Anthias color loss

[Jacob D]

I have a group of about 2 dozen carberryi anthias. I purchased and added them in two steps since QT space is limited. I didn't notice until I added the 2nd group that the original fish have lost quite a bit of color compared to the new ones. The older fish are sort of pastel where the new fish are very vibrant pink and yellow.

They are fed at least twice a day, sometimes as many as 4 times depending on what I'm up to. I feed combination of formula 2 pellet, formula 1 & 2 flake, Hikari mysis soaked in Zoe, Selcon, and/or garlic, and live black worms. My summer tank temps are 72~74 F.

I've had the fish for a few months now, they seem healthy otherwise. I'm not sure why they have lost color unless it's a dietary issue. Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[montipora80]

What lighting do you have them under? The reason I ask is most come from deeper waters and when ket under bright light they tend to fade out some from what I have read. I would say in your main tank if there is darker areas you might see the color return to a point...

 

[tom obrecht]

This could be a longshot but have you tried cyclopeeze? When I got anthias many years back, I had a friend who was in charge of a public reef aquarium with a large amount of anthias. His were vibrant and very healthy. I asked him about it and he said he fed cyclopeeze daily. He thought it might have somthing to do with the coloration. I added it to the diet of my fish and they seemed to come around in time. Just a thought. Good luck!

 

[Jacob D]

Thanks for your thoughts, both of you.

Monti - My lighting is 3x175 Iwasaki 15k. Despite the wattage they're definitely bright more like a good 250w halide. Would a loss of color from lighting be associated to stress from the light rather than some pigment reaction?

Tom - I'll try the cyclopeeze. I need to find some of the frozen stuff locally. I do have some of the freeze dried "micro crabs" (I always chuckle at that) but the fish don't seem too interested... I don't blame them. I think I'm going to try some of the New Life Spectrum pellets also as I've heard these are good for maintaining color in marine fish, which at least for me, has never been an issue before.

 

[d-man]

would love to see a pic of the 2 dozen

 

[Jacob D]

It's pretty much impossible to get them all in the shot since they move around constantly but I can come close, maybe 18-20 of them Here are a few pics from tonight (my lights were starting to shut down already)...