Fire Fish Question

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#1
I am thinking of adding a Fire Fish to my want to buy list. In my old 125g tank I had bought 3 of the regular Fire Fish, the ones with the orange tails, from the LFS and for about a month everything was fine, then one died and then about two months later, another died, the last one lived and was doing fine till the tank was broke down and he was given to a friend and is still going strong. I later read that the dominant fish will sometimes kill off the other ones in the tank and that may have been what happed to the two fish that died. The two fish that I am looking at for the new tank are the Purple Fire Fish or the Helfrich Fire Fish, will only have one species in the tank. Question one: Can I have more than one of these in the tank, I was thinking of having 2 of which ever species I get, or will the same thing happen to me again and one will kill off the other one? Question 2: My LFS store carries on a regular basics, the Purple Fire Fish, cost around $30 and its a nice looking fish. The Helfrich Fire Fish on the other hand, the LFS never carries and I have never seen one, except on You Tube. The price for the Helfrich is a lot more than the Purple, around $100 each plus shipping. What I want to know is if the Helfrich Fish that much better looking than the Purple that I should pay the $70 per fish more for it than the Purple, or just forget about it, buy the Purple and spend the extra money I would save and buy a nice Wrasse?
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#2
Ment to post this in the above post but the alzheimers was acting up. Anyone know where I can buy an acclamation box for the display tank?
 

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
Oct 20, 2006
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Wellsville, KS
#3
I did 3 and a pair formed and killed off other, then they jumped out and died.

If i could go back, i would go with 5 which your tank would allow.

Be careful wit a wrasse, large ones can get aggressive. I'm a six line fan. But i find they do better in an established tank
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#5
Thats what I am looking for :) Orange Cones, someone told me that Pet Smart, which is by my house, sells something called a small critter cage, like what you posted in the link Orange Cones. I am going to go check it out today. A poster on RC said using a acclamition box is the only way to introduce fish into a display tank, said he usually leaves the fish in the box for around 2 days and then he releases the fish after lights out in the display tank.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#6
I have had some worries about some fish and did the acclimation then put them into one of those big hang on breeder deals for about a day. I am not sure about the other fish but I do know you can only have one male firefish in a tank unless its really big. Sometimes they will even kill the female.
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#7
I am mainly getting the acclimation box for the Wrasses I am wanting. Guess I will stick with one of the Fire Fish, better safe than sorry. I want to save as much Bio load as I can for my Wrasses's anyway. :)
 

