Also known as the Helfrich’s Dartfish, the Helfrichi Firefish is considered by many to be the most beautiful member of the firefish family. It has an elongated body with a trademark purple head and yellow forehead. The rest of its body is varying shades of purple and white. The long fin on the underside of its body is often trimmed in purple and yellow. It stays quite small, maxing out at roughly 2.5”.
This stunning fish is native to the waters of the Indo-Pacific region. It is found at a wider range of depths than other dartfish, often as deep as 90 meters. Generally it is not found in waters shallower than 25 meters. It is most commonly found hovering over the sandbed or reef rubble at the edge of reef slopes. Due to its popularity, there is also a fairly steady supply of captive bred specimens available as well. In a home aquarium, it appreciates ample rockwork with caves and ledges for hiding. Due to its tendency to jump, it absolutely requires a tank with a tight fitting lid. The Helfrichi Firefish is a very peaceful, sometimes timid, fish and does best in a tank with other peaceful inhabitants.
The Helfrichi Firefish is generally added to a tank because of its beauty but it has a number of other advantages as well. It is completely peaceful to all other reef inhabitants and will not bother corals or other invertebrates. It is also easy to feed and will happily consume a wide variety of foods out of the water column. It can be fed a combination of quality pellet foods, mysis shrimp and finely chopped meaty foods. While it generally feeds on foods in the water column, it will also pick at the substrate and rockwork on occasion.
Provided it is housed in a tank with a lid and other peaceful inhabitants the Helfrichi Firefish makes a uniquely beautiful addition to a home reef tank.
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