Fish ID help. Fish found in sump, never seen before

[Jdadams]

Honestly, I would still say it’s a lyretail

Yea I think we all agree on that. Now we are more arguing how it got there and age

 

[i cant think]

Yea I think we all agree on that. Now we are more arguing how it got there and age

Yeah, It could have somehow squeezed through a gap (That is if it was thin and small) in the weir. I have had fish manage to find their way down to the sun (My most recent was my Naoko fairy wrasse down the back of my Red Sea Max Nano. Never again will I stop watching my wrasses during a water change).

 

[ariellemermaid]

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2020/03/06/ora-tests-the-waters-of-commercial-anthias-breeding/

that is a baby lyretail anthias. So we can’t go based on coloration anymore

I saw that article; as of a year ago they’d only managed to produce 12 in a batch and they’re expert commercial breeders. Haven’t found a single source yet selling ORA or any captive bread lyretail. So to me this evidence makes it less likely to accidentally raise a lyretail fry, but by no means is it impossible. It does seem less likely that it actually hatched in the tank though given that the lyretails didn’t do well and all died off as @Jdadams pointed out. But it certainly could have come in small enough not to be noticed. On the flip side with 7 lyretails in the mix, 1 spawning event in the months they were in there isn’t impossible either.

In any case this definitely looks small and immature; it has some color but isn’t developed and I can’t find a picture online with the line behind the eye being so faint/underdeveloped.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Baby lyretail which are excellent hiders as are firefish

 

[Fish&coral72g]

Midas blenny or a wrasse

 

[i cant think]

Midas blenny or a wrasse

I would agree with this however, it has both the wrong body shape and markings for both these fish.

 

[ariellemermaid]

This is what I’m seeing. It looks like it’s developing the line behind the eye prominent on lyretails and some other anthias as well.

 

[i cant think]

This is what I’m seeing. It looks like it’s developing the line behind the eye prominent on lyretails and some other anthias as well.

That’s what I was meaning when I said markings on my above post

 

[Fishfreak2009]

It has a body shape and the yellow/purple color remind me more of a very small Bartlett's Anthias. Barletts can get a bit of a pink/purple line under/behind the eye as well, easier to see in person. I've seen small (1") females at the LFS more than once that look almost identical to this especially faded out in a bare bottom store system with nowhere to hide.

Couple juvenile bartletts photos off google. Fish in these pics are roughly 1.5-1.75" in length. So a smaller fish will not have as bright of color. You can also see the stripe behind the eye pretty clearly on the first fish.

 

[itselenababe]

Any updates?

 

[chipchipbro]

yeah.. would be interested in an update aswell :)