How to care Ventralis Anthias
- Thread starter takayan
- Start date
I'll share my experience with these, as they are far and away my favourite small anthias.
Basically IME they are comparatively easy to keep in a narrow range of tank conditions. And that's the hard part, since as hobbyists we get greedy and are tempted to "˜push the boundaries'...:thumbsup:
Low to moderate temperatures 22-24C; no other planktivores that chase or bully them and small regular feeds throughout the day. With this in mind their tank was a 3 x2 shallow, and housed a pair of colins angels, wetmorella, helfrichi firefish and several similar innocuous species. One loss initially, a harem survived almost three years.
So what went wrong? Well, I wanted to add other anthia species. The harem of P. cf aurulentus shattered tank harmony. The ventralis hid and some stopped coming out to feed altogether. When they did, the alpha female soon put them back in their place. Within a short space of time most had perished.
I don't think a dedicated tank is the only way to keep them, but feel it's most likely to be successful long term. As an aside, I have only kept the local ones from the coral sea, and some from Vanuatu. The latter grew larger, and actually bickered with the locals. If you have a choice mid to large females would be the best buy. Males transition very fast, and a true WC alpha male is worth avoiding IME. They find it hard to adapt, but juveniles don't.
Hope that helps.
Angie
Basically IME they are comparatively easy to keep in a narrow range of tank conditions. And that's the hard part, since as hobbyists we get greedy and are tempted to "˜push the boundaries'...:thumbsup:
Low to moderate temperatures 22-24C; no other planktivores that chase or bully them and small regular feeds throughout the day. With this in mind their tank was a 3 x2 shallow, and housed a pair of colins angels, wetmorella, helfrichi firefish and several similar innocuous species. One loss initially, a harem survived almost three years.
So what went wrong? Well, I wanted to add other anthia species. The harem of P. cf aurulentus shattered tank harmony. The ventralis hid and some stopped coming out to feed altogether. When they did, the alpha female soon put them back in their place. Within a short space of time most had perished.
I don't think a dedicated tank is the only way to keep them, but feel it's most likely to be successful long term. As an aside, I have only kept the local ones from the coral sea, and some from Vanuatu. The latter grew larger, and actually bickered with the locals. If you have a choice mid to large females would be the best buy. Males transition very fast, and a true WC alpha male is worth avoiding IME. They find it hard to adapt, but juveniles don't.
Hope that helps.
Angie
ThRoewer
New member
Last Saturday I bought two small female Philippine "ventralis" (there are at least 4 distinct species of Ventralis Anthias, if not more) but unfortunately the smaller one already died Sunday in what seemed to have been a freak accident (entangled in algae). I hope to get 3 more tomorrow.
As deep-water fish they will do better in lower temperatures. I keep them for now (observational quarantine) in a half filled 25 gallon drop-off plexiglass tank (Nuovo Abyss) that is evaporation chilled to temperatures between 21 °C and 25 °C (varies over the day). The 2 Assessor randalli I have in the same tank seem to be OK with that as well.
So far I only feed live Tigger Pods and they all (Ventralis and Assessors) go after them without hesitation. Since the tank has no filtration I stick with live food so far, but they should go also after suitable sized frozen foods like cyclops, brine shrimp nauplia, Calanus, and the like. Over time they should also learn to take pellets and other dry foods which makes feeding them with an auto feeder easier.
The Assessors sometimes chase the remaining Ventralis when she tries to seek cover in or near their caves in the cemented backwall but it never escalates to actual violence or even physical contact. Interestingly enough, the single Ventralis is by far more outgoing than the Assessors who prefer to stay close to their shelters.
Later I plan to put the Ventralis with my Philippine Regal Angel and the Randall Assessors into a 75 gallon tank that will be rather dimly lid and mostly stocked with NPS corals and mushrooms.
I would say, if you are prepared and tend to their needs they should not be more difficult than other Anthias, maybe even easier.
They definitely prefer rather shy or calm tankmates. They are certainly not the right fish for a brightly lid community reef tank.
One important thing: give them a prophylactic formalin or H2O2 bath against the usual skin parasites and especially Uronema. And keep watch for flukes. I lost my first Ventralis group to an misdiagnosed Capsalidae (skin "flukes") infection (I thought it was early stage Cryptocaryon). The scary part of that was that the flukes would take shelter under the scales of the fish and by that be unharmed by freshwater or other short bath treatments.