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
Jun 12, 2004
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Montreal, Quebec
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#8
I had 2 Nemateleotris magnifica firefish, they lived happily together, my friends also have pairs, purple or magnifica..as long as your rockwork is ok and you have plenty of hiding places they should be fine. I recall that my crazy yellow tang harassed them sometimes, but nothing serious. They usually stick together when you have 2. Even though they are jumpers, mine never tried. The purple ones are really beautiful. I've seen a Nemateleotris helfrichi only once, it was magnificient, but the price was insane. I also had a six line wrasse than was peaceful and active, not picking on other inmates.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#9
Once you get that algae scrubber bio load becomes a thing of the past. I got a pic one of my wrasse, they are so hard to photo!!!!! Anyway here it is, its not the best. Also notice I did it during feeding time since he is in the front part at this time. See all the food in the current? I feed like this twice a day now that I have a scrubber. In the past I would barely feed that much in a week. Also, right at lights out I throw in some blended/liquefied oysters I prepare for the corals 3 times a week. This weekend I will have my 150G empty and start preparing it for SW. I swear i just heard retailers just say CHA'CHING!!!!! I am working at the home office today, maybe I can get a better pic of the wrasse and one of the tri color.
2012-03-15_20-51-18_536.jpg
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#10
That's an awesomeeeee looking Wrasse :) What kind is he? I can't wait to get a few for my tank, and could most likely go ahead and get one now, but I am putting off that urge till I think I have a decent number of pods in the tank, but I sure want one. Really, to be honest though, the only reason I don't have one is my LFS here doesn't get a large selection of Wrasses in. They have a Solorensis aka Clown Fairy Wrasse but I have been told they can become kinda mean when they get some age to them, nice looking fish though. They have a Lubbocks Wrasse I could get this one heard nothing bad about them other than there are better looking Wrasses for the same money. They also have some pale looking Red Wrasses that I wouldn't put in the tank.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#11
That is a Ruby headed Wrasse (Yellow Flanked Fairy Wrasse is a more common name as well, Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura). The other is a Tri-color/or Multi color, Cirrhilabrus lubbocki. I got them CHEAP to!!!! $27.00 each!! At the LFS. A few bucks less then online and no shipping fee!! The Yellow Flanked is about 60 on liveaquaria.com and the Multi is 30. So not a bad deal and both are reed safe so even better!!
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
1,009
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#12
Thief Thief :) Our LFS often sells fishes cheaper than you can buy them online,,, seems that it is never the fish that I want though :( Went over to a friends house that was holding my Neon Green Candy Cane yesterday, about 50 polyps, and brought it back home and put that into my tank, that coral really pops under the LED lights. Also picked up a couple of cheap, small zoa frags to see how they do in the tank. She has some nicer zoa frags for me Tubbs Blue zoas and a few others but I don't want to put them into the tank until I see how the cheaper zoas do, I say cheap but she didn't charge me for them, what I should say is run of the mill zoas. I get alot of stuff for free from the local reefers in my area. When I have corals that are doing good in my tank (old tank) I just give frags away, I spread the love though and try and give everyone a taste, it comes back to me as other people in our local reefing community return the favor to me. She has a fish in her tank, she has had this fish about 2 years with no complaints other than it ate all her shrimp. I sent the LFS owner a message about getting me one, this fish, it just mesmerizes me, so I think I will get one, its a Marine Betta. It stays hid alot but it comes in and out of its hiding place enough to make it a worth while fish to get, and like I said, it just mesmerizes me, not sure how big they get though. When she got hers, it was about 2 1/2 inches long and two years later its about 4 inches long, maybe a tad longer. My friends tank is pretty awesome, its a 180g tank, has a sump but no skimmer and she grows zoas and other non sps corals, no soft corals though, like Colt corals and the like, she took all of those out of her tank. Everything grows great in her tank. I gave her a frag of Tubbs Blue zoas, about 7 polyps, she now has about a hundred or more of them. All of her zoas grow like that in her tank. The back glass panel in her tank is covered with zoas, nice looking ones.
 

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KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#13
I was very impressed with my corals after I upgraded to LED's, my neon trumpet and Zoas glow very well with LED. I want to have a lot of sps in my 150G. I was thinking of doing 3 sections of different coral types, and or maybe different light requirements and not so much type. I bet you are just chomping at the bit to get your corals going!!
 

strout

Superstar Fish
Dec 21, 2008
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#14
Not really chomping at the bit for corals. I am planning on getting the fish for the tank first, then work on the corals. I do need to start taking the live rock out of the tank a piece at a time and drilling holes for frag plugs, now that I have the rock scape done the way I want. Seems like all the holes in the rock that would take a plug are either on the side of the rock or on the bottom :(
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#15
I had some rock I could not move when I lived in Michigan, so I bought a super long bit and just drilled it in the water. Did it a few times, never seemed to hurt anything. I just got a good hold of it and went for it, slow and easy. I used a masonry bit a went for small holes that were there already. Sure the rock moved a bit and some wobbly stuff on the top needs to come down first. Mine was an established tank about 6 years old. Seeing yours is new taking is out wont be so bad, just have a good close pic so you can reassemble it like you had it. I get more excited about the corals then the fish. Love them both but there is just something amazing about corals!!!! I get the most excited when I can frag my own and just give them away. I hope your drilling goes good, keep the bit in the rock and off the flesh. I have had the rock turn and twist whilst being in a hurry.