Mystery death of fish?

[Mordie101]

Hello all, when I woke up today I went to the tank and found 1 of my purple firefish pair dead caught in the overflow.

I added chemiclean to water for some cyano bacteria but I have 3 other fish and everyone else seems fine. I have an air stone and all my equipment pointed up for optimum oxygenation.

I left for three days and they all went without food but that’s normal, he however didn’t come out of their cave and didn’t get fed. Possible cause?


The two firefish have been in the tank for a little over a month.


16 gallon biocube The rank has been running since July 3rd.

Salinity- 1.023
Ph-8.0-8.2
Ammonia-0-0.25
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0-5.0 closer to 5.0


Stocking list was
2 clowns
2 purple firefish
About 50 snails(mine love to spawn) they are all tiny
1 conch snail
1 peppermint shrimp


Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Katrina71]

I'm sorry

 

[P-Dub]

Well, that sucks. Sorry for your loss there. These guys have a tendency to jump/swim fast/erratic. Maybe went for a suicide impact with something...

 

[Fudsey]

Sorry for your loss but firefish really don't do well in pairs. @Rakie can comment more on this

 

[ca1ore]

Looks thin, was it eating?

 

[Mordie101]

Sorry for your loss but firefish really don't do well in pairs. @Rakie can comment more on this

Mine came as a pair and showed zero aggression.

 

[Mordie101]

Looks thin, was it eating?

My only thought is maybe he starved. Like i said I left for three days but normally when I do that everyone’s fine.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I agree it looks thin, but I would expect that in this situation.

Firefish dont usually tolerate other firefish unless they are truly a mated pair. One will become intimidated and hide until it starves. Actual aggression isn't usually noticed.

Firefish can also be easily intimidated by other fish. In a tank that small the clowns could easily be causing intimidation and subsequent hiding and starving.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Mordie101]

Well, that sucks. Sorry for your loss there. These guys have a tendency to jump/swim fast/erratic. Maybe went for a suicide impact with something...

Maybe so. Neither of them have tried it before and I even leave the food door cracked to help with ventilation. Doesn’t make sense..

 

[Mordie101]

I agree it looks thin, but I would expect that in this situation.

Firefish dont usually tolerate other firefish unless they are truly a mated pair. One will become intimidated and hide until it starves. Actual aggression isn't usually noticed.

Firefish can also be easily intimidated by other fish. In a tank that small the clowns could easily be causing intimidation and subsequent hiding and starving.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Hmm. He did hide a lot but no one fought for food or tried to keep him from it? He got spooked a lot but that’s why I thought he was hiding.. well. Thanks for the input that makes sense almost

 

[Rakie]

Mine came as a pair and showed zero aggression.

In fish there's never a such thing as a pair. They just put two or three together and call it a "Pair", and when new they act like it as the same species will group together.

Firefish that are legitimate mated pairs will eventually go awol and fight to the death for no reason. Just happens, and happens the vast majority of the time.

Whenever you see a shop calling something a "Pair" or "Trio" -- Know that they are not anything more than two, or three fish shoved together. They were not collected together in the wild, and if they were, they were shoved in a tank with 100+ others just like them and are all but guaranteed to NOT be a true pair at all. It's a bold faced lie, and typically ends in dead fish.

That is something that really bugs me in this hobby, because unsuspecting keepers will think they are legitimately a pair -- they are not, and it is almost guaranteed to not work out.

 

[Mordie101]

In fish there's never a such thing as a pair. They just put two or three together and call it a "Pair", and when new they act like it as the same species will group together.

Firefish that are legitimate mated pairs will eventually go awol and fight to the death for no reason. Just happens, and happens the vast majority of the time.

Whenever you see a shop calling something a "Pair" or "Trio" -- Know that they are not anything more than two, or three fish shoved together. They were not collected together in the wild, and if they were, they were shoved in a tank with 100+ others just like them and are all but guaranteed to NOT be a true pair at all. It's a bold faced lie, and typically ends in dead fish.

That is something that really bugs me in this hobby, because unsuspecting keepers will think they are legitimately a pair -- they are not, and it is almost guaranteed to not work out.

Well I learn something new every day in this hobby. Just hate I didn’t learn it in time.. really loved those fish. Thanks for your time and I appreciate it!

 

[Rakie]

Well I learn something new every day in this hobby. Just hate I didn’t learn it in time.. really loved those fish. Thanks for your time and I appreciate it!

Yeah.. wish it were more positive news though -_-

Just kinda how marketing in this hobby is. It's a shame. Firefish can be so timid that one will starve to death hiding if it even suspects another fish may give it a hard time. It's a shame, they're such awesome fish.

I've always wanted a reef with nothing but firefish honestly.. If I could, I'd have a group of 15-20. Sometimes large amounts of them like that could work, but nothing is guaranteed

 

[eatbreakfast]

There some species of fish that form bonded prs and there are some species that do not form bonded prs.

Wrasses and anthias do not form bonded prs, but wrasses are often sold as prs, and in the long run it does not work out.

On the other end of the spectrum, clownfish easily form prs.

Firefish do form bonded prs. But just because they are 2 fish that seem to tolerate each other does not mean that they are bonded. What also makes determining it more difficult is that firefish don't show much outward aggression to conspecifics, but can still stress them to the point of death.