lyretail anthias suck

[expo703]

I introduce 3 idk who was the male/females they were all same size and same color.. I know the male will show dominace and setup territory..I'm fine with that I had piranhas and used to see some aggressive and picking at each other fins..but they are relentless..Now I have 2.. LFS gave me another one after telling them it died;/ These fish are mean..chasing all over the tank I think my last one died from stress or abuse.. don't know if this is the new one but now he is hiding under a rock won't come out for last 24 hours and isn't eating... help i fear he is next to die?

LFS said to get @ least 3 as they will do better in a schol I have a 135 gal 6 foot long tank:sad1: If i lose one more idk if I want to even get another one...

 

[Dmorty217]

Anthias are no walk in the park

 

[davocean]

That's a bummer, once in a great while I see people claim theirs are aggressive, but for the most part I think lyretails are one of if not the easiest to keep

 

[LefkoNJ]

I had a trio for a long time. The male always did crazy things to the females, unusual swimming and stuff. I tried to introduce another female and it did not go well, he kills it.

 

[Wonton Soup]

Have you seen torn fins yet? If not, then it may just be your perception of how they interact with each other that seems aggressive.
Hiding for the first few days to a week is pretty normal.
As mentioned, these fish are not easy and require a lot of work. All members of this genus really.

 

[expo703]

Have you seen torn fins yet? If not, then it may just be your perception of how they interact with each other that seems aggressive.
Hiding for the first few days to a week is pretty normal.
As mentioned, these fish are not easy and require a lot of work. All members of this genus really.

yeah torn fins she is really beat up on her sides.. she was out for good 30 seconds and I fed some mysis didn't even go for it.. now she is back under a rock not sure if she is alive or not.. what do you guys think I should do if she dies? Should I try again and get another one b.c they are better with 3? Or Not get another one maybe try to get store credit or something /

ps not sure why there is a thumbs down icon top left of this msg lol

 

[expo703]

so woke up today.. and he is dead... should I even bother getting another one or am I sentencing it to death? Is a group of 2 okay or should I really try to get a trio?

 

[suta4242]

Given what's already happened, I wouldn't get more.

Yeah, lyretails are probably the easiest to keep and if you try again make sure you start with small juveniles, not adults. They'll grow fast and a male will emerge soon enough. Whatever you do try not to get more than one male / sub male. IME That makes a big difference as far as initial losses go.

YMMV but a good group size is usually +/- 5 and feed well, especially during the settling in period. Lyretails are pretty bossy among themselves (but even some of the smaller species are narky).

Welcome to the annoying world of anthias! :wave:

 

[expo703]

Given what's already happened, I wouldn't get more.

Yeah, lyretails are probably the easiest to keep and if you try again make sure you start with small juveniles, not adults. They'll grow fast and a male will emerge soon enough. Whatever you do try not to get more than one male / sub male. IME That makes a big difference as far as initial losses go.

YMMV but a good group size is usually +/- 5 and feed well, especially during the settling in period. Lyretails are pretty bossy among themselves (but even some of the smaller species are narky).

Welcome to the annoying world of anthias!

thanks yeah I don't want to do another one I will try to get store credit no issues with just a group of 2 then?

 

[suta4242]

Maybe... It depends on the remaining individuals.
Fwiw if you end up with one it'll probably live for years.

HTH and GL

 

[650-IS350]

Only anthias I was successful in keeping were square back anthias. I've tried a couple of the smaller variety but never successful.

 

[davocean]

thanks yeah I don't want to do another one I will try to get store credit no issues with just a group of 2 then?

2 will almost certainly result in having just one.
A male needs at least 2-3 females so his badgering is spread around, all his attention towards just one will most likely stress it to death.

 

[expo703]

Maybe... It depends on the remaining individuals.
Fwiw if you end up with one it'll probably live for years.

HTH and GL

2 will almost certainly result in having just one.
A male needs at least 2-3 females so his badgering is spread around, all his attention towards just one will most likely stress it to death.

Crap..well idk what to do then introduce another one? Or two? I rather not have 4 anthias so I can add other fish..Could I try another type of anthias with better chance of living? I feel like i'm sentencing it to death lol i'm not sure if I'm getting another male or female or what b.c they are all the same color..Plus my bioload is getting heavy. I plan on adding 2-4 more fish and already have 3 wrasses & two clowns. Plan on adding two tangs , marine beta, CBB.

That would leave me with :
4 anthias
2 clowns
Cleaner wrasse
6 line wrasse
flasher wrasse
Yellow tang
1 other tang
Copperband Butterfly
marine beta(maybe)

too much?

 

[davocean]

The male will be a distinctly different color depending on region it is collected from.
Honestly after getting a nice harem of lyretails I can no longer imagine not having them in my tank, and I'd take them over multiple tangs any day.
I went w/ one small tang in my 120 so I would have room for them and other small fish.
I'd add a couple small females if it were my tank, and I'd skip the beta as well.

 

[ca1ore]

I guess it depends on what the LFS sold you. Since you don't describe them, I guess it's possible they were all males in which case things won't go well at all. Even if they were all females (which is more likely) it's also possible some were starting the change gender in which case things also won't go well. Lyretails are in the Franzia sub-genus and can be particularly aggressive; I never have had much success keeping a group for much longer than a year before they start picking each other off. They are among the 'easiest' anthias in that they readily take just about any foods, but they still need to be fed 3 times a day in order that the more aggressive member don't hog it all.

