2 Lyretail Anthias questions

[OneReef]

I was looking to add 3 Lyretail Anthias to my 75g. 1 male, 2 female.

I have seen contradicting tank size requirements for this species on different ordering websites. Some say 125g min, others say 70g.

My 2 questions:

1) Would keeping 3 Lyretails in a 75g be cramping them to the point of being inhumane?

2) Some websites say the Anthias like lower light conditions. I have 500w of metal halides over my 75g (2x250w). Is this too much for them? Will they hide in the rocks all the time because of it?

Current livestock is:

1 purple firefish
I occelaris Clown
1 yellow clown goby


Future plans are:
wrasse of some sort
maybe a small sand sifting goby

 

[BangkokMatt]

Lyretails will be fine with your light and your tank size. You need to feed regularly so a decent skimmer is important.

 

[SDguy]

I too think you'll be fine....lyretails eventually get pretty beefy, especially the male. Mine's almost 5 inches, not including tail!!

 

[Chibils]

From what I understand, they often come from low-light conditions. I've never, however, seen them fail to adapt quickly.

 

[AquaKnight]

I think the 'low light' thought come from other anthias which are indeed deepwater fish. Lyretails though, definitely shallow reef fish.

 

[SDguy]

Lyretails are totally shallow reef fish...just check out any of the pics of them on the reef.

 

[falconut]

Agreed, you should be fine. I currently have a male and a female in my 90, which is probably the same size as your tank just a little taller. They started as 2 females and after about a year 1 female has slowly changed.

As far as feeding goes, I usually feed mine once a day, sometimes twice on the weekends. It took me a couple days to switch them over to frozen mysis from the live brine, which was all they would eat in the beginning. The male I had a while back was harder to switch. It took me a few weeks before he would eat anything besides the live, but he eventually took to everything. HTH