Anthias Mixing Question

[firemountain]

Everyone,

I currently have 2 Waitei Anthias in QT. I originally had three, but lost one due to an infection that developed after the fish scraped his skin on a piece of LR.

I know these fish are supposed to kept in odd numbers. I am tempted to order another 3 Waitei to make 5. I really like this species and even though they were difficult to run through the TTM due to their eating habits, they have adapted nicely and are already eating NLS pellets and a variety of frozen foods.

Conversely, I am tempted to buy another species of Anthias to add to my current 2, and make a total of 5. The Tuka's are impressive and would love to try them out. I know they are the hardest to get to eat and quarantine, but with having success with my Waitei, I am not as intimidated.

If not the Tukas..... are there another more rare/harder to keep Anthias that would be compatible with my Waitei.

Any input would be greatly appreciated....thanks in advance!

 

[ReefJunkie01]

Hey fire, I'd say don't look at it as doing it for the challenge, that's a recipe for either a lot of work of fish death. Do it more cause you like the fish and really want it do do well.

I have not kept a weitei, but I do have purple queens and a despair and they do great together. I'd recommend only keep peaceful classified anthias together. If you get anthias that are aggressive with peaceful, if the tanks not big enough, there's a good chance the peaceful anthias will get stressed, hide, starve, and die.

If you're looking for generally peaceful anthias to keep them together, try looking at the anthias classifications on live aquaria, they, have decent info on the general nature of the species. Keep in mind though that each fish can be different, and sometimes if you're unlucky you can get one fish that's supposed to be peaceful and it turns out that one fish is aggressive. Chances of this are lower by keeping fish classified as peaceful though

Good luck.

 

[ca1ore]

Never have kept waitei, but base off the LA guidance I'd think you'd be looking at flavos, smithvanzi, evansi, Tuka or pascalus. None easy to keep though. Dispar, resplendent, or carberryi might be better choices. Definately stay away from the bullies/larger species: Squares, bimacs, bartletts, Lyretails, Pictilis, etc.

 

[firemountain]

Never have kept waitei, but base off the LA guidance I'd think you'd be looking at flavos, smithvanzi, evansi, Tuka or pascalus. None easy to keep though. Dispar, resplendent, or carberryi might be better choices. Definately stay away from the bullies/larger species: Squares, bimacs, bartletts, Lyretails, Pictilis, etc.

Thanks for the advice Simon!! With only having a 65g, I knew my options are limited. My tank only has a few fish, so I am not overstocked. After reading the LA/DD website, the Waitei were only one of a few Anthias that would work in my size tank.

The good news is that I went away for 3 days and when I came back there was no uneaten food in the bottom of my QT. They have already taken to the .5 mm NLS pellets that gets dispensed 4x a day through my auto feeder.

The next stage is to run a 2 round treatment prophylactic treatment of Prazipro.