so naturally i bought some food to get one. This was at the point where my tank was up and running forl ike 3 days...completely uncycled, my ammonia was at like 3.0 (WAYYY too high) and i still had nitrite. I only got the clownfish as an experiement, knowing good and well he would die, just to see how long it would actually TAKE for a fish to die from high ammonia. well.....
The clownfish never died.
so in order to get TWO killed, something must be way wrong = ( unless they were just "defective" sickly fish from the get-go. Which is entirely ppossible.

 

[sman]

Originally Posted by king_nothing_
http:///forum/post/2469808
if you had 2 clownfish die, you probably have something seriously wrong with your water = ( I would do a very thorough check of EVERYTHING. Clownfish shouldnt die like that lol. my LFS got an order of little clownfish on one time and were selling them for A DOLLAR A PIECE if you bought a thing of frozen food....so naturally i bought some food to get one. This was at the point where my tank was up and running forl ike 3 days...completely uncycled, my ammonia was at like 3.0 (WAYYY too high) and i still had nitrite. I only got the clownfish as an experiement, knowing good and well he would die, just to see how long it would actually TAKE for a fish to die from high ammonia. well.....
The clownfish never died.
so in order to get TWO killed, something must be way wrong = ( unless they were just "defective" sickly fish from the get-go. Which is entirely ppossible.
Said her emerald crab ate the clowns......

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by sman
http:///forum/post/2469842
Said her emerald crab ate the clowns......
Emeralds won't attack a clown.

 

[phils29bcinwa]

HI,
I have a mixed pair of firefish in my Biocube and they are great together, they dont seem to hang out much together but they dont bother each other at all, I have some post in the nano section if you want to take a look, let me know what you think.

 

[jjgomillion]

we never figured out exactly what was wrong to kill the clowns. However I have switched to using RO/DI water for topoffs and water changes so the bulk of the tap water should be out of my system. There may have been something in my tap water.
However, I have added a zoo colony, gsp, acro frag, candy cane frag, and ricordea (all of which are doing great, the gsp already tripled in size in about a month) along with an urchin, peppermint shrimp, the emerald, and about 20 hermits and snails. Though the darn crabs have dwindled my snail poulation down a bit for their shells.
I do expect to lose some fish in the beginning as it is a learning process. I definitly don't want too harm the fish so that is why I waited to add anything until now.
Good news is, he seems to be happy thus far. If all goes well and water keeps checking out fine I may add some green chromis later this week.

 

[jjgomillion]

Originally Posted by sman
http:///forum/post/2469842
Said her emerald crab ate the clowns......
I dont think the emerald hunted the clowns for a snack, lol.
I just found it eating them both after they had died.
Expensive snack. But I guess he is just fulfilling his purpose as my cleanup crew.

 

[puffer32]

it didn't work to well for me. My purple harressed the red one until the red one jumped out of the tank. I was planning on seperating them the next day, I had them both in a 150 and planned on putting the red one in my 55, but he commited suicide before i got the chance.

 

[peachie98]

I have one of each in my 40 gallon...have had them together a couple months with absolutely no issues. I had the regular one first for a week or two, then ordered the purple one from here when they got them in stock and it's gorgeous!
The only strange thing I've noticed is that for the past 4-5 days the regular one has been hanging out under rocks at the bottom...but it's not getting harassed or anything because it comes out to eat and at random times. I'm wondering if it's maybe made itself a burrow down there.
These are great little fish! Always (until recently with the regular one) hanging out in the middle of the tank for me to see.