innovusaquaculture
Active Member
So the problem with 6 tangs and 7 Lyretail Anthias in the same tank is feeding them all.
Lyretail Anthias would like to eat out of the water column constantly, if they could. That is all they do all day long in nature. It is a bit of a struggle to do in our closed environments without serious nutrient overload. So feeding them 3 or 4 times a day seems to be a good enough option. I have an auto feeder that feeds 3 times a day and then one that I feed a "treat" on voice command when I want to see the fish go "crazy" for food. The issue is, while they are fast to get to food, they are picky about actually eating it. They will defer to any other living thing that even seems to approach the general vicinity of their food and let it take the first swipe at it.
Tangs, on the other hand, will eat anything, constantly. They will eat their own poop just to make sure no one else gets a shot at it. They spend most of they time picking at algae on rocks and glass, but if there is the hint of anything else in the water column they are there to eat it. I've set up an auto feeder to feed them pellets on the opposite side of the tank two of the three times the Lyretail Anthias feeder kicks off, but by the time the Lyretail Anthias food has made it to the water column the tangs have finished their pellets and made it over to the other side of the tank to polish off the Lyertails food. While the tangs are not as fast as the Lyertails, they are bigger and eat like pigs. nothing seams to make then "Full". They just keep eating. And the Lyertails are more discerning and won't eat poop.
Lyretail Anthias would like to eat out of the water column constantly, if they could. That is all they do all day long in nature. It is a bit of a struggle to do in our closed environments without serious nutrient overload. So feeding them 3 or 4 times a day seems to be a good enough option. I have an auto feeder that feeds 3 times a day and then one that I feed a "treat" on voice command when I want to see the fish go "crazy" for food. The issue is, while they are fast to get to food, they are picky about actually eating it. They will defer to any other living thing that even seems to approach the general vicinity of their food and let it take the first swipe at it.
Tangs, on the other hand, will eat anything, constantly. They will eat their own poop just to make sure no one else gets a shot at it. They spend most of they time picking at algae on rocks and glass, but if there is the hint of anything else in the water column they are there to eat it. I've set up an auto feeder to feed them pellets on the opposite side of the tank two of the three times the Lyretail Anthias feeder kicks off, but by the time the Lyretail Anthias food has made it to the water column the tangs have finished their pellets and made it over to the other side of the tank to polish off the Lyertails food. While the tangs are not as fast as the Lyertails, they are bigger and eat like pigs. nothing seams to make then "Full". They just keep eating. And the Lyertails are more discerning and won't eat poop.
