How would a single lyretail anthias do in a 42 gallon?

[tootsmcgee]

How would the colors develop, would it stay a female or will it become a drab male? Also, would it still be an active fish that swims in the middle of the tank or would it hide more?

 

[small alien]

That is an interesting question. I look forward to some answers.

 

[mark54321]

I had a single lyretail male in 65gal it was fine,always swimming in open,I think you should be fine with just one in your 42 gal. What other fish you got in the tank?

 

[tootsmcgee]

I had a single lyretail male in 65gal it was fine,always swimming in open,I think you should be fine with just one in your 42 gal. What other fish you got in the tank?

I'm planning on adding a pair of flame angels, a yellow assessor and a pair of possum wrasse. I might add a sunburst anthias and/or an orchid dottyback but I don't know how well they would mix.

Do you have a pic of it by any chance? What were the colors like and how long did you have it?

 

[Grassroots]

Should be fine but dont add a pseudochromis to your tank way to aggressive.

 

[tootsmcgee]

Youre probably right. I just really like them and can't get myself to cross it off my list. I have just heard the ORA orchid dottybacks aren't that aggressive but i've also heard the opposite

 

[mark54321]

I'm planning on adding a pair of flame angels, a yellow assessor and a pair of possum wrasse. I might add a sunburst anthias and/or an orchid dottyback but I don't know how well they would mix.

Do you have a pic of it by any chance? What were the colors like and how long did you have it?

I don't have picture of my 65g.,I had lyretail it this tank for about 8mos. without any problems,now a upgraded to 120 and is swimming happily in its new home.
here it is:

 

[mark54321]

The orchid dottyback is not as aggressive as others dotybacks but with your size tank I would skip it,instead add a royal gramma or blacktop basslet,very nice fish. You can see my blacktop basslet in the picture above ,it is this purple fish on the bottom

 

[tootsmcgee]

Thanks for the help Mark. Your tank looks nice and healthy. The lyretail looks great too

 

[tootsmcgee]

Did you buy that lyretail as a male or did it change?

 

[mark54321]

I got it as a male

 

[All Delight]

Hmmm.....I'd like to see more info on this as well. I'm thinking about adding two or three tho. I'm looking to buy some really small ones.

 

[tootsmcgee]

As far as i know getting two or three lyretails at a small size will work great if you have at least a 90 gallon. One will become the dominant fish and morph to a male and keep the others in line by asserting its dominance every now and then. This is one of the reasons you need a bigger tank. So the females have a little room to run. someone can chime in if i'm wrong

 

[Apercula]

I purchased this trio three years ago for my 75g tank. The male died about a month after I moved them from my quarantine tank to my display, from a bacterial infection. About 2 months later the larger female changed to male over the course of a month.

He will occasionally make a run at her, but she just ducks around a rock and he doesn't chase her. His minor aggression is not enough to cause her to miss out on feeding time and they are both well colored and healthy looking.
Trio.

Two females the day I released them in my reef.

Male and female near the end of his sex change.

Him at full color.

I cant find a close up picture of her from recently, but she is far right of this fts.

 

[sfboarders]

Some good info about anthias found here. It's a pretty good 5 page article.

 

[namxas]

We kept a single "she-male" lyretail in our 55 gal reef for over 8 years and she did wonderfully. Once established, the females are about as bulletproof as they come (I could never keep a male alive for very long).

She never got drab as she changed:

 

[tootsmcgee]

thanks namxas thats exactly the answer i was looking for. she looks really bright and healthy

 

[Jakef150]

I saw some forum from nano..They have one fish in 30 G- bad idea?

Some report said it is doing fine ?

Thanks!
Jake

 

[nastynate]

mark what kind of tang is that in your picture? Looks like it has the markings of a tomini but have never seen one that deep black with the red fins and bright blue tail. Beautiful man I want one.

 

[mnellis3023]

I just picked up this male last week. He will be the only anthias in my 36x24 tank. So far his colors have intensified since I brought him home

Here are pics of him the day I brought him home. Please not that this picture does this fish no justice, much better and vivid looking in person