Anthias

C

CarolynM

I see more and more people with pics of Anthias in their tanks. I love the looks of them but have steered clear as I thought they are rather hard to keep especially to feed.

For those who have them:

a) What type do you keep or recommend keeping?
b) How have you fared with them?
c) How often and what do you feed them?

Thanks so much. I have a 90 gallon with only 3 fish in it(blue hippo and a pair of ocellaris).
 
Anthias can be a bit dicey but a couple species are much hardier then others.

I have 6 lyretail anthias and they have done real well for me. I have had them for almost a year now. Lyretails tend to be the easiest to acclimate. I put them in a 20G qt tank for a month and started feeding them PE mysis and cyclopeeze and within 2 days they were all eating.

Liveaquaria is where I got them and I know Marc had good luck with them from there also. I fed mine 2 times a day in qt but now they just get it once a day with the rest of the fish. They eat everything except pellet now.

They tend to do much better either singly or with 4 or more so they can form their social structure.
 
I too got my Lyretails from Live Aquaria.

http://melevsreef.com/liveaquaria_anthias.html

From the 7 females and 1 male that I got, I still have 6 females & 1 male. They've been in my tank for 5 months. I was feeding twice a day to keep them happy, but the nightly feeding is what they get consistently. About two or three days a week I'll add a net full of brine shrimp nauptili (48 hrs hatched baby brine shrimp), and twice a week I add a half sheet of nori. Sometimes I'll add a pinch of Sprung's Sea Veggies flakes.

I do worry that they don't get enough to eat with only a daily feeding based on the research I've read, which is why I mix in other things when I think about it, but I'm not feeding 2x a day regularly. It is more miss than hit.
 
This is good to know ...that is basically how I feed my tank...2x a day when I remember!

I see Anthias are supposed to be kept in groups....any idea if 3 is considered a group or would you need more? I need to save some room in the 90 for a couple of butterfly fish.

Right now we have pair of small ocellaris and a 2.5" inch blue tang...so do you think the following would be OK to add over time:

3-4 Anthias
CBB butterfly
Augriga or other butterfly
and an algae eating fish of some kind (rabbitfish or sm tang)
 
Hey guys,

I added 5 females and 1 male lyretail anthias about 2 1/2 years ago. They have done very well. I generally feed 2x daily and some days they only get one feeding. About two months ago, my male disappeared (no idea or sign of him) and within a day the largest female started transitioning to male. It has been pretty exciting to watch the transition, but within 10 days she went from bright orange to purple with really flared red fins...pretty awesome! All of the anthias species have this characteristic of "harems" with a dominant male and many females.

So, now I have four females and one male. Everyone seems happy.

Not sure what happened to the male, but I guess we don't really know how old these fish are when they are collected either. No signs of any problems or other fish have disappeared or died.

These are my experiences. Hope that helps. I've wanted to try some of the other supposedly "less hardy" species since these have thrived in my tank. I think that the key is frequent feedings, flow and enough of them so they don't fight.

Matt
 
I also like the lyretail anthias. They seem hardier then the rest. If you are worried about room I would just get a single male. I had a single male for about 3 years. Now I have a trio that I have had for about a year.

I would feed twice a day. If you feed once then make sure they get plenty of food. Feed a good variety to help them keep their vibrant color.

Matt, that must have been pretty cool seeing the female turn into a male. Do you have any before and after pictures?
 
I had a male and female square spot in my 125 and the female went Rambo on me. I had to move it to the other tank and get more females. They are sensative though. I purchased three females and two came down with fin and tail rot and died in about 24 hours. :cry: I am looking for more femaless. :)
 
I have 4 dispar that are schooling in my 120. I qt'd them for a month, then added them to the display. They are doing great. When I'm home they get fed 3 times a day, but if I'm working they just get what they can. If I go out of town, I would consider putting in an automatic feeder for these. It is so cool to have a school. They stay together and are fairly small fish. I have heard that the Bartlett's is very hardy Anthias but never kept one. The square spot didn't do so well in my tank but it was being harrassed.

Kay
 
carolyn if you get anthias try to buy all females then the predominant one will turn to a male. is my .02... i feed mine twice a day small bit of nicks food in the am and nicks food and mysis at night
 
ive had great luck with the sunburst anthias. they seem to be harder to get to eat, but once i get them eating they do well. ive had a single one for about 6 months. im about to get 4 more to see how that works out. it should be fun!

main thing is if you buy locally, ask to see them eat. lyretails and bartletts seem to do well in our tanks. bartletts are just a bit more expensive, but awesome fish.
josh
 
I just purchased 3 female lyretails yfrom a GB and planning on purchasing a male lyretail from LFS and intruducing them to my tank at the same time.

My question is when QT'n, what needs to be done to ensure good health?
 
I dropped my salinity and hypo'd them 3 weeks and used Prazipro prophylactically and fed, fed, fed. Got them eating and fattened up and raised up the salinity. They were in the qt tank alone so got used to each other and schooling and when I put them in main tank, they school and hang out and not afraid of even big mean powder blue tang. They are so fun too watch and stay out and colorful. I didn't know I would like anthias this much.

Kay
 
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