Helfrich's firefish

[Chin_Lee]

Originally Posted by Ruth

Does anyone have one or more of these fish or have you kept them in the past? I am getting a couple and have researched them and can't really see where they are that much different from the purple and orange firefish that are commonly seen. Like all firefish they have a tendency to go carpet surfing and don't seem to tolerate warm water that well as they are a deeper water fish.
Any one else have some advise they can offer from first hand experience?

Hi Ruth
from my experience.....
I had four firefish in my tank at one point in time (2 purples, 2 regular) and they all lived only from 4-6 months. They didn't appreciate the high flow rate in my tank and feeding them was difficult because the faster fish would get to the food first. They were also skittish so they would hide in rocks when I tried to squirt food down to where they were and as the bigger fishes come by to try to eat the food. I believe they eventually just starved away due to lack of food consumption.
I would only try again in a LPS tank maybe where the flow won't be as high.