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FAQs on Dartfish Systems
Related Articles: Dartfishes,
CA: Family Microdesmidae,
the Worm- and Dartfishes by Robert Fenner and Anthony Calfo,
Gobies,
Related FAQs: Dartfish 1,
Dartfish 2, Dartfish Identification,
Dartfish Behavior, Dartfish
Compatibility, Dartfish Selection,
Dartfish Feeding, Dartfish Disease,
Dartfish Reproduction, Can you grow
algae there? | 
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Dartfish, sel./sys. – 4/30/09
Dear crew --
<Big D>
I have a strange question. How many scissortail Dartfish can live
together happily in a 55 gallon tank?
<Mmm, 3-5>
We really like them and we're thinking of getting a bunch. Would eight
or ten Dartfish be happy together or would they whittle themselves back
down to a pair?
<Mmm, not this many and this particular species lives more in a group
than pairs>
We had
four for a while (before they got old) and they seemed happy. Would a
large pack of them do well?
<More the merrier, as long as there is space... three to five here>
Our tank is 55 gallons, has been stable for almost two years. We
currently have two Dartfish,
<Oh, then three or four>
a diamond sand-goby, and a small one-spot Foxface rabbit fish.
<Mmm, this Siganid (in fact all Rabbitfishes) need more room than this>
(And live rock with the usual sponges and worms and other neat stuff.)
We just lost our fairy wrasse. :( He was strong enough that when he hit
the top of our tank cover just right, he got through and jumped out.
He'd tried before, but we thought we had it covered well enough. :(
<Very common>
Rather than getting a new fairy wrasse (though he was really nice in our
tank), we're looking for small, schooling fish, preferably aquarium
bred. We're thinking that expanding our school of Dartfish would be
nice.
<I've never encountered tank-bred Microdesmids... Where are these from?>
How many can we be thinking about?
Thank you
David and Laura
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>
Update & Good Tidings... look behind the Overflow. Microdesmid beh.,
sys. 9/20/08
Dear Crew,
I have a
little story to share. Since I last wrote, I have come to the conclusion
that one of my Lysmata amboinensis did indeed die. He never showed up.
The post-mortem on the exoskeleton with the muscle in the tail pretty
much sealed the deal. Anyway, a week later one of my two Nemateleotris
magnifica was gone. He was the one who was very skittish and didn't
appear to feed well. Water parameters were stable (pH 8.4, and zero
ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, 80F, 1.022),
<Mmm, the last a bit low...
I would raise>
so I attributed it to bad luck and the temperament
these fish are known for.
This was about a month ago. Fast forward to
yesterday. A grammar loreto has been in the display tank for about a
week, in addition to the two remaining L. amboinensis and two Perculas.
The second Firefish is now gone. I start to panic a bit. He seemed to
eat well. He nearly choked on the frozen mysis and loved frozen Cyclops
(assumed to be copepods).
He even eats spectrum pellets when the tank
bred clowns don't gobble them all up.
<Good>
Water parameters are
about the same with exception of nitrates of 20. Am I overfeeding?
<Maybe... this amount of free NO3 is about all I'd allow>
Am I behind
on water changes?
<Perhaps>
Is there some monster I've missed
living in the LR?
<Starting to read like it>
Did that piece of
foil I let slip into the tank a few days ago with the frozen mysis
pollute the tank?
<I would find, remove>
Today, I plan for a large
water change (25gal). I'm going to put 15 gal back into the QT I cleaned
out last weekend after using the same water (with partial changes) for
the grammar and shrimp over a couple months.
I'm hoping to buy a
Centropyge bispinosus in the next week although I'm having some doubts
due to another unexplained death. I take the lights and glass cover off
the tank and peek into the overflow on this MegaFlow Overflow Aquarium
with predrilled holes. I see not one, but TWO FIREFISH LOOKING UP AT ME.
<!? Oh yeah... "jumpers">
I am not the harbinger of death, at least
not this time! I vaguely remember looking here before but apparently not
close enough. I thought this might be a helpful anecdote all the other
newbies. (My tank is about 10 months old.) Don't lose hope and look in
the overflow. He survived on messy leftovers for a month. I guess he's
pretty lucky that I hadn't been turning off the circulation during
feedings. The space between the overflow and the glass isn't much more
than a centimeter, but they both managed to make it over. I guess I'll
have to rig some kind of cover. The hardest part was getting them out. I
had to use a net to basically "encourage" them to jump back over the
overflow.
