getting a school of anthias

[anthias26tang]

Hey i have a 120 gallon tank with a 35 gallon sump and i am wanting to get a small shoal of anthias. I currently have a scopas tang, blue eye kole tang, sailfin tang, two clowns and an arch eye hawkfish. The only other fish i plan on getting besides the anthias are an angel and wrasse. How many anthias could i put in my tank? Should i add them all at once so they school? And will different types of anthias school together?
Thanks for any info in advance

 

[Politiceaux]

A 4' 120? If so, a few of your tangs are going to outgrow it very shortly.

 

[anthias26tang]

That was not the point of this thread. The blue eye kole tang is tiny. I've had the sailfin for several months. If I don't have a bigger tank by then which I plan to I'll sell them but they don't grow that dang fast.

 

[anthias26tang]

And it's not 4 feet. It's 5 feet

 

[anbosu]

It depends on the type of anthias you want to get.

You could probably get a group of 5 female lyretails in there - I'd add all females and let them figure out who the male is going to be.

The sailfin is really the only tang you will have an issue with long term, IMO.

 

[gsiegel]

It depends on the type of anthias you want to get.

You could probably get a group of 5 female lyretails in there - I'd add all females and let them figure out who the male is going to be.

The sailfin is really the only tang you will have an issue with long term, IMO.

+1 with everything said above
For some variety you could also do something like 3 lyretails and a sunburst or blotchy (more $). I have all 3 - great group of fish.

 

[anbosu]

+1 with everything said above
For some variety you could also do something like 3 lyretails and a sunburst or blotchy (more $). I have all 3 - great group of fish.

Have you had any issues with your tusk going after your anthias?

When I get my big reef set up I'd like to move my shoal of anthias in the reef with the tusk, but I'm a little nervous it would decide to chow down on them.

 

[gsiegel]

I have not

 

[anthias26tang]

It depends on the type of anthias you want to get.

You could probably get a group of 5 female lyretails in there - I'd add all females and let them figure out who the male is going to be.

The sailfin is really the only tang you will have an issue with long term, IMO.

I do plan on getting a bigger aquarium. Just not sure when. But when I do I'm hoping for 250-300 gallons and I won't settle for anything less. So hopefully my sailfin won't get too big by then.
And as far as anthias I was planning on a few lyretails and I was really interested in one called ignitus anthias. I found them on liveaquaria.com. I like barletts also. And does anyone know if I would have to get all of them at one time to get them to school together?

Idk if you can tell by my name but anthias and tangs are my two favorites lol I would be happy with a tank of nothing but the two. We had a hutchii anthias for 4 years when we had a 75 gallon. I switched to a 120 and not too long after that she jumped out and I tore up my tank looking for her. Found her dried up under the stand two weeks later. Been wanting a school ever since her. She was the coolest.

 

[Angelfish rule]

Sorry to hear about the hutchii anthias jumping.
How many of those species of anthias are you looking at getting?

 

[anthias26tang]

I was hoping for 4 or 5 at least. At the very least 3. To have a nice little group. I put a male lyretail with her once and he was really shy and she got him to come out and she seemed really happy. And I don't know what happened but he died out of nowhere and I think she got depressed she stayed in her hole in the rocks for a few days and only came out to eat. So I'd like to make sure I have a few so their happy

 

[anthias26tang]

Not a good pic but here's a pic of the two. He was a red lyretail anthias. Maybe she jumped because she was looking for him. I did read when looking for their mates they'll come out of the water.

 

[Angelfish rule]

They were both very cool looking fish

 

[anthias26tang]

Yea I think all anthias are awesome. So do you guys think 4 or 5?

 

[Angelfish rule]

Yea I think all anthias are awesome. So do you guys think 4 or 5?

Total or of each species

 

[davocean]

It depends on the type of anthias you want to get.

You could probably get a group of 5 female lyretails in there - I'd add all females and let them figure out who the male is going to be.

The sailfin is really the only tang you will have an issue with long term, IMO.

Agree w/ this, and your tank might be a 125g if it's 5', check tank calculator w/ your dims if you want to be sure.
Expect your sailfin to grow very fast.

 

[anthias26tang]

It's 60". A normal 125 is 72". From what I know a normal 120 is smaller but I have a 120 long which they don't make anymore. And I was thinking 5 total. A couple lyretails and a couple of either barletts or ignitus

 

[Aqua Chemist]

I'm also wanting to get a large group of fish and Anthias are the pick at the moment. My tank will be a little bigger than yours so I was hoping to have around 35 in total in a group. I would have to buy in small groups of 5 at a time but want to know if they would all still group and get along even (including different types) though they are added over time.

I'd like to breed also

 

[anthias26tang]

I think I've decided on one ignitus anthias, two randalls and two resplendent. Think I'll get the ignitus as a male. Think that would be ok?

 

[anthias26tang]

So I got curious because I saw somebody selling a 100 gallon tank on craigslist with the same dimensions as my tank. And when someone mentioned earlier about a 120 being only 4 feet long. So I entered my dimensions into a tank volume calculator and yep turns out it's only 100 gallons. When my dad got the tank he was told it was 120 and I just never questioned it. I was a bit disappointed to find out it was 20 gallons less than I thought. But I'm going this weekend to get a 150 gallon oceanic tank and stand for $400 this weekend. Would still like it to be bigger but this was the best one in my budget around here. And I asked for the dimensions and it does come out to be 150 gallons. So it will be better than what I have.