Calling all Anthias owners

[zuzecawi]

I'm considering fish for the 135... I already have one sailfin tang, one jeweled blenny, and one male spotted mandarine. I have been searching for a female spotted mandarine. But... I'd also like some nice colorful schooling fish. The rockwork design is open and circular, the flow is fairly agressive alternating, down draft skimmer, 75 gal sump, the corals are montipora plating types, gorgonians, and ricordeas. I may get a couple very unusual acropora type corals in the future, but not likely. I do have shrimp and clams. I thought anthias might make nice additions, but I hear some of them are aggressive.

So you guys who have anthias, how are they temperament wise? Do you have any you like more than others? Do they eat off the rocks? Would they out compete my mandarines? Are they okay in small groups? How many could I conceivably stock?

To get an idea of what I like in fish... clowns are too aggressive for my tastes. I want something pretty, peaceful, small, flashy, and active, that won't out compete the mandarines. And I'm willing to go with less rather than more.

Thanks guys!

 

[koga57]

120 g

120 g

I have one male and two female Lyretail Anthias in a 120g that is stocked with 8 other fish.

There is no bickering between them and the wrasse or any others.

If I changed, I would add additional females.

David

 

[zuzecawi]

Hmmm... Drs F&S said Lyretails were semi aggressive, which was why I'd initially thought dispars would be the way to go. Glad I asked now! Do yours eat only from water column, or do they hunt on the rocks?

 

[pk1]

Mine eats everything, but does not pick at the rock. The male is a little moody....but no where near a problem. I have 3 lyretails and 2 threadfin's. HTH

PK

 

[carman9941]

5 bartletts and no problems I think I have 2 males one is bigger and he likes to be the boss, mine only eat from the water colum I have seen them peck at the glass but never frome the sand, I think they make a GREAT addition to a reef

 

[reef_doug]

I was wondering which Anthias to get for a 180g. I'm looking for a school of 5 (1m/4f).

Which would be the best, slower growing, less aggressive?

Barletts, Lyretails, Squarebacks?

Would it be ok for the school of 5 to be with 2-3 Green or blude Chromis (no damsels, but a pair of true perculas or clarkiis s down the road). I will be adding a BTA if that makes an differences.

Thanks
Doug

 

[pk1]

My lyretails have more personality and better color than the threadfins, but are pretty popular right now, so depends on what your looking for. I think you would be fine with 5 lyretails, the only aggression you would see would be between the males and the females, I don't think you would see any between the chromis, and I have a pair of true percs also, with no aggression. Once a pecking order is established within the "harem" most of the aggression should subside. Take this all with a grain of salt though, as it is pretty hard to generalize when talking about a certain fish's temperament.

PK

 

[Serioussnaps]

lyretails and bartletts people have great success...judging by your setup you can do it...i say get 4 of them(1 male)

you can also look at dispars(beautiful but harder to get eating yet not anywhere close to impossible)

get ready for 3 small feeding daily for your anthias they need it and yes they are active swimmers so thats what you want

 

[zuzecawi]

Yeah, I feed pretty often anyways, my mandarin eats from the water column, and I also feed live brine 3 x's a week. The 135 will have a constant feed of rotifers and phyto, not sure that would make much difference to the anthias, but my gorgonians sure like it!!!
Do they make automated feeders for frozen? Would a dosing pump loaded with selcon soaked mysis be a good idea? I work during days, so feeding the tank would have to be a morning night and late night thing. Would anthias be okay with that?

 

[650-IS350]

One large male pink box anthias... picky eater.. Dosn't like brineshrimp Live/Frozen.. picky with frozen mysis and krill.. will eat some some eat/spit out. same with squid...

Was at the asian market the other day found a package of silverfish... skinny looking white anchovie type fish... He LOVES eating those... they are about 1/2 to 1 inch long. for $2.99 a cup refridgerated.

 

[650-IS350]

Once in a while he will chase the blenny off for a couple of seconds then other times won't bother him... probly dosnt want anyone close to his cave.

 

[Joao Monteiro]

4 lyretails, here, on a 210.
Started 4 females, 1 is changing to male.
So far, only eat from the water colum (and I don´t expect it to change..).
1-2x automatic feeder with pellets and 1x frozen (go crazy with mysis and red plancton)

One interesting thing about the Anthias: as they´re always swimming around, the other fishes are spending more time out in the open than they used to do (before adding the anthias).

 

[Arch01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7941267#post7941267 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zuzecawi
I work during days, so feeding the tank would have to be a morning night and late night thing. Would anthias be okay with that?

I don't start feeding mine until I get home around 5pm, and usually feed a couple of times until lights out at 10pm. I normally feed a small chunk of Cyclopeeze slowly over the course of a couple hours then a cube of mysis or squid mixed with flakes later for all of the fish. My lyretails love the Cyclopeeze and eat the other foods until they can't fit any more in their mouths.

 

[zuzecawi]

Five dispar anthias came into the LFS, one died, two look rugged, and two are okay ish. I asked the guy how often they ate and he goes "Oh, I fed them last sunday"
Needless to say, I got a little concerned, and kindly pointed out that they need fed often. Really often. Really ultra often.
So he fed them and they went nuts, but I'm too spooked to buy them. Two of them look like they've got puffed up scales, and that screams parasites to me. I have a good qt tank, but I'm not into throwing away 80.00 on a guess.
*Sigh* Besides, my 135 isn't finished yet, and I don't want to crowd my 58 right after sellling a bunch of ricordea rock, got to let the bio-balance sort back out.

*sigh again*
ho hum.