Purple fire fish...

Congaken · Mar 13, 2016

I have a new purple fire fish in QT...doing very well since I got him on Friday...he's eating everything, hovering mid-tank...in there with a chalk bass, also doing well...

Question: the fish seems young (?) and is new...except for purple on face, fins, etc. he is mostly tan...will this species get more colorful as he matures, acclimates, etc.?...he's fine now, but I just wondered...

cloak · Mar 13, 2016

Congaken said:
will this species get more colorful as he matures, acclimates, etc.?

I believe so..

What exactly are you feeding the fish though? In the link below it does state that the fish needs a vitamin-enriched diet to keep the colors vibrant. Basically a varied diet.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1636+173&pcatid=173

Congaken · Mar 13, 2016

cloak said:
I believe so..

What exactly are you feeding the fish though? In the link below it does state that the fish needs a vitamin-enriched diet to keep the colors vibrant. Basically a varied diet.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1636+173&pcatid=173

Yes, a varied diet: spirolina stuffed brine shrimp, Hakari mini pellets, mysis and Omega One Flakes and raw, thawed shrimp...pretty varied, no?...and I only picked him up on Friday...

...and also cyclops...he has turned down nothing...

Duke4Life · Mar 13, 2016

Here's mine

Congaken · Mar 13, 2016

Duke4Life said:
Here's mine

Mine is similarly colored...but smaller and thinner...that's why I think its immature (physically not emotionally)...

Bdog4u2 · Mar 16, 2016

I have one and he's very shy and stays in his burrow most of the time and if he is out he hovers over my lobo

Congaken · Mar 16, 2016

Bdog4u2 said:
I have one and he's very shy and stays in his burrow most of the time and if he is out he hovers over my lobo

My guy is in QT with a chalk bass...out all the time...since I only have a 10nano, the only other fish he'll encounter is a couple of yellow watchmen...what fish do you have in your tank?

ngvu1 · Mar 16, 2016

I had a 28 gallon jbj nano cube and mine was just hiding most of the time. However, I see them coming out all the time in 55 or bigger tanks. They are shy fish so they jump to the caves when hands in the tank. I have 2 in my 85 gallon tank and they are out all the time when the lights are on

joshkirkland83 · Mar 16, 2016

Yeah, he will get yellow in the face and red trim on his fins. He does sound young. I have three myself.

Bdog4u2 · Mar 16, 2016

Yellow tang,coral beauty, six line wrasse, picasso clownfish, snowflake clownfish, royal gramma,blue damsel, domino damsel and mister firefish. That's it for fish and they're in a 150 gallon tank

Congaken · Mar 16, 2016

Bdog4u2 said:
Yellow tang,coral beauty, six line wrasse, picasso clownfish, snowflake clownfish, royal gramma,blue damsel, domino damsel and mister firefish. That's it for fish and they're in a 150 gallon tank

are the damsels and maybe the angels a wordless threat to him?...I had a yellow tail damsel...terrorized the tank...

Bdog4u2 · Mar 16, 2016

The six line is the smallest fish and terrorizes most of the fish the domino damsel actually protects the clownfish it stands guard and chases it away. It killed my mandarin I had for 3 years

Congaken · Mar 16, 2016

Bdog4u2 said:
The six line is the smallest fish and terrorizes most of the fish the domino damsel actually protects the clownfish it stands guard and chases it away. It killed my mandarin I had for 3 years

Look, we've all been through this type of thing...of course that's why your fire fish were so shy...especially with a small tank...choice of tankmates is so important...I was sorry to lose my spot tail blennie with the power outage, but the yellow tail was a bad choice...now I'm anticipating no problems...(famous last words)...