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Anyone keeps firefish in a reef tank with open top?

whitebear1020

whitebear1020

Hey all, I need an advise .. would love to get a pair of Helfrichi and don't know if they have a chance to survive in my tank.
It is 65gal with open top, I know they are jumpers, that's why I need your input.
I have 65lb of live rock, tons of places to hide, no chasers or aggressive fish in the tank.
I currently have only 5 fish:
pair of baby maroons and BTA (they are peaceful, tank-bred and never leave their BTA),
bicolor blenny,
coral beauty and
one green cromis left to catch.
I have a pistol shrimp and planning to add a shrimp goby to make a pair, then two firefish and a yellow tang at the end.
I was trying to build a peaceful community so it would be no reason for firefish to jump.
Any thoughts? ???
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

I swore off known jumpers I have a 120 Tek with open top.
Lost firefish, two sharknose gobbies, and a pygmy angel.
Saved a clown early on before pairing.
All fish can jump, regular firefish are a cheaper mistake is my only suggestion.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

yes - since dec2008 - had a firefish in an open top.

At first it hid under a piece of LR. I added a pearly jawfish and built the jawfish a pvc/barnacle home.

The jawfish kicked out the firefish. The firefish took the pvc/barnacle. It's lived there ever since. When frightened - it darts down into the home...instead of up out of the tank.

My firefish was the second species of fish added to the tank. The first was my "dither fish" - aka cardinalfish.

Ideally though your fishfish should be added before the other larger fish in the tank.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I have a pair of helfrichis right now in a covered tank and when they are scared they dive into the live rock and not up which is great. I like that fact that the tank is covered because I don't have to agonize over if I am going to come back home from work or wake up to $200+ on the floor. I would be wary, had a friend who had a helfrichi jump after it being fine for 6 months. Helfrichis are deep water fish so in the wild they can "jump" upwards without having to worry about breaking the surface, we put them in 24 inches of water and they can still have that natural reaction and the carpet surfing commences.
 
whitebear1020

whitebear1020

Thank you all for replying.

Hawkeye, I did a google search for pvc/barnacle and found this cool video:

http://vimeo.com/3912774

Does your fish live in this type of home? I was under the impression that they occupy the middle part of the tank and not the bottom.
 
W

Whitebird1

I did keep a pair in a semi open top, unfortunately not for long, they carpet surfed first night, recommend a fitting top, cuts down on evaporation as a bonus.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

whitebear1020 said:
Thank you all for replying.

Hawkeye, I did a google search for pvc/barnacle and found this cool video:

http://vimeo.com/3912774

Does your fish live in this type of home? I was under the impression that they occupy the middle part of the tank and not the bottom.
Click to expand...

Yes- my firefish indeed lives in it. He/She will head/jump to it immediately when I place my hand in the tank to do maintenance. On any given day - it will go into the pvc to take what seems like a "nap". Also every day like clockwork - right before lights out, it will head for the pvc home and before the lights are out - dive in.

The large dorsal fin on the back of the firefish is supposed to "lock" it in whatever crevice it's hiding in. So I imagine it feels secure in there and locks in. The only fish that ever investigated it was the yt blue damsel - but it never bothers the firefish.

Fyi - my tank is 24" high - not that that prevents carpet surfing.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Thing to remember is that any fish can jump. Providing good hiding spaces/homes helps. I guess I do have a wrasse that can jump but also have a deep sand bed so that is suppose to be it's way of flight to bury itself in the sand. You are playing the odds with any fish, and if you do go for them then not having an agressive tank and providing special homes should improve the odds.
 
asonitez

asonitez

Build yourself a Screen for the top. I have wrasses fire fish and a lot of known Jumpers. Its stopped them all. I mean.. some can still squeeze through but they would have to target a 1/4" opening of bouncy netting to make it through.I have an amazing piece of mind with that netting because my wrasses LOVE to be near the water surface and frequently "splash" there. All 3 of them play up there and its scary but The netting works. I used black bird netting from home depot. I used black spline and a black window screen for it.
 
D

ds4x4

i had 4 purple firefish in a 220 then 120 open top. they killed one and the rest have never even attempted to jump White moonlights and all
 
K

kados33

I have two Firefish in my open top 120 gallon. They have not jumped out. They normally dart under the live rock when scared in my tank.
 
M

MU8ST7ANG

I had 2 fire fish in my open 90. First day one took the dirt nap and jumped out. The other hasnt even tried. I also have a leopard wrasse but was very careful when buying him I watched for the least crazy one. He is doing great very active but has not tried to jump out ever.
 
twisted

twisted

ive had one for over a year in a 75 open tank and have never even seen him near the top. he just goes into the lr to hide
 
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