In my profession, it's the "Oh by the way" comments that
kill you ("I'm having chest pain... My left eye is suddenly blind"), but
I've got to ask since I have your attention. Do you have any suggestions
for additional livestock? I suppose I'm done, but I'll take anything I
can get. Current stocking plan: 2 Perculas, 2 L. amboinensis, 2 N
magnifica (!), one G. loreto, and one C. bispinosus.
Thanks again for
all the help. I hope this is useful.
-Rich
<For browsers, this is
a 72 gal. bowfront... I would look for at least something more in the
way of a "show" item... of size, motion here. Perhaps a Ctenochaetus or
Zebrasoma species tang for now... A more peaceful species of mid-size
wrasse (Cirrhilabrus, small Halichoeres)... Bob Fenner>
Ich, Reef Safe Medication 5/31/08
Hi, I had a few questions
here I need the answer to.
<Ok>
First of all, can snowflake morays
get ich?
<Yes>
No matter how many times I have ich, my snowflake
never has any white spots.
<They are pretty resilient, but can still
harbor ich.>
Second, Do you like the NO-ICH medicine by FishVet?
<I believe the active ingredient is 5-Nitroimidazoles, and no I do not.>
It is said to be reef safe and I would like to have some just to be
safe.
<Not safe for your reef tank.>
Lastly, How many purple
Firefish should I get for my 30 gallon?
<One>
I have a percula
clown in there and I wanted to add some more fish after the Firefish
too.
<A 30 gallon does not have a whole lot of room, I would not have
more than 3 fish in that sized tank.>
Thanks!
<Welcome>
<Chris>
More scissortail goby
questions. Want To Stop
Fish From Jumping But Worried About Sealing The Tank Up “Too” Tightly –
07/30/07
Thank you for helping me with my Scissortail Dartfish
question (I'm the one whose mated pair of Scissortails seemed to be
having a fight.)
<<Hi Laura...I don’t know who helped you before, but
I’m certain they were happy to do so>>
The good news is that they did
indeed get over it on their own, and lived together happily for another
week or so; the bad news is that we didn't have the tank covered well
enough and came home to find the larger of the two dead on the carpet.
:-(
<<Unfortunate... And difficult to prevent... I’ve had Bartlett’s
Anthias jump right through the ½” squares of plastic “eggcrate” mesh>>
If you could answer a couple of questions related to the aftermath of
this sad event,
I'd be grateful:
<<I shall try...>>
1) We got
some clear acrylic and cut it to exactly match the top of our fish tank,
so now there are only small holes around our tubes and wires and so on.
This should prevent any future deaths by jumping, but we're a little
worried that it's also blocking the flow of oxygen.
<<Proper/efficient gas exchange is my worry as well. Do ensure lots of
vigorous water flow within this tank>>
We have a protein skimmer,
<<Ah...a big help re oxygenation>>
a power head, and the pump outtake
breaking the surface of the water, but all of this action is under the
acrylic cover, and it seems like it could just be recycling
de-oxygenated air.
<<Not a worry if the skimmer’s air intake is
outside the tank...if not then perhaps you can connect/run a tube to the
outside>>
Is this an unnecessary worry, or should we do something
else to our system to improve the airflow?
<<Adding a sump, and if
possible, an in-line refugium, will provide many benefits to include
improved oxygenation of the system and expelling of accumulated CO2>>
2) We want to get a new scissortail for our bereaved widower. Is there
anything special we could/should do in either selecting or introducing
the fish to improve the chance of their bonding with each other?
<<I
don’t think it will be much of a problem as this species seems a bit
more tolerant of conspecifics than some of the other Dartfish species.
Actually, I suggest you keep a small “group” of these fish rather than
trying to “pair” them out. A small grouping (5-7) should get along fine
and will be more natural/make the fish more comfortable and less likely
to hide...and as long as they aren’t being harassed/chased by other
fishes in the tank, having a small group “may” reduce their tendency to
jump>>
Our surviving scissortail seems to be very stressed on his own
(he's gone back to diving under a rock when he sees me coming, the way
he did when I first brought
him home a month ago.)
