Anthias

[Allmost]

I need help lol

so I got a trio of bartlet anthias about 3 months ago ...

now its down to 2 males :wildone: I dont know why they decided to kill the other one ... [all 3 turned into a male, or I got them as male, not sure]

now I want to get more anthias and need help on how to proceed ??

would a small school [3] of Carberryi Anthias work ?

tank is 200 G.

I really love giving the tank more life by adding schooling fish, but cant figure out which anthias would last longer [fighting amoung each other wise] I feeed the tank over 7 times a day, so feeding is not a problem.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Not sure how this would work with your bartlet's anthias, but you should look into resplendent anthias. From what I have read, if you get all females usually only one or two will turn male. Two in larger groups of them. It usually stays that way as the females are less likely to turn male on you.

 

[Urchinhead]

That sucks. Sorry to hear that. They may have been in the middle of transformation or already male when you got them like you suspect. Unfortunately this is a big problem with Anthias. The dominant male will just beat up on all the others in the harem and with only two to pick on there isn't all that much sharing of the aggression.

In your size tank you can have more than three. You might want to try 5-7 actually. And you may want to go with a Lyretail Anthias. They are in the same category as the Bartlett's in terms of relative ease of keeping them and their hardiness but you can clearly tell who is male and who is female. They can also be kept in pairs or 3's. The key is to get ones that are different sizes with the male being the largest, the dominant female the next, and so on. This also works for Bartletts by the way. Smaller means more submissive by the way as I remember it from when I was researching them.

One thing to consider is that Anthias will go after other fish that look like Anthias. For example my Bartletts make would regularly hound a blue chromis I had that was about his size because the chromis was also a water column feeder and viewed (I am told) by the Anthias as a competitor.

 

[reefjunkie42]

i just got some lori anthias and from what I hear they are easier to keep with a mild disposition.

 

[SDguy]

i just got some lori anthias and from what I hear they are easier to keep with a mild disposition.

That's not my experience. I found them to be delicate, and don't compete well with other, common anthias. I'd mix them with princess and sunset anthias... those smaller, mellow types.

 

[Allmost]

That's not my experience. I found them to be delicate, and don't compete well with other, common anthias. I'd mix them with princess and sunset anthias... those smaller, mellow types.

Mr. Peter, can you give us a list of anthias which can be kept in a school for a long time ? I dont mean the hardiness or how much feeding they would need, lets assume plenty of food will be provided and water parameters in check. ... I personally would REALLY appreciate it, and I know many others who would too

so say a 200 G system, what would you stock it with anthias wise

 

[Reefnut2010]

I got 3 Dispar Anthis and added them to my 125 with a male and female Lyretails !! This seems like trouble from what I just read here. Right? I put them in the tank after drip acclimation and have not seen them since. They're in the rock work, but I'm concerned cause they're not getting any food in there !

 

[SDguy]

I've found lyretails, dispar, ignitus, and carberryi mix well. I know people have had aggression issues with lyretails, but this has not been my experience.

I think mellower species like sunset, lori, princess, etc are better off not mixed with the above.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I've found lyretails, dispar, ignitus, and carberryi mix well. I know people have had aggression issues with lyretails, but this has not been my experience.

I think mellower species like sunset, lori, princess, etc are better off not mixed with the above.

Are resplendent anthias considered mellower?

 

[SDguy]

Are resplendent anthias considered mellower?

I've never kept them. Hopefully Steve will chime in.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

I've never kept them. Hopefully Steve will chime in.

I am planning on keeping a group of five, but for any future upgrade I like the dispar anthias so the two would be in the same tank down the road. Just planning ahead.

 

[Chooch1]

I'm currently keeping 1 male and two female resplendents and I find them to be very mellow. They mix well with the Dispar, Bartletts and Carberryi I'm keeping..