Purple Firefish - One of the Most Beautiful Fish

The colors of this Purple Firefish(Nemateleotris decora) are simply amazing. Their white to yellowish body gradually becomes grayish towards the caudal fin. Face is marked with a purple patch, with the tail and fins lined with red-orange color that is decorated with streaks of black. Although commonly mistaken to belong to a family of gobies, this is actually a dartfish, commonly known as Decorated Firefish or Decorated Dartfish.

The Purple Firefish is a peaceful fish that is usually observed to be hovering inside the tank. The reason for this behavior is because this species of fish is commonly a plankton eater in the wild. Inside the tank, though, it must eat diversified diet of marine fish food (either fresh or thawed), brine and mysid shrimp, and flake food. This is to ensure that their colors would stay beautiful and vibrant. Fading colors indicates malnutrition, which is easier to prevent than to remedy. To encourage them to eat artificially prepared food, introduce the food slowly, changing every now and then until they are enticed to eat.

Peaceful as they are, they do not do well amongst each other, unless they are of the opposite sex. Once they are paired, they are highly monogamous and will occasionally breed, depending upon the tank's condition. It's a rare occurrence, so don't hold your breath waiting for them to do so. It is highly important that you keep a tight lid on your salt-water tank for this fish can jump right out of the tank. Adequate hiding spaces provided by rocks and corals will also help minimize its jumping tendencies. Make sure that the aquarium is kept optimally and the fish in the tank are not very aggressive. Your Purple Firefish will rather starve to death rather than compete with other fish for food. It needs at least a tank size of about 20 gallons so it would have some ample space to swim. Each fish would cost you about 25-35. Although it is generally described as a fish highly tolerant to disease, it may still suffer some infection that can contaminate your tank. Quarantine of 2-3 weeks is necessary so you can observe if your new Purple Firefish is healthy or otherwise.