Anthias and tilefish compatibility

[christinna77]

Hey all,

This is a continuation of my previous thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-borbonius-anthias-lying-on-its-side.1131392, but I felt this deserved its own post.

I've always heard that anthias and tilefish often swim together. Does anyone here keep the two without issues? I added my Borbonius anthias to the DT (75g, 6 fish total) with my tilefish after 2 days in an acclimation box, and the anthias immediately claimed the main cave, evicted my blue assessor, nipped at my wrasse, and absolutely hated my tilefish.

I fed every 2 hours and added a mirror (which he attacked pretty aggressively), but it didn't help much. He scared my tilefish into hitting the lid multiple times and I was worried he'd hurt himself, so I caught the anthias back into the acclimation box.

That was 6 days ago. I've been moving the box around the tank and feeding all the fish around it. I tried removing the black hideout inside for half the day, but that stressed him out a lot, so I stopped doing that. Today is day 6 and the anthias is still posturing and charging at the other fish, but mostly my tilefish. It doesn't seem to be improving and I really don't think I can release him like this. My tilefish can't take any aggression at all - even when the anthias charged at my blue assessor, he completely freaked out.

The only fish he completely ignores is my clownfish - they were together in my QT for 6 weeks.

Just looking for any feedback or experience you might have!

Here's the anthias chasing my assessor and freaking my tilefish out too:


Here's some shots over the past few days showing his behavior (the clownfish freely swims in and out of the box as he's small enough to fit through one of the holes at the top, I believe he's bonded with him)

 

[i cant think]

Hey all,

This is a continuation of my previous thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-borbonius-anthias-lying-on-its-side.1131392, but I felt this deserved its own post.

I've always heard that anthias and tilefish often swim together. Does anyone here keep the two without issues? I added my Borbonius anthias to the DT (75g, 6 fish total) with my tilefish after 2 days in an acclimation box, and the anthias immediately claimed the main cave, evicted my blue assessor, nipped at my wrasse, and absolutely hated my tilefish.

I fed every 2 hours and added a mirror (which he attacked pretty aggressively), but it didn't help much. He scared my tilefish into hitting the lid multiple times and I was worried he'd hurt himself, so I caught the anthias back into the acclimation box.

That was 6 days ago. I've been moving the box around the tank and feeding all the fish around it. I tried removing the black hideout inside for half the day, but that stressed him out a lot, so I stopped doing that. Today is day 6 and the anthias is still posturing and charging at the other fish, but mostly my tilefish. It doesn't seem to be improving and I really don't think I can release him like this. My tilefish can't take any aggression at all - even when the anthias charged at my blue assessor, he completely freaked out.

The only fish he completely ignores is my clownfish - they were together in my QT for 6 weeks.

Just looking for any feedback or experience you might have!

Here's the anthias chasing my assessor and freaking my tilefish out too:


Here's some shots over the past few days showing his behavior (the clownfish freely swims in and out of the box as he's small enough to fit through one of the holes at the top, I believe he's bonded with him)

Honestly, it’s a case of pick one or the other.
Borbonius anthias are nasty, and they hate other cave dwelling species in their territory.
Certain anthias can work well with tiles, but these are the shallow water, shoaling species rather than your deeperwater solidarity species.

 

[christinna77]

Honestly, it’s a case of pick one or the other.
Borbonius anthias are nasty, and they hate other cave dwelling species in their territory.
Certain anthias can work well with tiles, but these are the shallow water, shoaling species rather than your deeperwater solidarity species.

Hey, thanks for the insight! When I researched these, every source said they were peaceful and only ever aggressive/territorial with other anthias. Most sources list them as excellent community fish.

So the fact he was quite aggressive toward several of my fish as soon as I put him in the DT was a complete shock. Well, I know now lol, and I'm making plans to rehome him.

I'd still love to try another one, though, just a single anthias. How about a sunburst anthias, could that one work better with the tilefish?

 

[i cant think]

Hey, thanks for the insight! When I researched these, every source said they were peaceful and only ever aggressive/territorial with other anthias. Most sources list them as excellent community fish.

So the fact he was quite aggressive toward several of my fish as soon as I put him in the DT was a complete shock. Well, I know now lol, and I'm making plans to rehome him.

I'd still love to try another one, though, just a single anthias. How about a sunburst anthias, could that one work better with the tilefish?

Yeah, I’ve found several people have had that same experience of its a peaceful species but then terrorises everyone around them. IME, if in a large tank (and I mean large - my LFS had one in a 5-6 foot tank and it was the only fish in there because it terrorised everything else) they seem to fit more into that peaceful category.

I have found sunbursts to be a perfect species. They’re not overly aggressive but can standup for themselves when needed - much like tilefish.

 

[christinna77]

Yeah, I’ve found several people have had that same experience of its a peaceful species but then terrorises everyone around them. IME, if in a large tank (and I mean large - my LFS had one in a 5-6 foot tank and it was the only fish in there because it terrorised everything else) they seem to fit more into that peaceful category.

I have found sunbursts to be a perfect species. They’re not overly aggressive but can standup for themselves when needed - much like tilefish.

Awesome, thank you! I'll pick one up next time I see them available :)

 

[AquaLuxor]

A little late to the action but I didn’t find this till now so I currently host my blotched anthias with my oreni tilefish no aggression nor any chasing (atleast of yet I hope it never happens). Still a little bit shaken from your experience I’m sorry yours went that way though I think it may have been the fish personally not the blotched anthias entirely mine has been really nice and very fun and silly and the tilefish has been a beauty to have my clownfish doesn’t bother any rather waits for me to stick a finger to try to bite a chunk off. But if you ever try again maybe do the anthias first and I would totally recommend get a 1.5”-2.5” not too big nor too small just so he will respect bigger fish and then eventually just ignore them while he grows and don’t get any aggression towards any

 

[christinna77]

A little late to the action but I didn’t find this till now so I currently host my blotched anthias with my oreni tilefish no aggression nor any chasing (atleast of yet I hope it never happens). Still a little bit shaken from your experience I’m sorry yours went that way though I think it may have been the fish personally not the blotched anthias entirely mine has been really nice and very fun and silly and the tilefish has been a beauty to have my clownfish doesn’t bother any rather waits for me to stick a finger to try to bite a chunk off. But if you ever try again maybe do the anthias first and I would totally recommend get a 1.5”-2.5” not too big nor too small just so he will respect bigger fish and then eventually just ignore them while he grows and don’t get any aggression towards any

Hey, thanks for sharing your experience. I think Oreni tilefish are a bit different. They mostly stay near the bottom and seem more confident and wayyy less nervous. I have a yellow tilefish in my QT tank right now (I plan to try bonding it with my skunk soon) and he is way calmer too. I have not seen him try to jump out or even poke his head out once.

My skunk is a completely different story. He is either chilling in his cave, digging up new ones, or surface skimming like a dolphin lol. I think maybe the skunk was just too much for the anthias. That said, he did bully my other fish too, so who knows. I think his size played a big role as well as personality.

Either way, I'm glad yours worked out with your tilefish!