Is this anthia male or female

[jjoos99]

I meant just one lyretail... This way you end up with a male eventually anyway. Anyway hope it works out.
I wanted to have some ignitus and a male lyretail and a male Bartlett's since the males are better looking anyway to have a mix of anthias.
My male lyretail shoals with my ignitus.. Female hangs out on her own. It is weird how other anthias can change the normal habits of another fish.

Ignitus are cool they protect their own. when I put the smaller ignitus in the male swung into protect him from my tang. They all protected the female lyretail when she was introduced.

I didnt realize you could mix up different anthias. I was hoping that they would shoal together. I use to have 3 or 4 lyletails in my 180 and I didnt think they schooled together much at all. I bought the lyretails because all my reading said they were one of the easiest to keep.
thanks
jeff

 

[shred5]

I didnt realize you could mix up different anthias. I was hoping that they would shoal together. I use to have 3 or 4 lyletails in my 180 and I didnt think they schooled together much at all. I bought the lyretails because all my reading said they were one of the easiest to keep.
thanks
jeff

Lyretails are easy to keep except sometime they kill each other off..
Ignitus are a little harder to keep mainly because they require more feeding and are harder to get on dry foods. But ignitus do shoal where lyretails seem to meander around. My male lyretail does shoal with my ignitus while the female has a head of coral she occupies. I think that is part of the issue since they don't shoal in a aquarium they start to turn male sometimes and you especially see this in bartlett anthias.

Some people feel if there is more of a difference in size between the fish this wont happen.. I think this may work for a while but what happens at full growth and they are all the same size..

Some also think putting them in a smaller tank forcing them to interact stops this too.. Maybe.. Some people have success keep a group and other don't.

But yes in general lyretails and also bartlett anthias are hardier. But bartlett anthias seem to all turn male allot of time causing fighting.

What really makes allot of anthias hard to keep is getting them to eat, then trying to get them on dry food. Also allot of them require more feeding than most people can give. Some do not acclimate well to lights.

Ignitus and dispar are supposed to be better at shoals and so far I have found it too be true. Another thing about these anthias is they are much more peaceful with each other and far less aggressive. Males are not so hard on the females.

Also yea some anthias are fine mixed and allot of them are in the wild too..

 

[davocean]

I don't see anything in that pic that suggests it being other than female, or turning.
I did have a submale lyretail in my last tank, and it had an obvious long dorsal spike, and stayed orange, and stayed like that for over a year at least.
Eventually it did transition though.
Both males seemed to be ok for quite a long time, not quite a year, thought I might get lucky, but no.
I did have a mix of lyretails, carberryi, and dispars.
All mixed well and often shoaled together, though each group would often split off to themselves.
Each group had their own male, and I never saw quarells among them.

 

[ca1ore]

I didnt realize you could mix up different anthias. I was hoping that they would shoal together. I use to have 3 or 4 lyletails in my 180 and I didnt think they schooled together much at all. I bought the lyretails because all my reading said they were one of the easiest to keep.
thanks.

Easiest to feed certainly (along with Bartlett). Mine always end up killing each other off, so not amongst my personal favorites. No fish will 'school' in our tanks, though some will 'shoal'. Best anthias I have kept for this is the resplendent, since it stays quit small and 'responds' to larger fish as potential predators by staying together as a group. In the absence of larger fish, resplendents will just disperse around the tank..

 

[jjoos99]

Stupid question but what is the difference between schooling and shoaling of fish?
thanks
Jeff

 

[shred5]

Shoaling are fish that stay together in a group.
Schooling fish move together. Those fish you see that all seem to turn at the same time and seem to move as a single unit are schooling.

Anthias shoal, they live in groups but kind of do their own thing.

 

[ca1ore]

Yah, and not a stupid question at all as the term 'school' is regularly used incorrectly here on RC. What Dave said .....

 

[MillerR.]

i have this same issue, my Male has not turned red but much larger than the females and as the spots on the pectoral finds with an extremely long fine spike on top. I hope it changes color some day. It's been many months since it turned male.

Anthias are born neuter, soon after they settle they turn into females, based on social interactions dominant females transition into males.

The transition from female to male occurs internally before there are external cues. Among the first external signs of transition is the extension of the second dorsal ray. This beginning to grow is a sign that transition has already begun. While not nearly as long as it will eventually become the second dorsal ray of the OP's pictured anthias has already begun to grow.

Final body coloration is the final step. Squamipinnis with the full dorsal pennant and lyre tail yet still orange rather than red are quite common. The fish is male, but just hasn't fully completed it's transition.