Lyretail Anthia Behavior

[Morpheosz]

Hey, curious if any experienced anthia keepers have any insights on this. I bought a single female Lyretail Anthia about 6 months ago. She has been happy, healthy, and the stereotypical "life of the party" in my tank for months. I have an autofeeder that feeds 5x / day and she was always aggressively dashing after the food the second it hit the water. This fish was always out in the open shooting all over the place, sometimes borderline aggressive to other fish but generally well behaved.

This all changed 3 weeks ago. I went out of town for a couple of days and came home to find her hiding in the rocks and she has been that way ever since. Peaks out now and again and looks healthy when I see her, but her behavior has radically changed. Nothing else has changed in the tank over the same time frame, in fact most of my corals and fish are thriving at the moment.

Curious if this behavior change is a known thing? I assumed she would change sex to male being the only anthia, but that hasn't happened, curious if maybe this behavior change might be related to a coming change? (although I see no signs of change) Any other theories?

Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Anything chasing/picking on it?

 

[Tcook]

Did anything get into the tank? Are you running carbon. It's been a year so I don't recall exactly what happened but I.think something was sprayed in the back hall. All 6 lyretail and bimac went to the rocks for over a week. After a few water changes an carbon they all slowly came out and have been fine ever since

 

[Morpheosz]

Anything chasing/picking on it?

No, nothing, if anything he was the aggressor in the tank.

 

[Morpheosz]

Did anything get into the tank? Are you running carbon. It's been a year so I don't recall exactly what happened but I.think something was sprayed in the back hall. All 6 lyretail and bimac went to the rocks for over a week. After a few water changes an carbon they all slowly came out and have been fine ever since

Not that I'm aware of, the rest of the tank is at an all time high right now, corals growing fast, rest of fish very happy. Just this one off anomaly. It's been close to 6 weeks now and it's still just hiding in the rocks all day. It peeks out a bit when the feeder goes off, and when I see it, it looks healthy, so I have to assume it's eating. I do run a bit of carbon that I change every 2 months.

 

[Tcook]

I have a feeling that if you add another 2 females they would be out all the time.

 

[Morpheosz]

I have a feeling that if you add another 2 females they would be out all the time.

It's only a 75, I was thinking more than 1 would be too much for the tank.

 

[Tcook]

It's only a 75, I was thinking more than 1 would be too much for the tank.

I have 6 in my 120. What other fish do you have?

 

[Morpheosz]

I have 6 in my 120. What other fish do you have?

I have a pretty active community:

3 orange firefish
3 Bangaii cardinals
3 blue chromis
1 coris wrasse
1 Xmas wrasse
1 scribbled rabbit fish
1 hawk fish
2 ocellaris clowns
1 Lyretail anthia

 

[Tcook]

I have a pretty active community:

3 orange firefish
3 Bangaii cardinals
3 blue chromis
1 coris wrasse
1 Xmas wrasse
1 scribbled rabbit fish
1 hawk fish
2 ocellaris clowns
1 Lyretail anthia

I like a lot of fish so it looks like an active reef crest. If your nutrients are under control I think you can pull off another 2 lyretails. Most of your fish are niche fish with not many that are middle of the "open space" swimmers.

 

[Morpheosz]

I like a lot of fish so it looks like an active reef crest. If your nutrients are under control I think you can pull off another 2 lyretails. Most of your fish are niche fish with not many that are middle of the "open space" swimmers.

Yeah, it's definitely an active reef. My nutrients are very steady state and well controlled (PO4=.05ppm, NO3 = 5ppm), and for the most part so is the behavior of my fish

The chromis, wrasses, and rabbit fish are always out in the middle, and often the clowns. It definitely looks active.