Lyretail Anthias Losing Color

[socalmonty]

I have five Lyretail Anthias (one male and four females) that I have had for several years in my 140G. When I got them their orange color was deep and vibrant but over time, they have become faded and washed out. I suspect it must be diet. I have been feeding them primarily frozen mysis and spirulina-infused brine shrimp. I have recently added Prime Reef flakes to the mix to try to get a more balanced diet but after a month or so, I'm not really seeing any change. Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, were you able to figure out what was wrong? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Reefnub]

They're losing colors because of their diet, flakes should help with their colors but don't expect it to come back overnight. I bought a faded Carberri Anthias from a local and it took me half a year just to get 75% of the color back. All my anthias that ate pellets have vibrant colors except for one that only eats mysis because he gets bullied. Pellets and flakes are a must for Anthias imo.

 

[socalmonty]

Thanks for the advice, Reefnub. I have both flakes and pellets. I will add the pellets to the feeding mix and give it some time.

 

[Monkeyfish]

IMO foods like Cyclopeeze help too.

 

[SDguy]

Cyclopeeze, ova, frozen plankton and PE msysis really help mine with color.

 

[socalmonty]

Boy, you two both have a lot of tanks. Thanks for the suggestions. I just bought some Cyclopeeze last week. How often do you feed with it, how much do you feed and how do you prepare it? There are no instructions on the jar.

 

[MIKE NY]

a varied diet is a must I literally feed mine about a dozen different types of foods....

 

[socalmonty]

It's been two years since I started this thread and my Lyretails are now colored up beautifully but I have six Bartletts that look horribly washed out to me. They all get the same diet which includes three different kinds of Ocean Nutrition flakes and Cyclopeeze all mixed in roughly equal parts three times a day from an autofeeder and frozen Mysis and Spirulina infused brine shrimp each evening. Any suggestions?

 

[MIKE NY]

how long have you had them? if longer than six months and still aren't colorful try Rod's original...has a good mixture of many types of foods they should accept...it's one of the foods I mix in with the "chum" I make everyday...for me my Bartletts are among the easiest anthias I ever kept because they eat almost everything...