Anthias ID help, please

[mrwilson]

Picked up this guy (or gal) from my LFS awhile back. It came with a Hawaiian shipment, so take that for whatever it's worth. Anthias experts, what do I have here?

 

[SDguy]

male olive anthias?

 

[AquaticFins]

I agree, P. olivaceus is quite likely.

The pattern of light orange under the eye and along the side of the fish is correct. The yellow caudal and red dorsal are also about what I'd expect.

I've never seen one that displayed that vibrant a green, however.

A truly beautiful anthias. Great find!

-David

 

[mrwilson]

I think we probably have a winner: looks most like P. olivaceus. The bright yellow tail looks to be a dead giveaway. But the coloration with the one I have is quite a bit different from ones I've seen in pics on the web (such as Ivy 64's group of them halfway down this page, for instance: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=990441&page=2). This one doesn't seem green at all; the background color looks blue under both my PAR 38 "12K" spots (which is what is pictured above) and under my array of T5s.

In any event, he's a tough little guy; my male bicolor anthias gave him a rough time for about three days when first introduced. Eats everything I throw in the tank, too.

 

[AquaticFins]

I suspect that your colouration may be due to location. Most of the P. olivaceus photos I've seen have come out of the Line Islands (a fair bit south of Hawaii) or the Cook Islands (way west of Hawaii).

They're not exactly common in the aquarium trade these days (I seem to remember seeing a lot more of them back ten or so years ago), but I think most of the ones I've seen came out of the Cook Islands as well.