trouble keeping anthias

[qasimja]

does anyone else have an issue keeping anthias long term? i had 2 square anthias for about 2 years all together then suddenly 1 stopped eating and just died then the next one i found dead maybe 4 months after that then a few weeks ago i got 2 more lytetail anthias had them in QT for a month put them in my DT last week 1 immediately went into the rocks and i havent seen him since the second one i thought was doing well was eating really well then i found him dead this morning

 

[ichthyoid]

I believe anthias are still wild caught. I’ve kept them (square backs) before & treated them prophylactically at the time. Had no problems. They are reported to be prone to flukes, so you may want to consider putting them in a hospital tank & treating with prazipro. I’ve seen them fresh water dipped & worms or flukes spit out of their mouths afterward.

 

[Fishtile Exotics]

i personally think that anthias frequently suffer from malnutrition in aquariums. Frozen food is not a perfect substitute for live plankton and im sure it affects their health over the long term.

 

[ichthyoid]

I got my square back anthias to eat starting with new baby guppies, then live brine shrimp, then just about anything I dropped into the tank including flake and small pellets.

They are pelagic, have small throats & feed on a planktonic smorgasbord in the wild. So should be fed 3-4x’s per day. An automatic feeder, like the one from Avast Marine, is advised.

Fwiw,
The male square back would follow me (only me) up & down the tank, whenever I walked by, and even learned to lay in my hand. One of the best fish I’ve ever had!