Looking for new fish? Fire Fish? Reccomendations?

maximak2

maximak2

New member
I am looking to ad some more fish to my tank. I am interested in the fire fish, but some say they will jump, others say not so much. If you recommend the fire fish, how many should I keep together? I do not have a cover to my tank, but the canopy is 12 inches tall with lots of interference. It would not be a straight shot out of the tank. I am looking for something active and that has decent color, and is not going to be finicky. Right now I have 2 large chromis, and a maroon clown, three fish in a 230g--- room is not an issue.If you folks have any suggestions let me know. I am trying to keep the cost down, but will spend more if it warrants. Thanks!
 
my red firefish (the common $8-$15 variety) jumped out the one time i forgot to put my mesh screen back over the tank. Same tank I now have a Helfrichi (the super expensive $60-$150 variety) and it is very relaxed in the tank, never witnessed it even dart in any direction more than a few inches away from my magfloat cleaner. Had a purple in a covered tank, that I also never witnessed jumping.

With that kind of room thou, I would suggest getting an odd numbered school of the red firefish, like 5 or 7 of them. They tend to do well in a larger group if introduced at the same time, otherwise only add a single specimen or mated pair of one of the 3 varieties, but dont mix the different varieties together, that is when you will get aggression from them
 
Thanks for the hands on advice. I was thinking of doing 5 of them, but I am hesitant due to the jumping. While I would like to have the Helfrichi, the budget does not allow it. Folks, keep the advice coming. I plan on making a purchase tomorrow.
 
Purples are bolder and more personable than the standard red firefish. Although those can get expensive too ($40ish at most LFS around here). I am going to be doing a Live Aquaria group buy over the weekend with Tuesday delivery here in the city if you want to secure those prices. It will almost certainly be free shipping.
 
What i have heard from others is that the purple tend to be more aggressive towards each other than the red when kept in a group, not my personal experience but putting it out there...
 
I have only 1 purple and she (I decided it's a girl :girl_wink: ) isn't very aggressive at all...BUT during feeding (I do pellets) she darts to the top pretty aggressively so maybe without a hood there could be accidental jumping? I got her from MCF at a pretty reasonable price!
 
Firefish rarely ever are the aggressor between other species, but they do get aggressive with each other.
 
I've had two firefish. One jumped and the other just disappeared one day. Still one of my favorite fish.
 
The only one I've ever had was the red firefish. Put it in an open top tank and within a couple months it disappeared. I'm thinking it jumped and my dog took care of him before I found him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top