Lyretails fighting please help!

[Renelope]

Hello folks,

Got three lyretail anthias today, as part of a buy 2 get one free Black Friday deal at the LFS. They were all housed together with 3-4 others.

Got them home, acclimated and such and they were very timid at first, huddled together in the upper corner of the tank- away from the other fish.

Now 2 of them are fighting for space under 1 rock and they keep locking jaws and like shaking... it looks like one is swallowing the others face...I’m assuming one is trying to become the most dominant? Perhaps turn into a male?

Anything I should do? Will it stop, or do they need to be separated?

 

[4FordFamily]

Anthias are one of few fish I know very little about.

#reefsquad

 

[Brew12]

Hello folks,

Got three lyretail anthias today, as part of a buy 2 get one free Black Friday deal at the LFS. They were all housed together with 3-4 others.

Got them home, acclimated and such and they were very timid at first, huddled together in the upper corner of the tank- away from the other fish.

Now 2 of them are fighting for space under 1 rock and they keep locking jaws and like shaking... it looks like one is swallowing the others face...I’m assuming one is trying to become the most dominant? Perhaps turn into a male?

Anything I should do? Will it stop, or do they need to be separated?

Are you confident that they aren't already males?

 

[Daniel Waters]

This isn't uncommon. You possibly could have two females that are transitioning to males. Or it just might be the females jockeying for position till a hierarchy gets established. It may work itself out, or it may not. When I had lyretail anthias, I had a dominant male and 4 other females. For whatever reason, 3 of the females would stick together and were fine but one never gelled with the group.

The thing with anthias is that sometimes the aggression can be more subtle than what you are experiencing. I noticed with my male he would constantly do little aggressive acts towards the females to keep them in check and maintain his dominance. I think this constant dominance behavior can be stressful for the members, so I think the need to have a large aquarium with higher numbers of anthias in the shoal to disperse aggression might be helpful. However, I have no idea what that number or size truly needs to be. Lots of periodic feedings during the day can help with the aggression somewhat, or at least, help maintain the energy for the fish that might be getting picked on.

 

[Mikedawg]

+1 sounds like males are jockeying for dominant position in the group. For some species males set up a harem of a dozen or so females so that they have their choice of the best soon to be mothers. Suspect you're seeing something like that.

 

[dansreef]

I had a trio of lyretails.... There seemed to be a non-stop battle/skirmish with them. Nothing too bad...as they shared the tank with some bi-color anthias. After a couple of months....one of the lyretails went carpet surfing. Now one of the remaining fish is transitioning to a male... and the battles have ceased. Feed them well and often. You should be feeding them small amounts multiple times a day. They should settle in...but the skirmishes may continue until they have a pecking order. BTW... I hope you have a good sized tank. Mine are in a 180.... they along with the bi-colors are very active and really fill the tank with activity. Good Luck!

 

[Daniel Waters]

Ditto to Dansreef statement on carpet surfing. I highly recommend a screen top or cover of some sort. The anthias aren't so much jumpers but I find they like to stay high in the water column (or mine did anyway). Thus, when one decided to make a move to another (which will happen often), they can get spooked and wind up jumping right out of the tank.

And just throwing it out there, I had lyretails mixed with ignitus. The male lyretail was also somewhat aggressive towards the ignitus shoal. A male lyretail can be a stunning fish, but they are kind of butt heads.

 

[ca1ore]

That's what Lyretails do - doesn't even have to be males either (easy enough to tell them apart). They need space (how big is your tank) and frequent feedings ...... and they will probably still fight. I don't keep them anymore, preferring other less pugnacious anthias choices.