My firefish commited suicide!

[mick77]

To my surprise, I came home to find my firefish in my tidepool sump! I gathered by his stiffness and lack of response, that he didn't survive the trip down the tubing! It's really kind of depressing seeing as this was one of the cooler fish I owned, and he had been doing really well for the last several months. My question is, I traded my coral beauty in for an Anthias. Would this addition make my firefish go all Jonestown on me, or could there be another possible cause for his "leap of faith"? FYI, I checked and there's no grape Kool-Aid residue anywhere.

 

[Electrobes]

firefish are easily spooked and the first thing they do is jump. there could be many reasons, my quesion is did it happen during the day time or night time? a lot of times they could have bumped into something that spooked them.

 

[Hooked]

Sorry, to hear that mick77 Is the anthias aggressive? He might have scared him. The firefish I've had have always been very timid. Could he have died and then been sucked into the overflow?

Just as a side note, I'm feeling very lucky because last night I couldn't find my neon dottyback and was beginning to wonder if my BTA had himself an expensive meal. Finally, I looked in the sump and there he is; fortunately, alive and well. I can't believe he made it into the overflow box, through the u-tube, out of the overflow box and down the drain hose into the sump :columbo:

 

[Gina]

Sorry to hear that! That has always been a concern of mine but, so far so good!

 

[wooddood]

i dont believe anthias are aggressive fish but i could be wrong.i believe their related to the chromas and i have few of them and they are not agressive at all.like said above it could have just been spooked by something and darted in the wrong direction.sorry to hear it though.

 

[Tarasco]

Anthias are generally not aggressive unless they are housed with similar looking planktivores. I remember ivyvine1 had an established anthias that chased around her new fairy wrasse, I think it was a Scott's. She ended up having to remove the wrasse.

But it doesn't sound like this is what happened here. As has been said, dartfish easily spook, so it could have been anything from sudden movement outside the tank to seeing its own reflection that made it hop into the overflow. Trauma from the slide could have killed it. I don't think that there will be a satisfactory response, but sorry for your loss.

I've learned that if a smaller fish goes missing, to always check the overflow and sump. I had a couple of clown gobies that would consistently take rides down the overflow. Trying to catch the little buggers in the sump was a pain in the butt.

 

[zy112]

same here, but mine jumped out of the back of the tank.

 

[mick77]

I think it happened at night, because I didn't realize it until I came home for lunch. The anthias has been pretty shy so far, and pretty much stays to himself. Thanks for all the condolences, it just sucks to lose a fish by something I couldn't control.

 

[CAT]

Bad luck I think My firefish took a ride down the overflow and into the fuge - even got through eggcrate, and not a mark on him. He's now in my 12 gal nano cube. Man, can those guys move when they're spooked...

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Firefish are famous jumpers and prefer deep tanks with lots of nooks and cranies to hide in if spooked. A real bummer Mick77!

:smirk: