Fish compatibility help - Lyretail Anthias yay or nay

SFREEF3R · Oct 4, 2024

I have a Reefer 425xl (~90gal DT) and have been recently attempting to build a small school of Ignitus Anthias. I had some DOA in my first shipment and for the replacements I was accidentally sent 3x small-medium Lyretail Anthias. I had ruled out Lyretails because of their larger size and aggression from my research. I chose Ignitus because of their peaceful demeanor, small size, and bright coloration. Was supposed to be just two small females more coming (vs. the 3 that were sent). All the current inhabitants are getting along great and from a bioload perspective I struggle to keep my nutrients up despite minimal skimming and aggressive feeding.

Current inhabitants:
2x Ignitus Anthias (medium size, one male one female)
2x oscellaris (medium size)
2x Yellow assessor
2x YWG
1x Royal Grama
1x Banggai Cardinal
1x Neon Goby
1x Green clown goby

The lyre tails are slightly smaller than most of the fish (really only larger than the assessors and gobies). I'm tempted to add them to see how they do for the time being, knowing I might need to rehome them as they get larger. I do have several fish traps should l need to pull them out. I have generous swimming space and also ample hiding space in my rock structure.

Anyways, thought I'd poll to see if the consensus was this is a terrible idea and I should just rehome them from the start.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Oct 4, 2024

Personally I’ll never do then again. I much prefer the disposition of disbars. Or else I would try an another but no more lyrtails for me, they are jerks. Mainly to each other but they can be jerks to others at feeding time. And they are supreme beggars.

kdx7214 · Oct 4, 2024

You'll probably have problems with the clowns as well. One will become female if there isn't one already and those are some of the most aggressive fish I've dealt with. I still have scars on my hand where mine took hunks out of it during tank cleanings.

BasementBox · Oct 4, 2024

I bought 3 lyretails. Quickly dropped to one. And still 1. Could have been a fluke but I think the last one took out the other two

SFREEF3R · Oct 4, 2024

kdx7214 said:
You'll probably have problems with the clowns as well. One will become female if there isn't one already and those are some of the most aggressive fish I've dealt with. I still have scars on my hand where mine took hunks out of it during tank cleanings.

I'd say the clowns are my most aggressive fish currently. While the Royal gramma postures and kind of rules the tank (they are the biggest fish), it's really a wimp and hides quickly. My clowns will definitely chase me and nip and kind of push around the other fish in the tank. I usually put up mirrors when introducing fish to distract them.