Firefish

The firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica), also sold as the fire goby, is a small dartfish from Indo-Pacific reef slopes. The front half of the body is white, shading through orange into a deep red tail, and it carries a tall first dorsal spine that it flicks up and down as it hovers. Most of its day is spent holding station just above a hole in the rock, dropping into cover the moment anything moves too quickly.

Aquarium care

• Adults reach about 7 cm.
• Peaceful and quite timid; it needs rockwork with a burrow or crevice it can call its own.
• A committed jumper — a tightly covered tank is essential.
• Hovers in the lower and middle water column just above its shelter.
• Takes small frozen foods and finely sized prepared foods.
• Does not bother corals or ornamental invertebrates.

Best kept singly, or as an established pair, in a calm reef or fish-only tank alongside gobies, clownfish, cardinalfish and other quiet stock. Boisterous or fast-feeding fish will keep it hiding and underfed, and two firefish introduced separately to a small tank will usually fight.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is available for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. Browse the saltwater fish collection.