<<Indeed...needs more of its own kind around>>
We bought the previous
pair from the same tank, so they got along from the very beginning
without our having to do anything.
Thanks for your time and
attention,
Laura
<<Happy to assist. EricR>>
More scissortail Dartfish questions... sys., comp., beh.
8/9/07
Thanks for your
patience with me and my Dartfish questions. To recap quickly, I had a
pair of scissortail Dartfish, but my tank wasn't well enough covered,
and one of them jumped out of the tank and died. The other one became
very stressed after that and hid under a rock constantly.
<A quite
common scenario>
After sealing our tank cover better, we went back to
our LFS and bought three more Scissortails. When we put them in the
tank, our original Dartfish immediately came out and started swimming
with them, and now is eating and swimming normally again. So I guess it
really was depression/stress/loneliness that was getting to him!
However, now we have a new problem. One of the new Dartfish seems to
have disappeared. The last two nights, only three have come out for
feedings. We searched all around the carpet and there have been no more
escapees, so I wonder if it died inside their burrow or something like
that.
<Possible>
Soon after that fish disappeared, A) one of the
other new Dartfish began hiding in the burrow most of the time, and B)
we noticed our fairy wrasse begin to bother the Dartfish, scaring them
back into their cave frequently. The wrasse never bothered our original
pair of Dartfish, who had already been living in the tank for a few
weeks when we added him, and in fact the surviving Dartfish from that
pair (who I can recognize because his fin is darker than the others) is
not afraid of the wrasse and swims around him with no compunctions.
However, the new Dartfish go whizzing into their cave whenever he comes
near them. I'm concerned that the third one, who is most skittish, may
not be getting enough to eat (he does eat at every meal, but only a
little.) I also wonder whether this may have been what caused the death
of the missing fish (though I should say that none of the new Dartfish
were this skittish until one of them disappeared, so their newfound
fearfulness may be the effect of the missing dartfish's death rather
than the cause.)
<A possible contributing cause>
So I guess my
questions are these:
1) Is there anything we can do to help the
skittish scissortail survive?
<More space, less Cirrhilabrus...>
It's a 55-gallon tank with lots of live rock, holes, sand, different
hiding places, etcetera, but the fairy wrasse does seem to
preferentially go over and swim right around the entrance to their nest.
One of the new fish feels comfortable swimming around the tank as long
as the original Dartfish is out, wrasse or no wrasse, but the other one
has been completely panicky since the disappearance of the fourth guy.
2) Unless the missing fish miraculously turns up alive, we're back down
to three Dartfish. Is that an OK number? The LFS said it ought to be
fine when I called them.
<Is fine>
3) This is the question I feel
embarrassed about asking, but I can't help thinking about it; I've read
the FAQ's and online information and entries in our fish books and
everything says that fairy wrasses are NOT fish-eaters like some other
kinds of wrasses, but is there any chance he could have eaten the
missing Dartfish?
<Mmm, perhaps if it were dead, the Cirrhilabrus
very hungry... It could well have harassed the Microdesmid/s in this
small volume, particularly if it is/was solitary... Fairy/Velvet Wrasses
are very social animals...>
He never *looks* like he's hunting them--
I mean he never lunges at them or anything-- and he's only about three
inches long, but still, the fact that they're acting so afraid of him
all of a sudden makes me wonder. The Dartfish are smaller than the
wrasse is, maybe two inches long each.
<Just territoriality and lack
of other social interaction>
Our water quality's been perfect, if
that makes any difference. We've been feeding them frozen Mysid shrimp
and the Spirulina-enriched brine shrimp. Is it possible we might be
underfeeding them?
<Mmm, doubtful. Do they appear thin?>
Thanks
for any insights you might have!
Laura
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>
Scissortails,
fairy wrasse, and refugium 8/12/07
Thanks for your
response to my last letter
(one-sentence summary: one of the new
scissortails we added to our tank after one of our previous pair jumped
to its death seems to be terrified of our fairy wrasse and won't come
out to swim with the others.)
<<Good>>
> It could well have
harassed the Microdesmid/s in this small volume, particularly if it
is/was solitary... Fairy/Velvet Wrasses are very social animals...
The fairy wrasse does have a friend its own size in the tank, a yellow
mimic tang.
<<Mmmm, not the same... as conspecifics>>
(Your team
warned my husband that even this small tang may outgrow our 55-gallon
tank and need a larger space eventually, but for now, it's 2.5 inches
long and fits through all the live rock crevices. The wrasse is three
inches long.)
I don't know if it's common for fish from such
different species to bond with each other,
<Actually quite... there
is always waxing, waning interrelationship dynamics in captive and wild
settings... One only need look critically...>
but the wrasse and tang
came from the same store and they swim together all day and sleep in the
same rock cave at night.
The wrasse, tang, and original pair of
Dartfish all got along great, but we had been smart about adding the
Dartfish first. These new Dartfish were added last and it seems to be a
huge stress to them. :-( I wish we'd had the foresight to add them all
at once, but it's too late for that now. Our water quality is still
perfect; is there some other type of fish you'd recommend we get, either
to keep the wrasse busier or make the Dartfish feel more comfortable?
<A bigger tank, some females of its species>
The wrasse was supposed
to be a 'dither fish' but he seems to have scared the scissortail away
rather than encouraging it to swim in the open. Or would it be better to
just leave this group of fish alone and hope they sort it out?
<See
above>
In the wrasse's defense, I've never seen him actually *chase*
any of the Dartfish, he just goes over and swims near their burrow
entrance and it freaks them out.
On to my next question, I guess: I
read on your microdesmids page that a refugium is a big help in keeping
these fish well-fed.
<Ah yes>
Since one of our Dartfish is so
skittish, we're thinking a refugium might also help him get food at
irregular times when the wrasse isn't in his vicinity, and without being
scared into his hole by the sight of us opening the lid to squirt the
food in (oddly, he doesn't seem afraid of the tang, only the wrasse and
us humans.) However, the article about refugiums on your website does
not seem to contain any instructions for how to set one up.
<Mmm,
actually... there are many types of such live sumps... and plenty of
"hints" re their design, construction, operation...>
That page
mentions a book by Bob Fenner called "Natural Marine Aquariums" that has
information about setting up a refugium, but I wasn't able to find this
book on Amazon. Is this information contained in "Reef Invertebrates: An
Essential Guide"?
<Ah, yes... these are the same title>
If so,
are there step-by-step instructions in it, the way there are in
"Conscientious Marine Aquarist" for setting up the main tank?
<Yes... quite detailed>
I feel like I don't understand some of the
real basics about how refugiums work (like how you keep from
over-feeding your fish when food populations are reproducing on their
own), so if there's another article on your website that explains those
refugium basics for newbies, I'd be grateful for the URL.
Thanks!
Laura
<Mmm, all archived or linked through here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupindex2.htm
The second tray down.
Bob Fenner> Cabbage leather health/fire fish systems??
10/29/06
Hello,
<Konichiwa!>
I have a question about a
cabbage leather I purchased a week ago. It was not the best looking
specimen but it was cheap and is my first leather.
<And you placed
it in quarantine?>
I have a mushroom that was a hiker and it is
doing well. The leather had a spot on it where the surface was whitish
and I could see small things that look like grains of white rice under
the surface.
<Mmm, maybe predaceous snails, Nudibranchs...>
The
leather has not opened and looks to be turning translucent, appears to
be dying. I have it about 5 inches under the lights and below the
outpour of my hang on filter for good circulation. My tank has been up
for 2 years and all inhabitants are healthy and doing well. Do you have
any ideas about how to help it? I have also started dosing with iodine.
<May be worthwhile to consider cutting out the infested part... I would
do this outside your main or isolation tank... rinse well... a few
changes of water... and place the specimen back in isolation>
One
more please. I recently got a firefish
<Social animals>
and the
first day or two my 3 stripe damsel was going after him.
<Not
compatible>
The firefish then retreated to a small cave and I saw
him poke out to eat a few times. I have not seen him for a day or so
now. Will he stay in hiding and not eat? Any advice on what I should do.
I really like the firefish but the damsel is a real....lets say not
nice.
