I have been trying to decide on what fish I want to keep in my 140 gal, and I have been leaning towards some anthias. I really like the square anthias, but have witnessed some longevity problems. Anyone have links or tips to anthias-ology (I made that up, but it means the husbandry of anthias)?
Anthias keeping: any tips?
- Thread starter derek_s
- Start date
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
I'd start with http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/hcs3/index.php">this</a> article.
The local anthias expert in this club is Suasati. The guy has an amazing anthias collection. Really diverse group of deepwater anthias. I would recommend you ask him any questions. He's very helpful.
The local anthias expert in this club is Suasati. The guy has an amazing anthias collection. Really diverse group of deepwater anthias. I would recommend you ask him any questions. He's very helpful.
Yeah, I read that their metabolisms are high, despite not needing an impressive amount of space to swim. I use to feed twice daily, but now I do once as I am at the tail end of an algae bloom. I have an auto feeder so I will be able to ramp it up more as long as they dont mind dry food for a midday meal.
We got a school of lyretail anthias from LA last spring and kept them isolated in a 20g filled with L/R for 2 months. Once they were robust and eating well, we moved them into the 125g. We figured there'd be some losses and, sure enough, we lost 3 shortly after the move. The remainder (4 females and 1 male) have been going strong ever since and the school has turned out to be the star attraction of the tank.
The tank gets fed generously just once every 12 hours, 7:00 a.m. before leaving for work and again at 7:00 p.m. and this schedule seems to be sufficient as the fish are by no means skinny.
Ours look just like http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+20+54&pcatid=54&N=0">these</a>.
[IMG]http://liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-26195-Lyretail-Male.jpg alt="" />
The tank gets fed generously just once every 12 hours, 7:00 a.m. before leaving for work and again at 7:00 p.m. and this schedule seems to be sufficient as the fish are by no means skinny.
Ours look just like http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+20+54&pcatid=54&N=0">these</a>.
[IMG]http://liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-26195-Lyretail-Male.jpg alt="" />
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
Anthias are by nature aggressive. If the male does not show aggression towards the females then the females turn into males. When you have multiple males of the same species you typically have a battle royale. Sometimes though it works out alright.
As for interspecies aggression, yes they can be aggressive to other anthias and other fish that look similar. My male lyretail would beat the dickens out of my other unrelated anthias. Truthfully though I didn't have the space to keep these guys so I got rid of em.
As for interspecies aggression, yes they can be aggressive to other anthias and other fish that look similar. My male lyretail would beat the dickens out of my other unrelated anthias. Truthfully though I didn't have the space to keep these guys so I got rid of em.
I got a few lyretails today at MF. I thought it was a good price at $35 each after teh discount. I got 4 females, so maybe one will turn male, if not then I will pick up a male in the future. They had a good variety, including Squares, Bartletts, and prob a couple others. Hopefully I can get some pics once they get acclimated.
Any clue on how long it takes a group of females to generate a male? Or will they even do it if no male previously existed.
Any clue on how long it takes a group of females to generate a male? Or will they even do it if no male previously existed.
I love Bartletts and used to have 8 in my other tank before I broke it down and sold them. They were awesome, always active, ate Spectrum pellets after a few weeks and always where in a school swimming towards the top of the tank....
Once I can get my 2 bristle starfish out and my 2 serpeant starfish out of my tank, I plan on picking up 5 or 6 of them..... (I lost 4 wrasses to these guys and dont want to risk anything small in there range again)
Once I can get my 2 bristle starfish out and my 2 serpeant starfish out of my tank, I plan on picking up 5 or 6 of them..... (I lost 4 wrasses to these guys and dont want to risk anything small in there range again)
skriz
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 4,188
- Reaction score
- 131
hmmm, you know I don't really remember. It takes quite a while though (6 months +) from what I remember. It's worth the wait though.
I bought lyretail males and they just hid in the rocks the whole time. I hardly saw them and didn't even notice when they died. The females, however, played out in the open and were happy.
The purple queens (tuka) are really really nice, but you really do have to feed them multiple times a day.
- Messages
- 4,441
- Reaction score
- 1,330
I recommend buying at least 4-5 of one particular species. The dominant one will soon develop into a male and it can take as little as a few weeks to start noticing the changes. Unlike clowns which even in solitude will change sex... Anthias females require the presence of other female anthias in order to change sex. The other requirement for changing sex for an anthias is the absence of aggression... as such the dominant female anthias will pick on the other females to prevent them from turning into males. If it doesn't pick on them sufficiently they'll turn into males as well and then some crazy fights may occur. So the aggression you'll see in the tank is normal for anthias. Having a small group of them helps to spread the aggression out and gives the poor females a support group from the domestic violence they will receive.
When we formed our school, we opted for getting a male rather than waiting for a morph and he immediately assumed his role as king of his harem. He works hard to keep his ladies in line and spends much of his time preening front-and-center in the tank.
Also, before we put the male in with the females in the holding tank, we had fights galore. We even saw females lock mouths and I was sure they'd kill each other. Once the male was there, the in-fighting stopped and except for the male bossiness, they all get along.
