Feeding Lyretail Anthias

[SirCharles77]

Anyone have a Lyretail? And if so, how often do you feed it?

I am wondering if you really have to feed them 4 times a day like most places that sell them suggest? Seems what I am finding is that ya cant really trust what LFS and online FS say about feeding fish.

 

[kb27973]

The more times you can feed them the better. Better to feed smaller amounts more times vs. one or two big meals. Just like us!
Ken

 

[SirCharles77]

So if you have a Lyretail in a tank with other fish that dont need to be fed 3-4 times a day how do you do that without overfeeding the others?

 

[kb27973]

Well in my tank I have:
5 Anthias
1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Regal Angel
2 Maroon Clowns
1 6 Line Wrasse
1 Copperband Butterfly

I take a set amount of food (5 frozen cubes, chunk of Rod's food) and split it up into about 5 feedings/day. I work from home most of the time so I can do this. All the fish eat every feeding. You won't overfeed the other fish, they'll eat believe me. What are you feeding your Anthias?

Ken

 

[coralnut99]

I've had a harem of 8 in a display with a hawaiian sailfin, and two Lamarks for almost a year and a half now. I only wish I had enough time with the tank to feed 4X daily. They all get fed predominantly frozen mysis early in the AM, chopped (you have to cut the stuff up some more than the way it's packaged) clams a couple of times a week. I have 4 other Anthias species in two other displays with the same feeding regimen. I've never seen a need to feed more often.

 

[SirCharles77]

I have been rotating between Mysis shrimp, Spinulina Brine Shrimp, and Marine Cuisine and have been doing 1/2 cube one day and then a cube and a half the next for the last few days since I got the Lyretail. So far so good but I have only had him for like 2 full days.

Coralnu99, do you fee in the morning before you turn on the lights? How long do you have the lights on during the day?

 

[coralnut99]

Weekdays, feeding time is always just after the actinics go on. That's at 5:30 AM, and feeding is at 6AM. Weekends are a little later. The actinics are staggered on/off with 10Ks, so the actual time the tanks are illuminated is almost 17hrs. It's a fishroom, with 3 separate large refugiums illuminated 24/7, so there's a good amount of light bleed from them. The room never goes black.

The LFS I buy frozen from sells Piscene Energetics mysis, which is huge compared to the Hikari and other brands of mysis cubes. I only have one female tri-color anthias who has trouble with them. Just spits them out. That tank gets a cube of Hikari mysis as they are very uniformly much smaller, and she gobbles them up. Of all the Anthias I own, she's the only problem child, and I've thought about feeding again at night for her benefit. Still haven't decided, but during baseball season, it's tough to keep up with the little things like that.

Colors, and socialization of the harem are perfect in spite of the daily feeding. The dominant male went through a complete change which was absolutley fascinating. Really makes me mad I don't know what the heck to do with a digicam. I now know there were at least 2 other males in the bunch as their colors seem to be "stuck". He chases them a bit, and keeps them in line. But no damage, and they all get to eat, so it just adds to the experience.

 

[jglackin]

I don't have anthias in my tank yet. I am looking to add some ventralis anthias in the future. Not speaking from experience, but my research tells me that anthias are healthiest and happiest when they are fed throughout the day. Currently, I feed three to four times a day, even when I am not around. I have an auto feeder (www.super-feeder.com) that is controlled by my AquacontrollerIII that dumps a small amount of pellet and flake into my tank three times a day. The fourth feeding I will do myself with Rod's or some other frozen product. When I add the anthias, I will go to 4 or 5 times a day. I believe that all fish are healthier and happier when they can feed throughout the day rather than once or twice a day.

 

[coralnut99]

Do your homework on the Ventralis. They are a deepwater species, and if not collected properly, just don't make it for long. Pay more for a guarantee on them.

 

[jglackin]

Inland Aquatics (www.inlandaquatics.com) will get them in for me and then keep them for two months as they acclimate them and get them feeding on flake and pellet. Ventralis will do alright once you get them started, but the toughest thing about them is getting them eating.

 

[coralnut99]

Hmmm. I tried a trio about two years ago. The price from a lfs was very good. They ate right out of the bag. They were a bit small, but they aren't a big species. They have very small mouths, and I couldn't get them to take anything bigger than frozen cyclopeeze. Tried multiple feedings since I didn't think they would get enough nutrition from the few cyclopeeze they consumed in a feeding, but they just disappeared one at a time over about a month. The reason I stressed getting a guarantee is that I've had horrible luck with fish from only that lfs over the years, and just won't buy fish from there anymore. After a while such patterns become pretty obvious.

 

[jglackin]

Their size is why I want them, plus the fact that they are beautiful. Full grown, they are less than 3" long.

 

[Tweaker]

Thanks for the info

 

[Tweaker]

Thanks for the info

 

[onano]

I have 3 lyretails (2 females and a super male). They eat 1x per day in the evening on days that I work and 2x per day on my off days. Everyone is happy and have nice full bellies. I feed Rods food and mysis/cyclopeze alternating through out the week. I will also use freeze dried zooplankton from time to time.

 

[SirCharles77]

So I have a reef tank and my light schedule is that the blue lights come on at 2 pm and whites at 3pm and then whites go off at 10pm and blues at 11pm. The reason for this is that I have been told for a reef to only keep the lights on for around 7hrs at full output per day or it will cause too much algae and things will get burned out. The late in the day reason is because I work til around 6-7pm and like to get time to look at the tank with the lights on during the week.

So if i feed them at 9am when I leave and its technically night for them still, will I have a hard time getting them to eat then? That is the only way I could feed them twice a day. Otherwise its once per day at best during the week.

 

[jglackin]

I can live on 1 meal a day, but that doesn't mean that it is ideal for me. Sharks and lions are developed to eat a large meal once a day or once every few days, but a human and a planktivore, like an anthia, are more developed to "grazing" throughout the day.

I am no biologist, but I would be willing to bet that an anthia would be much happier and healthier if it is fed several small meals throughout the day rather than one or two larger meals a day.