Experience with firefish & purple firefish?
 

I already have a firefish in my tank and I want to add a purple firefish. I have read conflicting info about keeping them together. Does anyone have experience keeping both?

Thanks

I heard that it was a no-no, but I am quite sure it was hearsay. That being said I'm tagging along to see if anyone has real experience with it.

*shrug*, but how big is your tank? does it have a lot of rockwork for the fish to hide if it wants?

if it's going in your 190g reef, i really dont think there would be a problem.

I too have read it's a no no.

I will try and post that source of info if I can find it.
Kevin

I had them together in a 110 and there was no problem. At first they stayed together, but as they aged, they staked out their own territories and each stayed in their own. I think it comes down to tank size and aquascaping. But that's only my opinion.

The tank is my 190g reef. Lots of rock/caves etc. There is a LFS with one of each in a pretty small tank and he says they're fine. I just wanted to hear from other reefers too.

I started out with 5 purple firefish (added at the same time) in my 110g cube (lots of live rock and caves etc for hiding). They were fine for about 6 months then started fighting amoungst themselves.
I now have only one left and he has been alone for about 8 months now.
I have found that as they mature they tend to get more territorial - also they are jumpers so as they do become aggressive they will chase the other fish right out of the tank.
Just my experience.

Works best if you introduce them at the same time.

I don't really see the difference between keeping multiple firefish of the same species and multiples of different species. Either way, they're going to school when they're younger and fight when they're older.

Your best bet would be to, as Greg stated, introduce them all at once, but keeping in mind that you're probably only going to fit 1-3 firefish of any species into your tank.

Yeah, they'd probablty school as yung uns, but Id almost say that adults of the same species would probably display more agrression towards each other, because the purple and red darts do look different (at least colour wise). just speculation.

They fight just the same IME.

I keep one of each in my 120 for quite a few months now, had 2 of the red ones but one decided to jump out when I was screwin with my tank. He survived for a month after that but haven't seen him for weeks and presume he's passed. They get along fine although I did hear the purple is more agressive! They swim about 5in away from each other and will criscross when feeding, also it's a good thing I got them on flakes.



http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...y/IM000906.jpg

I've heard that you can get away with it when there young,
But as they grow older they usually get territorial towards each other.

That being said here's my mated pair.
They have been together for over a year now,
Swim together and share the same borrow hole.
I should say that the red is actually the #2 in the attempt to pair them.
The purple killed the first in a matter of days.
http://members.shaw.ca/kabong/fire.jpg

Wow ! #1 must have been a really ugly fish !
:lol:

Thanks for all the info guys. I picked up a purple one last Friday. He's been in hiding all weekend. I don't think he knows the other firefish is there yet. I hope the mate up. If not I think the tank is big enough for the both of em.