Any experience with Bimaculatus Anthias?

[t0mmy108]

Bimaculatus Anthias, Pseudanthias bimaculatus
another deep water species? I've got plenty of hiding places and keep things pretty chilly (74F).

 

[Purple Haze]

have you seen any side effects on SPS with such a low temp?

 

[t0mmy108]

nothing out of the ordinary. they still look the same as they did before. I think I read somewhere that calcification is optimal at 76.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

I picked up a male from live aquaria (ordered a trio but they were out of females when the shipped my order ) and I think he's probably one of the most beautiful fish I have seen. He ate mysis and brine just a few hours after acclimation. He's still hiding most of the day, but does come out to feed foraciously!
I can't wait for my females.
I've also lowered my tank temp slowly over the last two weeks to 77 degrees.
I definately recommend getting some, unless you think they'll mess with your ventralis.

 

[t0mmy108]

, sonofgaladriel, those pictures are from my tank. he hardly ever notices the ventralis. they pretty much have their own caves and stay at in differnt sections of the tank. in the past two months, I've actually been able to keep and keep alive three ventralis (one male, two females), purple queen pair, one male lori (queen tiger), pair of huchtii, a male maldives lyretail, and this male bimaculatus. none bother eachother and are all eating.they are all coming out in the open when i watch from a distance but hide if I walk up to the glass. except for the bimac, he's the bravest one so far.

I'm glad that someone else has one. i'd like to keep up with you on your experience with this guy. let me know if anything changes. I noticed that he will readily eat the homeade seafood mix as soon as it hits a powerhead. i think that's when everyone eats really. only the sohal picks at the stuff while it's still floating around as a frozen cube.

 

[sonofgaladriel]

My fault, I thought you were thinking of getting one and wanted to know about them before you got him
Sounds like you've got some great luck with the anthias. I hope they all continue to do well for you.
They are beautiful fish.
Glad to hear the ventralis are still doing well for you.

 

[billyzbear]

I have a pair of lyretail's. A BTA and mated clowns. That I'm planning on moving to a 150g 6'x20"x2' almost a 180. Do you think I could get a pair of bimac's and be ok? How about adding some bicolor or dipar? T0mmy108, could you list all of your fish in that 180g? You don't think the sohal will out grow your tank or just one day start killing fish? I've read horror stories. I'd love to keep one. I'm trying to decide sohol or imperator.

 

[t0mmy108]

billyzbear, a pair of bimacs would probably be o.k. for the 150. They may end up being the most dominant species of anthias in the tank though. They are roughly the size of squarebacks with the aggresiveness of a lyretail. dispars will likely be chased but not killed by the male bimac (given you have plenty of swim throughs and hiding places.) this is what mine does to the six dispars in my system. i haven't had bicolors yet. he doesn't show interest in any other anthias besides the dispars for some reason.

I have over 50 fish in my system. If i listed them all, I'd have all kinds of fish police making nasty comments that I'd rather avoid. Let's just say that the system is primarily stocked with tangs, anthias, and wrasse (fairy and other reef safe types). Then there are all kinds of gobies and other docile reef safe fish in between. The issue on the Sohal Tang has been around for while. Of 20 or so Sohal owners that I know of, only 10% of the ones kept alive long enough have had an opportunity to see that type of aggression. you don't hear a lot from the other 90% because they haven't had any problems yet. I'm still in the other 90% so I can't really tell you from experience.

hope you're able to find a nice pair of bimacs, It's been a while since I've seen any.

 

[billyzbear]

I forgot to tell you tommy your tank is really nice, could be tank of the month from the pictures. Could you PM me some of your fish list? Are the fish pictured in the same tank? I'm trying to figure out what fish I want to stock in my 150. I've been doing a lot of reading on wetwebmedia and even asked a question. It was rather insulting. He tells me I can't keep an imperator in a 150 and tells me to read, among other stuff. I read in he's facts that there was an imperator and a french in a 180 that was fine. So I wrote him back. It really didn't go well. I would feel bad having a 12" fish in a 150 so I would upgrade but that would take a few years. I understand that all fish aren't equal. I want to find out what others are doing. Like the Anthias, on thier website it says you shouldn't mix but I see people do it.