<... please see WWM re these species... Microdesmids need
space, a lack of "noise", aggressive tankmates... You need to remove one
or the other... Bob Fenner> Problem with my Purple
Firefish... three Microdesmid species in a 28 gallon 6/2/06
I'm really, really hoping one of you guys can help me. Over the past
few days my Purple Firefish has come down with a malady I've never seen
before. First, a bit about my tank. I'm running a 28 gal
<Dangerously small for microdesmids...>
bow front with roughly 32
lbs of Fiji live rock, a Prism Protein skimmer, an Emperor 280 hang on
filter and a small power head. For invertebrates I have a Coral Banded
Shrimp, a half dozen Turbo Snails, a dozen Blue Legged Hermits, 2
Emerald Crabs, a Fire Shrimp, a sand sifting star
<This animal is
misplaced here... too little room to sustain it w/o depleting your sand
bed>
and a ton of feather dusters that have grown off the rocks. For
corals I have a small piece of rock with Green Polyps, about 8 or so
Hairy Mushrooms (they've split a number of times) and more Pulsing Xenia
than I know what to do with. For fish I have my Purple Firefish, a
normal Firefish, a Zebra Dart Goby
<These are not compatible...>
and a breeding pair of Banggai Cardinals. I feed them all a mix of
Spirulina Enriched Brine, Mysis Shrimp and Omega 3 Enriched Brine which
I soak in Kent Marine Zoe and Garlic Xtreme. Besides all that I add
Liquid Calcium daily, Strontium & Molybdenum twice a week and Iron and
Iodine once a week.
With all that said here's my problem... A
few days ago I noticed that my Firefishes gills seemed a little swollen
compared to normal but he was still behaving normally (eating well and
hanging out in the front of the tank like always). I did a small water
change on the tank and figured he might be able to get over it on his
own with some better quality water. He hasn't. Instead his gills now
puff out a great deal, though only on his left side, and today he
stopped eating. Underneath his jaw also looks puffed out, again only on
his left side. When I look at him through the side of the tank it almost
looks like there's an open sore on the back of his gills but I can't be
certain. All in all it looks to me like he has a growth inside his gills
and towards the bottom of his jaw. He's still acting perfectly normal,
except that he'll approach food but not eat it, so I'm hoping it's not
too late for him. I should probably mention that he's been in the tank
for a few months and I don't think there's any way I'll be able to get
him out of there because of how quickly he can make it to his bolt hole.
If you have any ideas or any recommendations that might help me I
would be eternally in your debt. It'd be a shame to lose this fish
because he's been an awesome addition to my tank thus far. Thanks in
advance for any help you might be able to give me.
Regards,
Dan
<Dan, what you and your fishes need is actually a much larger system.
Impossible to trace the etiology of the ones illness here. It may be as
you suggest that there is some nutritional or parasitic component...
treatment though? Do you have a means of separating the one fish? Bob
Fenner>
Firefish quandary...and a sea hare to boot!
Microdesmid sys., reef stkg. - 3/1/2006
OK, Crew, I
thought I'd actually take my LFS at their word, since they've seemed
knowledgeable in the past. I'm wondering if I've been mis-informed.
<Every human I've met makes mistakes...>
I have a 55gal system with
about 70lbs. LR (just added 12 lbs.) setup as a double wall...kind of
like a figure three against the back of the tank to create multiple
territories. It has a well established DSB of 4" over a 1" plenum and
plenty of snails and sm. hermit crabs. I have 2 Minijet 900s blowing
behind the walls so I don't have too much flow for the fish and corals
and about 350gph return from my sump, via a SQUID. I did some work for
the LFS and they are paying me with fish at cost. I picked up 1 skunk
shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, 3 peppermint shrimp (wurdemanni..sp.), a
pair of 2" ocellaris clownfish, 3--2" "magnificent" firefish gobies, 2
sm. serpent stars, 1 sand sifting star, 1 fireshrimp, 1 very sm. anemone
(E. quadricolor... I think...), 1 sand sifting goby, and some silver
Xeniids, Sarcophytons, and mushroom anemones. I
haven't picked up
the anemone, fireshrimp, or sand sifting goby yet, as we couldn't detach
the anemone w/o risking tearing the base and couldn't catch the
sand-sifter or fireshrimp at the time. Here are my concerns: 1) I
haven't seen the firefish yet (4 days)...except once when one of them
came out and was harassed back into the rock by the clowns. Should I be
worried?
<Maybe... this is a small world for what you list... too
small for microdesmids IME>
2) I was told that the sea hare would
stay small and graze on whatever detritus I had yet your site says that
they get to 2ft.
<Depends on the species... some are tiny, others
huge>
and are obligate red algae eaters...though the animal I have
is a pretty green in contrast to the brown of the picture shown on your
site...is there an ID problem or should I return the sea hare?
<ID
plus...>
3)My wife wants to add a blue, active fish into the system,
but is looking at a hippo tang (I'm disinclined... I think that'll be
too big, though I can't remember how many inches of fish one can put in
a 55gal.)...do you have any other suggestions? Thanks a bunch. Branon.
<Keep reading, studying... you'll soon know. I would be careful
(allelopathy) re the mix of cnidarians you list. I do hope/trust you
have other tanks available. Bob Fenner>
Psychotic Purple
Firefish? - 2/21/2006
Hi;
<Hello>
First, I
would like to thank you very much for answering questions in such
detail, and with a refreshing attitude of humbleness that is often a
sign of
true knowledge. I have already spent considerable time
reading and learning from your answers to others. I am not aware of a
comparable site, for any subject.
<Thank you for proffering your
input>
I recently bought my 7-year-old son a used 29 gallon tropical
salt-water tank, which came with skimmer, filter, two double-tubed
fluorescent lights
(one UV, one normal) and heater.
Based on the
recommendation of my LFS, I used coral sand, with 6 lbs. of live rock
and 10 lbs. of base-rock (I believe this is the correct term for
the
non-living rock that is seeded from the live rock). The aquarium was
conditioned for six weeks, its water analyzed a number of times, and
then
further tested with a yellow-tailed blue damsel. Everything
shipshape.
<Good>
My son then wanted a purple-firefish, and the
LFS said that this would be most probably compatible with the
damsel. Upon placement in the tank, the
two sort of circled each
other, but no skirmishing occurred. They seemed to settle to a cautious
but peaceful pattern.
A couple of days later, the damsel started to
hide behind a prop in the tank, and refused to come out to eat. Two
more days later, it died. Had to
work hard to console my son.
I
did some research and decided that the damsel might have been caught
chemically (despite lack of obvious discoloration or deteriorating body
parts). So, we found a LFS which guaranteed ³no chemicals² and got a
new damsel.
<Impossible to say>
This time, the firefish started
sporadically nipping at the damsel. After watching in terror for an
hour, we took it back to the LFS.
We then got a yellow watchman
goby. After about half a day, the goby took over the firefish¹s hiding
hole without apparent fighting. And now they
seem to live in the
same hole (that is where they emerge from when I turn the lights on).
At the same time, the firefish still seems to be the bolder, more
aggressive of the two. During feeding, he bolts all over the tank while
the goby hangs
around its hidey-hole and makes quick darts at food
that floats by. With this background, finally to the questions:
Question 1: Is this normal behavior from fish (especially the firefish)
that seem to be universally placed in the ³peaceful² category?
<Is
not atypical... such behavioral problems are accentuated in small/er
volumes>
Question 2: The LFS I got the goby from highly recommended
garlic (Garlic Guard) to enhance the color of the fish ‹is this
accurate?
<... am not such a fan of these Allium products>
Question 3: In a book by Dick Mills, the purple firefish is listed as
³single species per tank². The two LFS¹s I dealt with have different
interpretations of this: one says you can only put one firefish per
tank, the other says it means you can only have firefish in a given
tank.
<Mostly the previous/former statement is so... More than one
firefish (Microdesmid) of the same species can be placed in a
large-enough system (sixty or more gallons let's say), and more than one
species can be placed together in an even larger-enough system... a 150
plus gallons let's agree on>
But the latter claims that this is
inaccurate, displaying his tanks which have firefish together with other
fish (hence, our decision to place the damsel
and the goby with the
firefish).
<... store settings are a bit different... temporary>
I also noticed that your site says that purple firefish like being in
pairs (quote from Fenner/Calfo article: ³This species demonstrates
variable tolerance of conspecifics. It may be best to
buy and keep
them in established pairs only²).
<This is so... almost always
encountered in such pairs or trios in the wild>
But I also came
across the following answers from your site when I did a search:
Firefish help
4) Is it okay to keep a firefish on its own? I read
that they need to be kept in at least pairs.
<They feel more
comfortable in groups of three or more.>
Just Firefish Remaining and
Them So-Called Nasty Worms... 12/05/05
<Regardless of that fact,
firefish are not 'grouping' or 'schooling' fish. They do tend to group
up as juveniles, however once they reach maturity (and
even
sometimes before so) they are highly aggressive and territorial fish
towards other firefish within the group. It is best to always purchase
firefish singly and never as a pair or group..>
Who, if anybody, is
right?
<I agree with pairs to trios... as I've seen them in the wild
and most often successfully kept in captivity. Unfortunately, your
system is too small for more than one>
Question 4: Wanting to cover
all colors of the spectrum, my son now has his sight set on a flame
angelfish (temperament friendly, but can be territorial
according to
the Mills book).
<... not a good choice here or period.
Unfortunately, no longer a regularly hardy import>
Yet, I have an
uncomfortable knot in my stomach... Any opinions regarding
compatibility with what we have?
Thanks very much for taking the
time.
Regards
<Do read on WWM re "Nano", small marine system
stocking. There are hardier species, groups for such a small system as
your sons. Bob Fenner>
2 quick questions (microdesmids,
Gobiosoma)
Hi Mr. Fenner,
Two quick questions tonight.
First, will the Firefish Nemateleotris magnicifica sometimes, or ever
launch themselves out of the tank, or is it more the Dartfishes?
<Both... launches itself out of the tank all the time, and IS a member
of the family Microdesmidae>
Second, does the neon goby Gobiosoma
Evelynae always stay bluish with
a yellow head, or can they become
like the Gobiosoma randalli, and turn only with the yellow markings?
<Not as far as I'm aware...>
I ask this because I think one of the
local LFS is selling G. Randalli as a sharknose goby, and is charging
$20.00 more then the G. Oceanops that they also have. Should the
sharknose be more expensive?
Greg N.
<Where's my Gobiosoma
specialists when I need them!? Have seen (and yes, identified), G.
randalli as G. evelynae (sigh) myself... Think I've finally had them
sorted out on the WWM site. The non-oceanops gobies often sell for quite
a bit more, not being widely cultured (that is, instead being
wild-collected. Bob Fenner> Firefish substrate depth
Respected sir
Hello to all members of wetwebmedia.com. well sir i
want to ask you that will the fire fish be happy in a one
inch deep
sand i had seen the photo in your website. I really like to keep that
fish. please reply me soon. LIFE UNDER WATER, MONTY
<Hi Monty, these
fish burrow, so they need at least two inches of appropriate substrate,
the deeper the better. Nice fish! Craig> Firefish
Down! 3/19/03
Hi Phil,<Hey Richard!! What's up?>
Bad news,
just had a casualty overnight.<Oh no, I'm truly sorry! The loss of a
fish is never easy!> I've got a 30 gallon which cycled
properly.<Good> My first inhabitants were a pair of Firefish. Day one
they were out feeding together in the water column day two I introduced
a orange spot
goby. During the second day one of the Firefish started
to stay out of sight it would come out occasionally but wasn't feeding.
It would stay under a rock
shelf, its dorsal fin was laying down and
wouldn't come up. Day three in the morning I found it dead on the bottom
of the tank so I took it out, it had a
bite out of the neck probably
after it died the orange spot took a taste. Any ideas as to what
happened, I thought these were hardy fish. I couldn't
see any lesions
on the body. Should I do anything with the other fish?<You shouldn't
really keep two Firefish together in a small tank. You can keep a pair
in a tank say 100g or bigger. The one will be fine alone.>
Thanks
<No problem, again sorry about the loss.>
Rick <Phil>
Helfrichi Firefish 10/28/04
I plan on keeping a biotopic setup
with Nemateleotris helfrichi.
<outstanding... one of my fave fishes.
I have kept more than a few for years. Hardy with the right (peaceful)
tankmates>
My tank is 800 l (200 gal) and will have 4 in line refugia
of 200 l (50 g) each. my question is what fish and invertebrate live in
the same niche and occur in the same geographical regions and will
peacefully co-exist with the Dartfish? Thanks Huig
<this is very
exciting to hear you interested and willing to do the research and set
up a proper tank for this/any animal. My advice to start you on your
journey is to go to fishbase.org... see the geographic distribution of
the species (and so many more links on the species splash page with info
on diet, reproduction, etc)... then carry that info to the library for
field guides. Better still... check out the outstanding regional/field
and dive books at seachallengers.com for some outstanding additions to
your library. A good field guide will tell you much about history,
niches and possible tankmates. Anthony> Nemateleotris history
11/5/04
thanks Anthony - I've already spent hours on fishbase in
the past but didn't find what I was looking for so at this stage I'm
looking at pictures from scuba sites but most of them are just one
specimen without much info.
<do e-mail and call some of the Hawaiian
and LA wholesalers that will take the time to respond to you. All of
these specimens come through these channels. These folks can tell you
about locales, niches, and other biotopic tidbits>
I'll look for
some books you've recommended. I think the
best thing to do is buy a
plane ticket
<heehee... yes, agreed!>
but I'm doing some
(read a lot) reconstructions at my home. so my
diving will be in
the cold dark waters of the north
sea. Greetz
<best of
luck/life. Anthony> Firefish
Mr. Fenner,
<Jim>
I
understand you're a diver. I'm interested as to what areas of the reef
firefish inhabit. I'm considering buying two for my 30 mini reef, but
am
concerned as to the amount of water current they are accustomed
to. <Most species that are offered in the trade can be found on reef
slopes and
their bases/ends... in a mixed (but always including)
sand and rocky bottom... near the bottom. A few, like Ptereleotris
evides are generally
found next to solid rock, making caves there
hidey holes. Current isn't too much a concern... though microdesmids
look fragile, they are strong swimmers
(and jumpers! Keep your
tank/s covered!). Bob Fenner>>
Thank You,
Salty Dog (Jim Gasta)
Firefish goby
I have a 25 gallon tank with 8 gallon sump and 4
gallon hang-on-back refugium. This tank has 4-5" of sandbed, live rock,
assorted corals and
a pearly jawfish, citron goby pair, a Rainford
goby, a crocea clam, and a cleanup crew of assorted snails, a
brittlestar, 2 small blue-legged
hermits, and a pair of peppermint
shrimp. The tank has been established for 8 months or so and everything
is thriving.
I had a bi-color blenny in there until recently, and
removed him because of aggression against his tankmates and tendency to
nip at my clam. To
take his place, I thought this setup would be
ideal for two firefish gobies, and I have always admired the beauty of
these fishes. I reasoned
the citron gobies had a territory in the
rock pile on the right, where they lay eggs regularly, and would let
someone else live in the rock
pile on the left (the jawfish occupies
open sand in the middle). I thought wrong, apparently, because when I
tried to introduce the
firefish, they were harassed by the citrons
and, although the tank was covered, apparently it was not good enough,
and one firefish expired on
the rug. The other one is back in
quarantine while I seek advice/figure out what to do.
<Get a larger
system>
The dealer does not accept returns, and the firefish would
be unhappy, I believe, in my community 75 gallon tank.
<What is in
the 75?>
Is the firefish doomed to spend the rest of its life in the
quarantine tank (not a prospect I relish, as
I had planned to take
that tank down soon), or do you think I could get the citrons to accept
it by removing them, putting the firefish in, then
reintroducing the
citrons later?
<Not likely in this case... they will reclaim "the
whole tank" as their territory>
Would my chances of success (and
fish happiness) be increased if I were to replace the firefish that
jumped so that I had two?
<Mmm, no, not in the smaller tank, but yes
in something of adequate size, composition>
Or should I give up and
conclude the citrons were there first and will never accept the
interloper(s)? Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.
<Appears to me you're aware of your choices... choose. Bob Fenner>
Ribbon goby
Hi, anyone there have any experience with keeping
blue-barred ribbon (or razor) gobies (Oxymetopon cyanoctenosum)?
<Have seen this microdesmid (dart goby family member) sold at times>
A LFS has a very nice feeding specimen that I was thinking about
purchasing and was curious if y'all had any information on them.
Thanks!
Charlie Mann
<Times when I've seen them kept
successfully they were in a grouping... not solitary... in a peaceful
setting... That's unfortunately all I know. Bob Fenner> Re:
ribbon goby
Thanks a ton....there seems to be a paucity of
information about these guys...if I end up getting him/her, I'll let you
know what I find out.
Charlie
<Thank you. Do appreciate the
sharing... will post for alls edification. Bob Fenner>
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