Anthias school or pair?

[TJflip44]

I am wanting to have some lyretail anthias in my 150 gallon once I get it going. I have always heard they do best in a school but recently was told that they will likely end up killing each other off until I am down to just a pair. Is this common or would a school of 5-6 be better than getting a pair. If A school would be best can I do 3 lyetails anf 3 is another type of anthias? Would they school together?

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I have a school of 11 of them...one male. A couple hints.. it is the bartlets that are more prone to tear each other up..or at least that is what i was told.
Buy more than you want, unfortunately, they have a habit of dying. If you want 3, buy 5. If you want 5, buy 8.

I would not try to mix different anthias, the more you have the better the chances they wont tear each other up..

I really enjoy mine.

 

[TJflip44]

Thanks for the advise

 

[ca1ore]

They won't school, no. Maybe they hang out together on occasion but that's about it. Lyres will pick each other off until just the dominant remains. In order to mitigate this they need plenty of space and frequent feeding.

 

[davocean]

I've had lyretails a number of times and mine did group tightly a good bit of the time, though not always, and I have never experienced them picking each other off, bartletts seem to be notorious for that as mentioned.

I also had other anthia mixed in as well, typically lyre's, carberryi's, dispars, no issues w/ that mix.

These groups were in 120,150, 180g tanks

I prefer 1 male w/ at least 3 females in order to spread the badgering around done by the male, he will dart at females once in a while to let them know who's boss, you don't want that towards just 1 or 2 females.

This was a pretty typical grouping/shoal of my anthias, and they hung pretty close to my green chromis as well, also a common fish I usually have in my tanks.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Yeah, mine dont school like you see on tv or anything. I would say they are "loosely clumped" lol.

They all do hang in one side of the tank. I really dont see that much aggression between them. I will say that the male is almost fully mature and he is one gorgous fish.

 

[ca1ore]

Bartletts are 'chippy', no doubt about it; they also seem to end up with multiple males. Keep them in a really big tank and feed them a lot and they can persist. They also happen to be among the most attractive pseudoanthias, particularly once they acclimate and recover from that washed out initial look.

 

[Tft12]

Does anyone here have experience successfully keeping a group of Anthias long term? I had a largish group of Carberryi that started out as small females with 1 large male but ended up as quite a few males and then the group dwindled. My pair of Lyretails, in a separate tank, have been fine for a couple years.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Heavy loses at first.. i think i purchased a total of 19.. only 12 made it through qt, one died in my DT. Been about 8 months now wiyh no other loses.

 

[zoasaholic]

I'm no expert,but here what i have in my tank at the moment
3 bartletts
2 carberryi
2 bimacula
2 lyretail
The male lyretail aggressive at time,but the flame angle keep him in check

 

[ca1ore]

Does anyone here have experience successfully keeping a group of Anthias long term?

Depends on what you mean by long-term? Pseudoanthias don't appear to be particularly long-lived. I've kept most of the available species ..... well, maybe not most but many. 5 years seems to be my limit. I had a quintet of bimacs, and after about 4 1/2 years the big male died. Biggest female made the change and he/she went missing a few weeks ago. Next in line became Mr. We shall see. Had a quartet of bartletts for almost 5 years before they gradually got sick and died. They all developed what appeared to be some kind of internal tumors/blockages. Recently bought four really tiny ones, so it will be interesting to see how long they live; they do grow fast though. I don't keep any of the Franzia sub genus anymore (lyretails, Hutchii, etc.). Just not enduring for me. I think the trouble with carberryi, is that when you get them close to their max 3" size, they may not have that much time left.

I do think that having a few big fish to distract from bickering helps. Got to have the space for it of course. In my tank, my 6" dusky wrasse is the 'cut the ****' guy.

 

[Tft12]

Well, that makes sense. I would say that’s pretty much been my experience with this batch of Carberryi. I was trying to figure what the issue was because they all eat well and I was able to put a lot of weight on them since they arrived from LA a long time ago. I’ve always had great success with difficult to keep species so I was a bit confused about these Carberryi. Looks like they have just been reaching their eventual limits.

 

[ca1ore]

I'd definately put carberryi towards the more challenging end of the spectrum. Maybe not evansi, Tuka, Princess difficult, but harder than resplendents/randalls, dispars, etc. Squares are just psycho. Bimacs, Franzia and bartletts easiest .... Bimacs are my overall favorites because they just aren't as bloody minded.

 

[davocean]

Dug up better pics, even in just pics you can see how they swim together back and forth, and often stay tightly grouped.

 

[ca1ore]

Feed me .....

 

[ca1ore]

Ok, more than just anthias ..... But y'all get the idea.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

If you want all your fish to school just stand where you normally feed them

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a mixed school of them and they look great, get along and feed well also.

 

[ca1ore]

Neither of those are schools LOL. School is a group of fish swimming together in a coordinated manner. Shoal is a group that hang together for social reasons. Imagine the OP probably meant the latter.

 

[HairyGary]

Ok, more than just anthias ..... But y'all get the idea.

Ever tried Red Saddled ( P. Flavoguttatus)?