Long term success with a harem of bartlett anthias?

[King-Kong]

I dont mind if they are mean to each other (within reason). I mean, between my two blue/green chromis, one is always missing scales from the other.. but theyve done that for almost 2 years now, and dont bother anyone else.

But, I want to try my school of threadfin cardinals again, that will mean no meanies.

If the dispar's couldnt handle major aggression, I hope that means they themselves dont dish it out that much.

SDGuy: what would he do to your tomini?

Carl: 1/2 of them hid pretty hard yesterday, but based on what I saw, im not even positive I got 7 identical species of dispars. I think I may have some mixes that seem more like ignitus and dispar. Let's wait till theyre all out and I can snap some photos

 

[CarlC]

There seems to be alot of mixed purchase's with these two species. I still think they are being collected from a area that has both species present of atleast in a close proximity.

Get them feeding well and start snapping away. You can never post to many pics of anthias!

Carl

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10722132#post10722132 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by King-Kong
SDGuy: what would he do to your tomini?

Flash and rub up against him like he would a female....maybe he was just lonely :lol:

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10722243#post10722243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CarlC
There seems to be alot of mixed purchase's with these two species. I still think they are being collected from a area that has both species present of atleast in a close proximity.

Though all of mine have the "blue eyes" that Gary noticed amongst his ignitus, I have to say my dominant male is looking more and more "dispar" every day, but not quite like my old male dispar. Weird...
New (on left with raised dorsal fin) NOte very orange/yellow tail....no bright red fork with yellow wedge to speak of:

Old male (clearly dispar):

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

interesting.... and confusing!
My dominent Anthias (one with blue eyes) has been intimidating the others lately.
I have a "plain eyelid" Anthias that has gone into hiding. She hangs out in the corners and crevices of the rockwork. I never see her eat. No crooked back, either- in fact, when she swims in the open she appears normal. She's been like this for several weeks now and I don't know how she can hang on for so long. If this follows my previous experiences with Anthias I know where this is eventually headed

 

[SDguy]

I feel your pain Gary. One of my anthias came in and sat under a rock for two weeks in QT. No eating. No swimming. Since it looked otherwise healthy, I decided to add it to the display, hoping the other anthias would help him settle in. Been sitting on the floor for 3 weeks now. No food. No swimming. Obviously paper thin at this point. I'm guessing a swim bladder problem.

 

[Macimage]

Is everyone quarantining their new anthias and for how long?

Great Thread as Anthias (Fat Head & Ventralis) and PBT are my two favorite fish species!

Joyce

 

[CarlC]

4 week minimum for me unless they come from Divers Den. Fish from the Den still get atleast a week in QT.

Carl

 

[King-Kong]

Here is a pic of 5 of them I just snapped (lights just came on)

 

[SDguy]

Nice! They look nice and filled out.

 

[CarlC]

They look good.
Have you seen them eat yet?

Carl

 

[King-Kong]

I tried late yesterday and got no respones with live adult brine, and just tried the rest of the live brine today.

One of them mouthed the live brine, and spit it out, the rest werent interested.

I will try again tomorrow.

Theyre still freaked out right now.. they are very afraid of my tang, but he doesnt do anything to him... I think they just cant believe how FAT he is!


edit: any additional suggestions besides live brine? That seems to always be the first that a fish will accept. Ill also be trying some frozen mysis and cyclop eeze (since i normally feed that anyways)

 

[SDguy]

IME you have to start with super tiny pieces of frozen food. Minced mysis worked for me. Then move up to whole mini mysis, then minced PE mysis and scallop, and shrimp. Eventually frozen foods of all kind. These will be tougher than you had with the barletts. You certainly won't have a low nutrient problem

 

[King-Kong]

Do you think minced frozen is better than large live?

 

[SDguy]

Honestly, none of my new anthias have ever gone for live brine. They don't seem to like the taste IME. Fast moving food in the water attracts them more. You should be good in your high flow system. I often shoot the food right into my vortech...let it do the work....

 

[King-Kong]

Wow.. ok..

My fishes favorite food is a blended combination of shrimp, mollusks, clams, etc. etc... I hadnt been using thinking these new guys wouldnt be interested in. Let's see what they think about it

 

[SDguy]

When I say finely minced, I'm not kidding. Basically particulates of food at first.

I've also heard things like small roe work well.

 

[CarlC]

Roe is the best if you can find it. It's probably the only food we can offer them that they are eating in the wild. Hard part is finding it. Most often it is seasoned for sushi.

Kong- For the most part I only use adult brine for deworming or as an occasional treat. When gut loaded with Selcon or Beta Glucon and phyto they eat it with gusto. When it is gut loaded with just yeast they aren't so quick to eat it. I always get a great feeding response from just hatched brine.

Carl

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10725068#post10725068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
When I say finely minced, I'm not kidding. Basically particulates of food at first.

I've also heard things like small roe work well.

It worked! Woohoo!

They took to it!

My home made frozen food is a combination of a seafood medley (containing clams, mussels, shrimp, and some other random seafood i cant remember now) + PE Mysis, and Cyclopeeze, minced in a food processor with RO water.

I just fed them some and they all came out and started eating it!

Thanks guys

 

[SDguy]

:beer: