Well, interesting enough, my Fire Fish bred! I had 2 babies about an 1/8" long swimming around my rocks the other day. Look just the parents but tiny! I have not seen them in a few days and I thing they got either eaten or sucked up into the skimmer :'( . Now I am going to have to watch for more and try to put them into a seperate tank and see if I can get them to grow. Wish I had pics. I tried to get some but they were so far back in the tank I couldnt get a clear pic of them.
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Fire Fish
- Thread starter IrradiatedReef
- Start date
It just happened. I have had the fish for... roughly 4 months?? I started with 1 firefish. 2 weeks later I got another and they both nipped at each other for about a week. From that point on, they have been swimming together and living in the same cave together. You never see one without the other. Then about 3 weeks ago, they rarely came out of their cave for about a week. One would watch out of their cave for food <guessing since all you would see is a little yellow head> and both would jet out, eat quickly then go back into the hole. This is not normal behavior for them. Normally they are out swimming as long as the lights are on. Then one day I saw the little babies.
Water paramaters are all standard. 15g. nano. Ph goes between 8.0 - 8.3 depending if my window is open for fresh air. I use 65 watts of 6700k PC and 65 watts of duel Antinic PC <1 blue 1 purple> both on for 11 hours, then moonlights for the other 13 hours.
Any research I have done on these fish breeding have pulled up very little. They are one of the few fish that breed in captivity but some people have reported the fish to have taken 2 years to "pair up and get to work". I would guess that is why you do not see any captive bred firefish in stores. Just from observation, I would say that they are egg layers and protect the nest like good parents. I never saw anything larval or anything to suggest a transition from egg to fish, but that does not mean there isn't, most likely the parents keep them in hiding. I do have a lot of pods and little critters in my tank, plus I use DTs live phytoplankton. I would guess that the combo of the two was sufficient to get the fish to 1/8" in size.
I am going to keep an eye out for more breeding behavior. Maybe they work on a schedule now that they have had their first clutch??
Water paramaters are all standard. 15g. nano. Ph goes between 8.0 - 8.3 depending if my window is open for fresh air. I use 65 watts of 6700k PC and 65 watts of duel Antinic PC <1 blue 1 purple> both on for 11 hours, then moonlights for the other 13 hours.
Any research I have done on these fish breeding have pulled up very little. They are one of the few fish that breed in captivity but some people have reported the fish to have taken 2 years to "pair up and get to work". I would guess that is why you do not see any captive bred firefish in stores. Just from observation, I would say that they are egg layers and protect the nest like good parents. I never saw anything larval or anything to suggest a transition from egg to fish, but that does not mean there isn't, most likely the parents keep them in hiding. I do have a lot of pods and little critters in my tank, plus I use DTs live phytoplankton. I would guess that the combo of the two was sufficient to get the fish to 1/8" in size.
I am going to keep an eye out for more breeding behavior. Maybe they work on a schedule now that they have had their first clutch??