 

[GSMclowns]

Lyretail Anthias are not difficult to keep at all.
I kept a pair for 6 years. The first year I kept them in a 30 gallons. Then I moved them to a 75 gallons tank. The male will chase and bump into the female a bit but they are not out and try to kill the female. Chasing and bumping are normal for them. If they don't do that, the female will try and turn into a male and start a war. So basically these Lyretail females need a bit of spanking to stay in their places. One male and one female will be just fine. After that pair died, my friend gave me another pair that he kept for 2 years. I have that pair for another 4 years now. They behave the same way as the previous pair, a bit chasing and bumping here and there.. but no one is dying.

Anyway, my point is that having keeping them for about 10 years now, they are pretty easy to keep if you have a male and a female. 2 or more males will fight if your tank isn't big enough. From my observation, females are pretty aggressive among themselves as well. So in your case, maybe you have 2 males in the early stage of turning from female to male. If that is the case, then it won't end well. But if you have 2 females and they are fighting, then I guess they are trying to see who will dominate and turn into the male. in this case, just leave them alone and they will work it out.

Just take a picture of the fishes and your tank, other people will let you know if your anthias are female or male and go from there.

 

[expo703]

Lyretail Anthias are not difficult to keep at all.
I kept a pair for 6 years. The first year I kept them in a 30 gallons. Then I moved them to a 75 gallons tank. The male will chase and bump into the female a bit but they are not out and try to kill the female. Chasing and bumping are normal for them. If they don't do that, the female will try and turn into a male and start a war. So basically these Lyretail females need a bit of spanking to stay in their places. One male and one female will be just fine. After that pair died, my friend gave me another pair that he kept for 2 years. I have that pair for another 4 years now. They behave the same way as the previous pair, a bit chasing and bumping here and there.. but no one is dying.

Anyway, my point is that having keeping them for about 10 years now, they are pretty easy to keep if you have a male and a female. 2 or more males will fight if your tank isn't big enough. From my observation, females are pretty aggressive among themselves as well. So in your case, maybe you have 2 males in the early stage of turning from female to male. If that is the case, then it won't end well. But if you have 2 females and they are fighting, then I guess they are trying to see who will dominate and turn into the male. in this case, just leave them alone and they will work it out.

Just take a picture of the fishes and your tank, other people will let you know if your anthias are female or male and go from there.

Thanks guys I think I might just try to keep the pair if that works..instead of adding more..

here is the trio when I first got them..exactly same size and same color couldn't tell them apart.

Here is the second one that died..the next day you can see she is beaten up on her sides etc. was hiding the hole time and not eating

 

[ganjero]

From your post I can tell you that you are either not acclimating the fish properly, your tank is not ready or you LFS is bad source. They should not die within 24hrs. Is the salinity in your tank the same as the LFS? If yours is higher you should slowly acclimate the fish to the new salinity. How slowly? Well that depends on the difference but going from low to high usually causes trouble if done too fast and yes, the dripping method might be too fast.

Also, to be successful with lyretail anthias you need larger groups. Many don't realize that it is not only the male picking on females, but there will be also a dominant female helping him. That is the reason you need larger groups, they need to be able to take turns and handle the roughness of the two dominants in the group. Another thing is they usually do not come in their best shape from fish stores, so you need to provide plenty of food to get them stronger/healthier as fast as possible.

 

[expo703]

From your post I can tell you that you are either not acclimating the fish properly, your tank is not ready or you LFS is bad source. They should not die within 24hrs. Is the salinity in your tank the same as the LFS? If yours is higher you should slowly acclimate the fish to the new salinity. How slowly? Well that depends on the difference but going from low to high usually causes trouble if done too fast and yes, the dripping method might be too fast.

Also, to be successful with lyretail anthias you need larger groups. Many don't realize that it is not only the male picking on females, but there will be also a dominant female helping him. That is the reason you need larger groups, they need to be able to take turns and handle the roughness of the two dominants in the group. Another thing is they usually do not come in their best shape from fish stores, so you need to provide plenty of food to get them stronger/healthier as fast as possible.

I dripped acclimated for ~1 hour..introduced with lights off for another 4 hours.. all my other fish are fine my tank has been running for 3-4 months now. I have no issues maybe bad LFS source but then again I do not know if he died within 24 hours it could have been the other one...either way all 3 were eating after introducing..then I noticed one was beat up and getting chased..next day he was hiding then not eating. Next morning dead. I feed small amount of mysis / LRS 3 times a day all my fish are eating and healthy right now. I really think i'm just going to leave the two in there and not get a 3rd if I was going to try this again I would get two more so I had a total of 4 anthias rather than a trio since yes I did read that there is a male and dominate female.

 

[shred5]

Lyretails will be like that sometimes especially if the same size. Mine will lock mouths at times and it looks brutal but that is when they are the same size or setting up pecking order.. Lyretails remind me of chromis sometimes. They pick on the smallest and kill that one first working their way up. What is funny is not everyone has this issue and having more females seems to be the key and enough hiding spots. Adding a new one is always tuff when a pecking order is already set up. But honestly they need to pick on each other to keep pecking order and keep others from changing male.

I have ignitus and they are not aggressive at all. The male does flash allot and heard the females together. My male lyretail spends all his time shoaling with my ignitus. He does go after the female ignitus sometimes but that is because they are smaller. He is a small male yet and I find lyretails can be a aggressive fish too allot of fish..

One reason when it comes to lyretails or Bartletts people go with one especially if they are new to anthias. They are easier to keep but harder to keep multiple sometimes.