Purple Firefish: A Shy Beauty for the Small, Peaceful Aquarium

Marine aquarists looking for a gorgeous, interesting, nano-friendly fish might entertain the idea of keeping the purple firefish (a.k.a. the purple dartfish, elegant firefish/dartfish, and decorated firefish/dartfish, among various other common names). Given appropriate tankmates and care, this graceful, hardy,…

Exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita – a bigger yellow version of the purple firefish

The exquisite firefish, Nemateleotris exquisita, joins the small but illustrious group of reef fish which are endowed with equally flattering latin names. Hailing from the western Indian Ocean, the new exquisite firefish looks very similar to the well known purple firefish,…

Awesome Fish Spotlight: The Lined Dartfish, Ptereleotris grammica

Ptereleotris, commonly known as wormfishes or dartfishes, is a genus well represented in the aquarium hobby. With over half a dozen colorful, peaceful and affordable species to choose from, these wormlike pseudo-gobies make for a great addition to any reef tank.…

Philippine Dartfish- One of the world best fish for nano tank

Parioglossus, is a genus of dwarf dartfish that stay small, nice, and hardy but is rarely offered in the trade. Of all 22 species being known to science, the Philippine Dartfish (Parioglossus philippinus) is the one recently shown up in…

Purple face Helfrich’s firefish resurface from the Cook Islands

Helfrich’s firefish, Nemateleotris helfrichi, were once so rare in the aquairum hobby that you basically never saw them at the fish store. How times have changed now that the dainty little Helfrich’s is collected in massive numbers from the Marshall Islands…

Proaquatix reveals new captive bred Parioglossus – but what species?

While at MACNA, we had the opportunity to talk fish with Seth Pierce of Proaquatix. Seth hinted that one of the newest developments is the captive breeding and rearing of a small Parioglossus “Goby” that schools. Their problem?  No one there knows what…

Hybrids between the magnificent firefish and the decorated firefish are a perfect blend of the two

Firefishes make great aquarium specimens and are wildly popular, be it the lower end maginificent firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica), or the higher ended helfrichi firefish (Nemateleotris helfrichi). Firefishes fall into the category of “factory made” fishes where every single piece looks…

Aberrant pink-spot firefish is both unique and spectacular

The firefish, Nemateleotris magnifica, is a staple beauty in the aquarium industry – aberrant firefish however, are not. Having seen hundreds of firefishes all resembling cookie cutter clones of each other over the years, this is the first time that…

Navigobius dewa, a new firefish genus and species

Navigobius dewa is a sensational new species and genus of dartfish with some very firefish-like qualities. Described in 2009 from specimen collected in Kagoshima Bay, Japan, Navigobius dewa is so unique that it was placed into a genus all it’s…