Anthias in a 65? Stocking Suggestions

[Marine Iguana]

Howdy all! 2 weeks ago I rebooted my 65 gallon mixed reef and I'm starting to restock it. Currently the only livestock in the tank is a serpent star and yellow cucumber, as well as a few softies/zoas that have been with me for years. I'm looking for some ideas for restocking the tank- not sure if its going to be a mixed reef or if I want to try my hand at something a little different yet.

One fish that I'm interested in trying out are anthias. I've been reading a bunch of old threads about anthias selection and species, and wanted to see what you guys think would work for a 65. Ideally, I would like the anthias to eventually transition to pellets or flakes so I can use an automatic feeder. What ideas do you guys have? Also open to ideas for other fish, the only stocking I really have my heart set on is some sort of jawfish. Thanks for the help!!!

 

[davocean]

Well, even LA that tends to undersize minimum calls out for 70g being minimum for even the smallest of anthia, and if looking to feed pellets lyretails are known as easiest to adapt to that, but they call for a 125g min.

Pushing tank size for the smaller is one thing, but most others will probably not be quick to take pellets and possibly never

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Lone Borbonius or Sunburst would be the only ones I'd put in a 65. Not sure how well they'd take to pellets though.

 

[Auto-pilot]

I think a 60 is small as well. I have a group in my tank and sometimes I think my 90 is too small for them. A sunburst can be picky if you ask me and they are hard. I start anthias on baby brine and work then to other foods. Anthias have been hard fish for me.

 

[Marine Iguana]

I really like sunbursts, a buddy of mine had one a few years back. A lot of the threads I was reading were talking about housing smaller species like evansi in tanks as small as 40 breeders, and I know some have had success with lyretails in 60 cubes. I just wanted some firsthand advice, and if the consensus is to steer clear of them I will haha

 

[bhuyett]

If you are wanting something to shoal, a 60 is really to small and they will just camp out everywhere. Sunbursts are more known to be loaners.

 

[Marine Iguana]

Not really looking for shoaling, just some active fish for the upper half of the tank.

 

[Auto-pilot]

If you got one it will probably be ok. Definitely be careful with getting more than one. Anthias are mean to each other. I really like sunburst but haven't had the greatest luck with them.

 

[Marine Iguana]

If I went with a single one, what order in the stocking should it be? I know they are usually aggresive to eachother, but how are they to other fish like fairy wrasses or gobies?

 

[Maritimer]

I had a brace of Bartletts' anthias a while back that were rough on flasher wrasses. Gobies ought to be fine, but other planktivores may come in for some hazing from the more aggressive anthias species - such as Bartletts' and lyretails.

~Bruce

 

[mattzang]

i have a single lyretail anthias in a 50 cube, she's really pretty and a fun fish to watch. she actually probably runs my tank along with my midas blenny, but she doesn't really seem mean. she just kinda rolls up on other fish and flexes her fins, mostly to the orchid dottyback whenever he tries to leave the lower 1/4 of the tank. tank size wise it'd probably be preferable to have a bigger tank, but she doesn't seem to do laps or anything, she likes to kinda swim in the powerhead flow.

i don't have any fairy wrasses or gobies, but mine doesn't seem to mind halichoeres wrasses

 

[Marine Iguana]

Good info to know- still not sure if I want to do any wrasse, but I know I'll probably end up with a goby or two for certain

 

[mattzang]

Good info to know- still not sure if I want to do any wrasse, but I know I'll probably end up with a goby or two for certain

fwiw my anthias doesn't eat anything but frozen. that said, i've read tons of others that have gotten their lyretails to eat pellets/flakes. i just haven't tried any of those techniques and don't mind feeding frozen several times throughout the day. she's an eating machine so i assume if i could get her to eat flakes or pellets she'd gobble them up.

i'm pretty sure i came across posts saying people keep resplendents and randalls anthias in semi smallish tanks, maybe look into those. bulkreefsupply also has trios of anthias in cubes in their videos, but i dont know if that's a long term thing.

no wrasse?! we are no longer friends. gotta get at least one wrasse man!

 

[ca1ore]

I really like sunbursts, a buddy of mine had one a few years back. A lot of the threads I was reading were talking about housing smaller species like evansi in tanks as small as 40 breeders, and I know some have had success with lyretails in 60 cubes. I just wanted some firsthand advice, and if the consensus is to steer clear of them I will haha

Yeah, the smaller species are quite tricky. I’ve kept evansii a few times, with varying degrees of success, and none of them even sniffed flake/pellets.

 

[Marine Iguana]

fwiw my anthias doesn't eat anything but frozen. that said, i've read tons of others that have gotten their lyretails to eat pellets/flakes. i just haven't tried any of those techniques and don't mind feeding frozen several times throughout the day. she's an eating machine so i assume if i could get her to eat flakes or pellets she'd gobble them up.

i'm pretty sure i came across posts saying people keep resplendents and randalls anthias in semi smallish tanks, maybe look into those. bulkreefsupply also has trios of anthias in cubes in their videos, but i dont know if that's a long term thing.

no wrasse?! we are no longer friends. gotta get at least one wrasse man!

I love the look of female lyretails, so maybe I'll end up trying one out in the future. I'll have to look into resplendents and randalls- never seen them in person before. Also, thanks for the info with Bulkreefsupply's videos- I'll see if I can dig up some more info on them. I also didn't realize your picture of the one and only Ron Swanson- gotta compliment you on that haha!

Yeah, the smaller species are quite tricky. I’ve kept evansii a few times, with varying degrees of success, and none of them even sniffed flame/pellets.

Thank you for the info- that's one of my concerns with the smaller species, most seem delicate and never eat prepared diets from what I've read.

 

[Marine Iguana]

Also Mattzhang, I probably will end up with some sort of wrasse, I won't be able to fight that off forever lol! Missing the gang that I used to have in this tank- had a mscoskers, carpenters, yellow coris, and african cleaner for 2 years a while back. If I do wrasse again this time, what would you personally recommend I go with

 

[mattzang]

i have a yellow and a red line wrasse, really loving the red line. yellow is cool too, but i was like searching for the red line one for a couple months lol

the LFS had a pintail fairy wrasse which i was super tempted by. i also just missed out on a timor wrasse which i thought was some sort of leopard wrasse. when i went back to get it, gone!

just don't get a six line!

 

[Marine Iguana]

Oof, Pintails are beautiful but I can't justify their price tag haha. I'm going to try to avoid six lines and other rock-picking species off the bat until I decide if I'm going to do a mandarin or dragon faced pipefish.

 

[mattzang]

yeah pintails can be a bit much, but check any LFS near you for them. there was a place doing a special for them a few weeks back for $48, and the lfs i just got the yellow wrasse from had one for $75. kind of a lot, but at the end of the day still within the realm of reason.. i say as a few months ago i wouldn't have gone over $50ish for a fish lol. seems like they're cheaper at LFS than u see them for online

if you want a mandarin i think you need to avoid the halichoeres wrasses because they're copepod eating machines. if you figure out a stock plan post in the wrasse lovers thread in this forum and im sure people will recommend some solid fairy options

 

[Marine Iguana]

Yeah, if I do a pod eating fish I'm definitely avoiding any halichoeres or microfauna predetors. $48 is an absolute steal for a pintail though! I used to be more interested in expensive fish, but with finances getting tighter with college I don't have that liberty anymore. I may do one or two "showstoppers" though and will certainly hit that thread up!