kindasleepy Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Hi Guys, haven't been on in a while. I have my reef started and it has been going very smoothly other than losing a gorgeous golden hammer coral to brown slime. :cry: Anyway, here's the question. I picked up a firefish today, she's beautiful. I have a dragon goby that has been in there for a while (first actual saltwater fish I bought, I cycled the tank with mollies) and he has pretty well dominated the one side of the tank. He's not really bullying the firefish, but there aren't as many hiding spots on the opposite side of the tank. Do firefish build their own holes or do they have to have natural structures already in place? I can't seem to find any info about how they make/what they like for bolt holes. Thanks! :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 They look for bolt holes in live rock. Unlike their relatives who hug the sandbed, the fire fish or dart gobies like to operate in mid to high areas near to a coral or rocky shelf for protection. You may lose the gobies if they are startled too much by other fish as they naturally will jump. Keeping a lid on the tank or if you run halides and need the air circulation a net lid made out of bath scrubbies that have been pulled apart and stretched over a frame will prevent them from jumping to their deaths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 I've got a lid so I'm not super worried about that unless she figures out the hole by the heater. So here's hoping she doesn't figure that out. :P I rearranged my rock to make it a little more accessible for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blink Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Rearranging the rock will usually break up fishes chosen territories and sort of reset things for everyone, so unless things are glued in place or corals are stuck to the rock and prohibiting you from moving the rock that's often a real easy solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 In the wild firefish live in shoals of hundreds of fish and like to hover a few inches away from their bolt holes. However each firefish requires its own bolthole and a certain amount of space. I therefore think it would be possible to setup a tank for large groups of firefish as long as you where willing to build the rockwork to suit them, you would also need to provide more space for them than there body size would suggest. It has long been a dream of mine to have a shoal of 6-8 firefish in a tank as there shoaling/signalling behavior ( there dorsal fin is for comunication) is absolutely facsinating. I would suggest building a rock wall of small fist size boulders with as many 1-2 cm wide holes as you can fit in it might even be worth buying bigger pieces and drilling holes in them if you where serious enough about it. basically the hole should be just big enough for the firefish to fit in but to small for any other fish ( except a blenny) for the firefish to consider it a bolt hole. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 I rearranged the rock so that there are more small gaps between the pieces. Hopefully she settles on a spot, I didn't realize they could be that small (1-2cm). Now my issue is that I'm getting some shifting in the rocks but am a bit wary of gluing them together. Can I break them apart again if I use corafix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 I personally have never been a big fan of using glue of any sorts in a reef tank. All of my rock isn't glued, but when I aquascaped, I made sure that the rock could not move very easily. Its kind of like playing Tetris. Also when choosing my life rock, made sure it had lots of holes to place frags in. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kindasleepy Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 I've only glued one frag and that's because I want my GSP to grow up my glass and needed him to stay secure. I've got the rock sitting fairly securely but I worry. The last think I want is the sound of a rock tipping into the glass at night. I don't want to have rocks absolutely permanently stuck together either though. Have you ever noticed your fish/inverts getting super annoyed when you move stuff around? I don't want to stress them too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaminz Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Do you get annoyed when you get home and the your place is re-arranged??? lol The only time I move things around with the rock work it when I introduce a new fish, and the territory fights happen. In all my time in this hobby, I have never once had the rock work fall against the glass, I usually leave enough room from the rock work and the front of the glass. Mostly because I like to clean the glass with a magnetic cleaner and also it leaves enough room that I can acclimate my frags to the LED lights at the bottom. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.