Helfrich's Firefish

[Miss Wiggle]

Well our new RO unit is ordered and should arrive any day now, we're pretty confident that after a week or so of water changes with decent water the nitrates should fall so we're just planning our first new addition for when everything's settled. I was leafing through an old copy of PFK last night and saw an article on firefish, as we'd planned one as our first fish I thought I'd have a nosey at the article and I saw that there's 3 sorts of firefish, I've only seen the red and purple one's before. But oh my god the Helfrich's Firefish is absolutely stunning and I want one!!

Now I've never seen them around here so are they really hard to get hold of? and if they are they're gonna be expensive right.... any idea how much we should expect to pay for one? If it's gonna be pricey and hard to get then maybe we'd better hold off until the tank's settled before we get one. We're only planning 1 firefish for the tank.

Also any other info on them, I've done a bit of swotting on normal firefish but are these any different... just any other comments people have that would be helpful.

Ta

 

[SkiFletch]

From what I've read of them, they seem to be easy to keep just like any other firefish. They're common meat-eating gobies, so care shouldn't be that difficult. Availability and price are... Just looking at a few US online retailers they go for $150-$300 here so be ready to pay a pretty penny to get one. You'll probably have to either go through your LFS' owner, or online to get one if you do want to spend that much. g/l with your choice

 

[Miss Wiggle]

From what I've read of them, they seem to be easy to keep just like any other firefish. They're common meat-eating gobies, so care shouldn't be that difficult. Availability and price are... Just looking at a few US online retailers they go for $150-$300 here so be ready to pay a pretty penny to get one. You'll probably have to either go through your LFS' owner, or online to get one if you do want to spend that much. g/l with your choice

hmmmm i can never remember the exchange rate from $ to £ but either way I reckon that's out of our budget!! definately out of budget for a first addition

purple firefish it is

Thanks Ski

 

[SkiFletch]

Its roughly 2-1 conversion so you're lookin at 75-150 GBP for that fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

that's a lot for a little fish!! they are nice but not THAT nice..... on the other hand we did see some snowflake clowns for about £180 each at the weekend that were very appealing

 

[wendywc]

Yeah, I've seen the Helfrichs for $250; whereas prices for other filefishes are $11 to $30.

Good luck with what you decide on!

 

[Mr.September15]

I think theres a similar fish but it has diffrent coloring. It cost about 20bucks which is better than 100+.

 

[Opcn]

I bought a helfritches for $225 and it was dead in under a week, I came home and found it half eaten with its skull bashed in at the entrance to a pistol shrimp burrow.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I bought a helfritches for $225 and it was dead in under a week, I came home and found it half eaten with its skull bashed in at the entrance to a pistol shrimp burrow.

not good!!!!

think we'll just be going for the purple one, can get it for about £20 pretty easily

 

[Pheonix]

ah i love firefish i will be having one once my tank is established again!

ive heard conflicting reports on these fish though, some say they should be kept solitary some say it should be in groups of three plus!

i was planning on a small shoal of 3 myself

good luck

Andy