All about ANTHIAS questions

[ca1ore]

I've found randalls to be pretty hardy, but don't often keep them with tangs.

I agree that they (and resplendent) are not inherently difficult but I think better success can be had in a calmer tank than mine

 

[potatocouch]

I've never actually kept ventralis. Don't recall ever seeing them at LFS, and they're a bit too pricey for an anthias.

They're dang expensive for few reasons; hard to collect and their coloration.

 

[potatocouch]

@magictalk have you ever kept jewel of the reef in 2 foot cube 55 gallons tank? What would you suggest stocking wise if I want sunburst in it? Any other jewels i can add that would beneficial the community?

 

[potatocouch]

@magictalk i was thinking randall, dispar and orchid Dottyback. One each.

On top of Sunburst.

 

[potatocouch]

I have kept an orchid in a large tang dominated tank and they generally stay in the edge of the rocks. I would hope that they would be as friendly in your tank. You definitely don't want a strawberry dottyback. They are pure terror! I would think the two anthias would be ok.

Thanks @magictalk for your input; had you succeeded in training your sunburst to eat flakes, or perhaps pellets?

 

[potatocouch]

Folks, feel free to jump in and hijack this thread, as long as the topic related to Anthias.

 

[Abhishek]

@potatocouch - I would again advise to get a group a group like 3-5 of randalls instead of 1 and would stay with 1 species just because its a 2 foot tank .
Make sure you have live baby brine shrimps at hand and better to setup a hatchery for them . I would advise not to medicate them for the first 1-2 days until they actually start eating .
If looking at food, try and get nutramar ova . Its a wonder food for anthias and even the hard ones like purple queens and loris take to the nutramar ova over a couple of days in addition to live brine shrimps. The only reason I could keep purple queens alive in the past was actually nutramar ova .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[potatocouch]

@Abhishek when buying Anthias, most don't have them gendered; so rules of thumb is to buy them (say 1 species) in group when they're harems and juvenile and let them gendered naturally in the tank? That way they won't kill each other? Is that how it works?

I'll try to find Nutramar Ova down under here in Australia; i doubt I will find it easily but I will try.

 

[potatocouch]

I won't have baby brine nor live hatchery, so come to think of it, buying harems would be difficult as it's would be harder to feed them small flakes or frozen brine shrimp.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I won't have baby brine nor live hatchery, so come to think of it, buying harems would be difficult as it's would be harder to feed them small flakes or frozen brine shrimp.

Randalls and dispars readily take frozen, and have been relatively quick to take to dry foods IME.

 

[Brew12]

Randalls and dispars readily take frozen, and have been relatively quick to take to dry foods IME.

I have some small dispars in QT right now and they took to frozen quickly, but even mysis was too big. They needed very small (copepod) size pieces of frozen to want to eat.

 

[potatocouch]

Randalls and dispars readily take frozen, and have been relatively quick to take to dry foods IME.

Are Randalls quite common down there?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Are Randalls quite common down there?

The LFS I work with almost always has them in stock.

 

[potatocouch]

Thanks!

 

[potatocouch]

Nutramar Ova vs Ocean Nutrition Baby Brine Shrimp vs Zoo plankton... Which is the winner?

 

[potatocouch]

http://m.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article_pdf.cfm?aid=267
You probably have seen this by Scott Michael.

I did

 

[potatocouch]

I never tried Nutramar but I think it's frozen fish eggs.
The baby brine shrimp are live food. Which would yu eat if you were an anthias?

Ocean Nutrition instant Baby Brine Shrimp is frozen and not live, right?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Remember what I said about keeping a group in your small tank. Unless they are tank raised the only ones that won't die for different reasons are the lyretail. Look at my post above. I'm sure you can find these two foods, because none of them are going to jump out of the coral reef eating flakes and pellets. You can listen to all kinds of stories but you seem like a smart guy and I'm just trying to help you. I have an article somewhere about anthias by Julian Sprung. I'll try to find it for you.

I have kept numerous species of anthias in a variety of combinations, in a variety of different sized tanks. In a 2'x2' tank a trio of randalls or dispars will be fine together. These 2 species are much more peaceful amongst each other and will not kill each other off.

Any small plankton type food, such as calanus copepods, frozen baby brine, cyclops, capellin eggs or tobiko will be accepted. Once they are greedily eating these foods, pellets and flakes can begin to be offered, and randalls and dispars generally aren't too difficult to get taking these. While true that anthias prefer to eat from the water column, with appropriate flow, dry foods will stay in suspension long enough for anthias to eat them, as long as too much isn't put in at once.

 

[Maritimer]

Fell in love when I saw a group of Bartlett's in a LFS. Brought home about five of them, and _then_ discovered that Bartlett's virtually always turn male in aquaria, and can be pretty aggressive.

Still have two, they're still absolutely gorgeous, but they are both males. _Don't_ have flasher wrasses in my tank any more. (u_u) One of the males is larger, and a bit less colorful, and keeps the other pinned in a corner much of the time - though they both appear to be in perfect health, and both eat well. (They are often the first fish someone notices and comments about!)

I've since seen Randall's, and would love to try a shoal of them, as well as have flasher wrasses again, when I switch everyone over to the 220 gallon tank, but not sure if the Bartlett's will allow them any peace.

~Bruce

 

[eatbreakfast]

See photo above. Ocean Nutrition instant baby brine shrimp (freshly hatched Artemia) are in a glass jar with at least a one year shelf life. They are live. Do not put the jar in a freezer, it goes on the shelf at room temperature.

http://www.oceannutrition.eu/products.aspx?Product=instant-baby-brine-shrimp
They are not live, and once opened need to be refrigerated and used within 6weeks. At least according to the manufacturer.