Anthias- Hard to keep?

[Griev]

No anthias is easy. Some are just easier than others. Keeping a single is generally met with greater success than trying to keep a group. No matter how many you buy, eventually you’ll end up with just one. You can mix species. I have a single lyretail and bimac in my 120. Thinking about adding a single Bartlett. I started out with 5 lyretails six years ago, now down to one.

I guess I'm the exception to this rule. I've now kept my group of 12 for over a year without a single loss. I auto-feed 4-5 times a day, and they're all fat and happy. The male and original 5 females have been together now almost 2 years. I did lose several to acclimation/disease, but never aggression.

I think a key part is keeping enough so that the aggression and thus stress is spread out a lot more. Keep in mind that the M:F ratio for these fish in the wild is like 1:35.

 

[FernBluffReef]

I have four. One male and three female. They seem to be pretty easy going and get along with others. lyretails. They get fed twice a day just like everyone else.

Lights just came and breakfast just wrapping up so the corals are not all the way open

 

[exnisstech]

I tried 6 disbar a while back. After QT I added them to my 180g and ended up with none. I feed 4-5 times and did not see any aggression they just disappeared 1 by 1 till none

 

[Paul B]

I have a couple of Sunbursts for about 4 years. No problems yet.



I had a bunch of these for a while but much more work to keep as they eat tiny food constantly

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve been trying to find more information on anthias. I wanted to add a bit more fish to my tank so was curious what’s the requirements for anthias? Are they hard to get to eat? How often do you have to feed them?

Currently have: 2 clowns, melanurus wrasse, orange back fairy wrasse, blue throat fairy wrasse, Tomini tang, scopas tang, pink watchman goby, and bicolor blenny.

What’s the easiest type of anthias to keep? And minimum requirements to keep one happy and healthy?

I have found them to be easy care. You want t provide continuous food throughout the day as I use Auto feeder and feed healthy meaty diets. Good water quality essential and do not let salinity get low as they are susceptible to uronema. I have a nice mix for over 3 years now

 

[N11morales]

I have found them to be easy care. You want t provide continuous food throughout the day as I use Auto feeder and feed healthy meaty diets. Good water quality essential and do not let salinity get low as they are susceptible to uronema. I have a nice mix for over 3 years now

What auto feeder do u use and what food are using? Very nice tank btw.

 

[N11morales]

I have four. One male and three female. They seem to be pretty easy going and get along with others. lyretails. They get fed twice a day just like everyone else.

Lights just came and breakfast just wrapping up so the corals are not all the way open

how big is ur tank? I was thinking about getting 3 or so

 

[vetteguy53081]

What auto feeder do u use and what food are using? Very nice tank btw.

I use Neptune AFS auto feeder and in it are TDO pellets, new Era pellets, Garlic pellets, ocean nutrition flakes and nutramax balls

 

[N11morales]

I use Neptune AFS auto feeder and in it are TDO pellets, new Era pellets, Garlic pellets, ocean nutrition flakes and nutramax balls

awesome ty gonna look into it. So you just mix all those pellets? get a varient of food throughtout the day im assuming?

Do you still feed frozen at all or mainly pellets?

 

[vetteguy53081]

awesome ty gonna look into it. So you just mix all those pellets? get a varient of food throughtout the day im assuming?

Do you still feed frozen at all or mainly pellets?

I feed frozen every evening and on weekends

 

[Naekuh]

Lyretails... Carberryi... Dispars... from my knowledge are the easiest...

To my amazement the Carberryi took non frozen food faster then my lyres and are constantly at the feeder ring the moment they see me.

Lyres will beat up on each other to get dominance.

Carberryi i only see it do its fin dance but no real hardcore aggression like my lyres which are like torpedo's at each other.

Here are my pack of rabbit dogs.. err i mean anthias...

As for ease to keep them... id say the moment they cycle off frozen, and are good on freeze dried / flakes, they are no more difficult then chromis.

Although i have issues with chromis's always wanting to commit self genocide on each other.


Your tangs... especially the Tomini might not like new additions.

I'd becareful when adding anthias... they really do not like a enviorment where something is always chasing them.

 

[N11morales]

Lyretails... Carberryi... Dispars... from my knowledge are the easiest...

To my amazement the Carberryi took non frozen food faster then my lyres and are constantly at the feeder ring the moment they see me.

Lyres will beat up on each other to get dominance.

Carberryi i only see it do its fin dance but no real hardcore aggression like my lyres which are like torpedo's at each other.

Here are my pack of rabbit dogs.. err i mean anthias...

As for ease to keep them... id say the moment they cycle off frozen, and are good on freeze dried / flakes, they are no more difficult then chromis.

Although i have issues with chromis's always wanting to commit self genocide on each other.


Your tangs... especially the Tomini might not like new additions.

I'd becareful when adding anthias... they really do not like a enviorment where something is always chasing them.

Yeah I've added 2 wrasses and a goby since the tomini and i had no issues, but I understand it might be a tough one to add with a tomini.

 

[Naekuh]

Yeah I've added 2 wrasses and a goby since the tomini and i had no issues, but I understand it might be a tough one to add with a tomini.

well if the tomini is minding its own business planting flags still, then your good.

The moment it declares the tank tangopia... its pretty much overs from what i hear.

I have a tiny one... well not so tiny anymore... but got him the size of a half dollar, and now its about 2 inches.
So far its still planting flags in the 150g i have... so i know my time frame is very short if i want to add any more fishes.

But don't let anthias scare you like they did to me when i first got them.

And don't be afraid to mix them either, so like you can have 3 lyres + 3 cariberryis + 3 disbars... or a combo of that...

Im actually looking on adding either a single fathead sunburst, or a blotched, if i can find one for a reasonable price to the existing harem i have.

Also i did hear you want to keep them in prime number qty... so like 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 11.
I think this maybe more of a urban legend, but i read more success when people do that.

 

[N11morales]

well if the tomini is minding its own business planting flags still, then your good.

The moment it declares the tank tangopia... its pretty much overs from what i hear.

I have a tiny one... well not so tiny anymore... but got him the size of a half dollar, and now its about 2 inches.
So far its still planting flags in the 150g i have... so i know my time frame is very short if i want to add any more fishes.

But don't let anthias scare you like they did to me when i first got them.

And don't be afraid to mix them either, so like you can have 3 lyres + 3 cariberryis + 3 disbars... or a combo of that...

Im actually looking on adding either a single fathead sunburst, or a blotched, if i can find one for a reasonable price to the existing harem i have.

very nice! Yeah I wasn't sure on what fish I could add to my tank with a tomini. So I was looking into fish that take up different parts of the tank. I thought maybe anthias would be an okay addition. Other than Anthias im not sure what i can add. I need to increase my bioload.

 

[areefer01]

I currently keep 4 Pink Square Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia). Captive bred, Biota. Purchased them all at the same time back in July 2022.

I feed dry / pellet mix hourly starting at 0830 to 1830. Small portions. Between 1830 and 2030 I feed one frozen session. Rotate through LRS Reef, Fish, mysis, prime, and brine. This is a medium size portion. Dry is a blend of TDO x-small (I have gobies), small, Hikari A & S, and PE Mysis.

They arrive all as female. One is clearly the dominate and starting to transition. It is slow going but you can see the color difference in body and fins. It does an odd dance, head butt, and a bit of chasing or corralling. There are no fight clubs, locking of jaws, or torn fins. Just one sort of herding. One is clearly smaller than the rest so lowest in the harem pecking order.

They will group up for a bit and shoal then go about their own. Pair up here and there but that is about it. They are pretty docile all in all but do chase other fish. I have 11 lyretail damsels that they will dive bomb. I introduced a Milletseed Butterfly (Biota) last year and they pretty much chased it non stop. Now it is larger and holding its own. I guess my point here is that they do dive bomb and chase fish but not a relentless chasing to death.

Upon arrival they are small and pale in color. Maybe 8 months old to a year. I didn't ask Biota but that is my guess due to their size. No more than a year and a half. So while you pay a premium for captive bred/raised animals you get them young, eating, healthy, and get to watch them grow. Coming up to two years with them now and it has been a blast watching them. Their colors are amazing. They have the potential to get large so keep that in mind. 7 - 8" easy. Looking at mine now they are pushing 5" easy.

I've attempted 5 Lyretails (Sea Goldies) Pseudanthias squamipinnis with little to no luck. Eating and fighting. Won't go down that route again although the male is probably one of the prettiest fish there is (opinion of course). I've had some success with Bartlett's (Pseudanthias bartlettorum) but they slowly wittled down to a single.

Here are my current 4. Must love Biota

 

[FernBluffReef]

how big is ur tank? I was thinking about getting 3 or so

112 gallon display.

 

[VintageReefer]

I was looking to add lyretail to my 75g display
I was thinking a single female, would it still turn male if no other anthias?

Store has 1 male and 1 female currently. Should I get both or just one (either the male or female)

I known the ratio1:4, but I thought these was for groups. if it was just one male and one female, would the female constantly be harassed?

 

[cdnco2004]

FWIW, with lyretails, I have not found female-to-male to be inevitable. Mine remains female. I have also found that females that transition to males in a tank lack the full coloration of wild caught males. This is also true for bimacs, Bartlett and squares. Resplendent are the only others I have successfully kept, and male coloration isn’t all that different than female.

Yeah I originally got a male and a bunch of females. Most of them died off from Urenoma. The male unfortunately died not because of Urenoma but because he wedged himself in between a heater and a uv c filter. Tight fit between and he got stuck against the intake of the UV c filter and died. It's been over a year since then. One female started to transition got the dots on the fins a tad bigger but stopped after a month or so. Acts like the male did. I've been bummed it did not finish the transition. The red males are beautiful.

 

[N11morales]

yall recommend any vendors to order some anthias from?

 

[mrpontiac80]

yall recommend any vendors to order some anthias from?

I got mine from fish hotel. We as a group are currently placing a tranship order from Africa right now on the humblefish forum. There are a few hours left if you’re interested. Not sure I shoud share a link here on R2R or not so I will refrain.