Mated pair of Firefish??

I saw 2 in a display tank with 4 royal gamma, 8 wrasse, 1 emperor angel, 1 hawkfish, 3 purple firefish, and a porky puffer. They are always 2 to 3 inches away from each other....the most I seem them apart is about 6". 1 bigger than the other and has longer "top fin". I didn't see them fight for the 15mins I was looking at them. Could they paired up???

Thanks!
GKW

 

They could be. But, Firefish like to school near each other. My LFS has 10 small ones in one tank, and they line up next to each other like soldiers at an inspection.

 

Well...imo i doubt it...i had 2 fire fish that never separated for months...then one day they become adults and then fought every day untill one jumped...but idk...ask the store owner if they were sold to him as a pair...basically unless they are a maited pair once they reach adulthood they will fight...i suppose unless in a large enough tank where they can school...but if they was the case pairs would still form

 

They are about 2 inches long and the tank above them has at least 10 of them + other fishes. That's why I was wondering if they were separated because they paired up. I asked one of the employees and he has no idea.

Also, what are the chances of them pairing up...if I get 3 and wait for them to reach their adulthood? .... 1/3?

Thanks!

 

hmmmm...well you could do that...maybe ask the store guy if you can buy the 2 and then if they fight when they mature if you can bring it back for an exchange?

 

gkw,
I wondered when i was going to use that probability and statistics class I took in college!
With two fish, your odds are 2 out of 4 that they'll be different sexes. They could be:
boy-boy boy-girl girl-boy girl-girl

With three fish you could get:
boy-boy-boy boy-boy-girl boy-girl-boy girl-boy-boy
boy-girl-girl girl-boy-girl girl-girl-boy
and girl-girl-girl
So the odds increase to 6 out of 8!

 

I have nothing intelligent to add I just like Saw39s post

J

 

Thank you, Jason.

 

What would we do without math XD

 

Update on this older thread: I beat the 50-50 odds! I have only two firefish, not three. But the smaller, younger firefish appears to be pregnant!
I'll keep you posted.