Anthias primer?

[gusmanda]

How about adding an anthias primer? Having a hard time finding beginers info on these fish.

 

[sassafrass]

There are two reasons I can think of , 1- each species of anthias can have varying degrees of hardiness and 2 - anthias are not considered a good choice for begginners.

 

[gusmanda]

what would be a good beginers anthias? I've already kept a reef tank for several years now, so depending on the requirements I would like to give these a try.

 

[sassafrass]

Lyretail are one of the most hardy of anthias and are beautiful as well . You can get a lone male or add at least a couple of females so his aggression is spread between the two (or more)

 

[gusmanda]

ok thanks. Is it ok if a buy a female and wait for it to become a male? Or should I buy a male from the start? Are anthias easily harrassed by other fish or do they tend to harrass others?

 

[MattL]

Check the FAQ. Many questions are answered in there.

Matt

 

[gusmanda]

where's the FAQ?

 

[jer77]

As for hardy "beginner's" anthias, I've had great success with P. bicolor many times mostly solo. They adapted easier than other species and ate almost everything I fed. Even solo though, I've kept them in tanks as small as 55g with a couple other fish, but would definitely recommend at least a 75g because their max size is towards the high end of anthias at about 5". The P. bicolor's seemed to put up with more aggression than other species too, even from a nasty clarkii clownfish.

Besides P. bicolor, I've experienced P. squamipinnis, aka lyretail anthias and P. bartlettorum or bartlett's anthias are good choices I would say for someone beginning to familiarize oneself with caring for anthias.

 

[gusmanda]

can't find the Q&A, but what's the dificult part in keeping anthias? Is it the fact that they need big open spaces? Or do they need very specific food?

 

[HOBrien]

They need to be feed atleast 3 times a day due to their constant constant movement.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14888122#post14888122 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gusmanda
where's the FAQ?

Fourth post down:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1593159

Also, I wrote I nice little blurb about lyretails for Reefkeeping magazine:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-07/fish/index.php

 

[gusmanda]

hey, thanks a bunch. Very interesting read. Cleared things up for me.

 

[Mattik]

What about QT for lyretails....my QT is only 10gal, but I'm worried that 10 gal is too small for a trio to live in for a month or two....

I say a month or two because I would want to be extra certain that they are eating well before putting them into DT with other fish...