 

[t0mmy108]

in the pictures, you should see two tanks. the 180 is sps with all the reef safe fish. the 72 bow front is an lps, anemone tank with mostly predators like anglers and scorpions. I lost all the fish in the 72 when hurricane Rita came through here. water temps got too high. Well, what the heck. I'll go ahead and list the current fish in the 180 here. I just lost the copperband to a fungal infection today so I'm down one.

sohal tang
4 yellow tangs
kole tang
rs sailfin tang
tomini tang

lyretail anthias
huchtii anthias
3 dispar anthias
3 ventralis anthias
2 sunburst anthias
bimaculatus anthias
tiger queen anthias
purple queen anthias

regal angel

scribbled rabbitfish

2 yellow coris wrasse
2 pink margin fairy wrasse
2 lineatus wrasse
laboute wrasse
sixline wrasse
eightline wrasse
christmas wrasse
leopard wrasse
2 mccosker's flasher wrasse
exquisite wrasse

lawnmower blenny
redlip blenny
sailfin blenny
orange spot blenny
tailspot blenny

2 trima gobies
yellow watchman goby
yasha haze goby w randalli pistol shrimp (never see them)
pink bar goby
firefish goby

flame hawk
geometric pygmy hawk

2 bluespot jawfish

2 maroon gold banded clownfish

don't worry, everything is fine. there's no problems with the fish and they get plenty to eat. this is likely it for me. the only others I would like to add are rhomboidalis wrasse, flame wrasse and a mystery wrasse.

 

[Julio]

these guys are awsome fish, i am glad more and more people are getting them.

 

[t0mmy108]

SWEET!!
Is that a female? I'll trade you something for it.....maybe a Hawaiian Flame wrasse??? hehe

 

[Julio]

Thanks Tom.
yeah is a female, i have 4 of them and 1 male. They are great fish.
are you having a hard time finding females?

 

[t0mmy108]

i haven't seen one around yet. do you have a source? hook me up brother!!

 

[Julio]

My LFS seems to be getting them in with regularity, but contact Live aquaria, i think they are getting a shipment in this coming week.

 

[Redfish]

At least one of the major wholesalers is carrying them with regularity. See if your local LFS can hook you up.

You might be better, however, with LiveAquaria as Julio pointed out given their guarantee.

 

[t0mmy108]

underwater world? Seadwelling creatures? ERI? who??? tell me who and I can get it. I was in LA last week and went up and down 104th and couldn't find a single one.

 

[billyzbear]

Wow, how is it you have all those fish and they all get along? Do you feed alot? No problems with the sohal and tangs/regal? Did you trade the blue face in for the regal? Does the sunburst come out of the rock much? If you had the Bimac and Lyretail paired up do you think they would still get along?
Thanks for posting.

 

[t0mmy108]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6852905#post6852905 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billyzbear
Wow, how is it you have all those fish and they all get along? Do you feed alot? No problems with the sohal and tangs/regal? Did you trade the blue face in for the regal? Does the sunburst come out of the rock much? If you had the Bimac and Lyretail paired up do you think they would still get along?
Thanks for posting.

yes, i feed two to three times a day. each feeding is pretty heavy but the Deltecs take it all out pretty quickly. I ramped up water changes to twice a month and run two large phosphate reactors and UV. I only use Tropic Marin Pro salt and run a dual chamber calcium reactor.
All fish swim side by side with no aggression so far. The only one I may worry about later on is the Sohal....but I'm hoping at least five more years. sunburst like to stay in the cavework more and usually come out for the evening feeding with halides off....thoughout the day they get their food from the where they are. It's a snowstorm in the tank at feeding time. Bimac and Lyretail won't pair up but they'll cooexist in the same habitat. they're just going to have to establish a pecking order at first. if they fail to cooperate, then you've forced nature to make the decision on who's the strongest. Only do this if you've got a system down on how to do it with limited damage. If you don't feel comfortable with it , then "don't try this at home." good luck!

 

[t0mmy108]

If you like Anthias, check these guys out...
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=6852490#post6852490