Firefish flicking off of sand

[Packohotdogs]

Hi Everyone,

All has been well in my small tank.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that my purple firefish likes to flick off the sand in the evening. He swims tiwards it, and then quickly dusts off.

He is eating fine, and is in perfect health. I have had him for 4 months now. Of note, he flicks the same spot every time. He has also made a bed in the same cave as the fire shrimp. They are buddies and spoon together at night.

The two clowns are doing excellent as well.

Does anyone know why the firefish does this?


thanks,
Jeff

[Packohotdogs]

Anyone??

Is this normal behavior?

[Sniperhank]

Sounds like flashing to me, which is something a symptom of ich. How big is the tank? What are your current parameters?

[Packohotdogs]

12 gallons... I know, I know...

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 (just did pwc)
Ph 8.2
Sg 1.025

All is well... All fish are great and no ich is visually present.

Thanks Hank!

[Sniperhank]

So basically your fish are stressed, that is why it is flashing. Ich is only detectable when it is in the third stage of its life, when it is about to reproduce on the fish. If you just did a water change and your nitrates are 10, then it had to be much higher before. That tied in with how small of a tank all 3 of those fish are in...that is the problem. You'll need to get them in a larger tank or it will be a matter of time before the system crashes. One clown I could see in a tank that size, 2 is def pushing it...but a firefish is a fish that swims around alot and needs the space to swim. Hope this helps.

[Packohotdogs]

Also he always hits the SAME spot in the sand... Hovers down to it real slow them bam! Quickly dusts off kicking up a cloud of substrate. Very weird behavior!

[Packohotdogs]

One more observation... He only does this when the tank light is on. When it's on moonlight, he just hangs in the water column or in his cave.

anyone have any ideas? I had to fill in the sand rut he created!!

[Packohotdogs]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

So basically your fish are stressed, that is why it is flashing. Ich is only detectable when it is in the third stage of its life, when it is about to reproduce on the fish. If you just did a water change and your nitrates are 10, then it had to be much higher before. That tied in with how small of a tank all 3 of those fish are in...that is the problem. You'll need to get them in a larger tank or it will be a matter of time before the system crashes. One clown I could see in a tank that size, 2 is def pushing it...but a firefish is a fish that swims around alot and needs the space to swim. Hope this helps.

So sorry... I just saw this response.

Thanks SH. I got the firefish also cuz my wife liked him, and they are rated for 10 gallons. I a filtering the crap out of the tank with purigen, perform PWC weekly. All levels have been tested weekly and have been completely stable, and nitrate only gets up to 20 at worst. I hope it's not actually flashing, but at this point I have no idea what it could be so that must be it.

28 gallon Cube is next on the list for sure. Thanks again sir!!

[54seaweed]

fire fish (DART FISH) mine does that all the time
hence the word dart fish
it's normal behavior mine burrow in the sand too

[Packohotdogs]

Originally Posted by 54seaweed

fire fish (DART FISH) mine does that all the time
hence the word dart fish
it's normal behavior mine burrow in the sand too

Very glad to hear it!!! I thought it was because they dart in and out of their holes/caves whenever the evil net fish or algae scraper fish enters their domain.

[54seaweed]

mine will take brine shrimp from my hand not shy at all

give them time they'll get used to your hand eventually