As deep-water fish they will do better in lower temperatures. I keep them for now (observational quarantine) in a half filled 25 gallon drop-off plexiglass tank (Nuovo Abyss) that is evaporation chilled to temperatures between 21 °C and 25 °C (varies over the day). The 2 Assessor randalli I have in the same tank seem to be OK with that as well.
So far I only feed live Tigger Pods and they all (Ventralis and Assessors) go after them without hesitation. Since the tank has no filtration I stick with live food so far, but they should go also after suitable sized frozen foods like cyclops, brine shrimp nauplia, Calanus, and the like. Over time they should also learn to take pellets and other dry foods which makes feeding them with an auto feeder easier.
The Assessors sometimes chase the remaining Ventralis when she tries to seek cover in or near their caves in the cemented backwall but it never escalates to actual violence or even physical contact. Interestingly enough, the single Ventralis is by far more outgoing than the Assessors who prefer to stay close to their shelters.
Later I plan to put the Ventralis with my Philippine Regal Angel and the Randall Assessors into a 75 gallon tank that will be rather dimly lid and mostly stocked with NPS corals and mushrooms.
I would say, if you are prepared and tend to their needs they should not be more difficult than other Anthias, maybe even easier.
They definitely prefer rather shy or calm tankmates. They are certainly not the right fish for a brightly lid community reef tank.
One important thing: give them a prophylactic formalin or H2O2 bath against the usual skin parasites and especially Uronema. And keep watch for flukes. I lost my first Ventralis group to an misdiagnosed Capsalidae (skin "flukes") infection (I thought it was early stage Cryptocaryon). The scary part of that was that the flukes would take shelter under the scales of the fish and by that be unharmed by freshwater or other short bath treatments.
Last edited:
For what it’s worth they’re a lot calmer in cooler water and less food keeps them in good condition. With higher temperatures and faster metabolism you need to feed more. Theres also more bullying from senior females, and if you have any bacterial blooms in warm water the ventralis can deteriorate quickly. They are prone to bacterial infections if the water isn’t up to par.
I asked a diver about collecting them and the structure of harems in the wild. At this location a male was typically in charge of 5-6 females, but every three males or so would be remarkable compared to the others. A supermale if you like. These are much larger, intensely coloured and far better patterned. Unfortunately the one I had could not adjust, despite being with a harem who were eating live foods voraciously. Yet a diminutive juvie, barely 1.5cm total length was the first to adapt and continuously stay out in the open...
HTH
ThRoewer
New member
Second. First time they did fine until the flukes killed them.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
takayan
Premium Member
Thank you for your inputs!
I am thinking to start using Rods' Food tentacle teasers. Hope I can keep them long time.
https://rodsfood.com/tentacle-teasers.html
I am thinking to start using Rods' Food tentacle teasers. Hope I can keep them long time.
https://rodsfood.com/tentacle-teasers.html
ThRoewer
New member
BTW, which of the "Ventralis" species are you getting?
Mine were/are all the Marshall Islands/Japan/Philippines species.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
ThRoewer
New member
Same as mine then.
Where did you get them from, local store or online vendor?
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
ThRoewer
New member
The notion that these "supermales" were larger makes me think that they may just be older and "final" males while the smaller, less colorful males may have been relative recently "promoted" females who had not grown enough to develop the full male coloration. And I somewhat doubt that Anthias have primary males (= individuals that start out in life as males).
With fish in this price range and a possibly rather short lifespan I would never get a fish that may very well be close to the end of its lifespan just because it has nicer colors.
Generally I prefer to get juveniles and let them grow in my tank. In my experience juveniles adjust better to tank-life and new foods than adults who are set in their ways. This is especially the case with fish considered to be difficult.
ThRoewer
New member
Did you get yours already?
I picked my additional 3 up on Wednesday.
Thursday evening I found the smallest of the 3 new ones dead. No signs of violence, no injuries, but seemingly with a very empty stomach.
The other 2 of the new ones and the female I got last Saturday seem to be fine.
Loosing 2 out of 5 is really a hard hit, especially if considering that they are not cheap.
These are the survivors so far:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oWCsVMc6AsM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This Saturday I will have a closer look at them to make sure they have no flukes or other nasty surprises.
ThRoewer
New member
I don't think that they are too bothered by other fish as long as they don't harass them.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Similar threads
