Lyretail vs. Bartlett's Anthias

[dwanner]

I am looking to add a school of 6 anthias (1 male 5 female) to my tank and I'm torn between Lyretails and Bartletts. From the research I've done the Lyretails appear to be lower maintenance and seem to do well on 2 feedings per day which is realistically what works best with my schedule. I've also read some accounts of Bartletts doing well on 2 feedings and I prefer the coloration of the Bartletts, any thoughts......

 

[geaux xman]

I was killing myself with deciding which group of anthias to get last month also. I ended up getting Carberryi Anthias after seeing some pics floating around RC. I ordered 5 and 1 came dead from LA(was credited). Personally, I think the Carberryi's look better, but thats just me. I have them in QT and they go crazy over anything frozen.

I'm going to order another 4-5 when I have another QT tank to use.

I know that didnt help, but just something to look into.

 

[Gogandantess]

I keep hearing that the Barlett's will all turn into males unfortunately. That would be the biggest negative for choosing them. I'd stick with Lyretails IMO.

 

[dwanner]

If the entire school of Bartletts turned male would they kill each other off until there was one dominant male left?

 

[jcw]

I have a lyretail in QT and he reminds me of a pig.

 

[davocean]

I've read bartletts can be more aggressive or pushy at feeding time, but that is just what I've read, no exp w/ them personally.
I do have 5 lyretails and no regrets, eat well, keep good colors.
I have carberryi's as well, those eat well, but tricky to keep good color.

 

[dwanner]

Thanks for the input, what is tricky about keeping a Carberryi's colors, are they highly sensitive to water quality or required a specialized diet to maintain their colors?

 

[Dmoore]

I have both Bartlets and Lyretails in my 300. The Bartlets are pretty shy in my tank and hide a bit. The lyretails are out all the time. I have not seen any aggression from the Bartlets, but the Lyretail male gets a little bossy sometime. Especially with his females.

Both are beautiful fish. Why not get both!?

Dave

 

[dwanner]

Both is definitely an option, but I already have a 7" Black Tang, a 5" Powder Blue Tang and plan on getting a Scribbled Angel, so I want to make sure that the tank doesn't get overcrowded.

 

[niter]

We have a male maldives lyretail and female lyretail (of unknown official origin/region) and they are quite hardy and good eaters. They are always out in the water column area and very attractive. They also interact very well with our cleaner shrimp. We have ignitus anthias as well and I do think I prefer their coloring (and nicer behavior). They arrived more mellow in temperament and color and while they have kept their behavior their coloring has gone from pale coral to a vivid pinky coral accented by blue eyes and fins of red and yellow.

There is some one who often posts in the anthias threads that has a few of many species instead of many of one type. Now that I know how much I enjoy anthias, I am inclined to go this route. Interestingly, the lyretails would be stunning alone but next to the other anthias they are kinda the ugly ducklings (but really gorgeous, ugly ducklings if that makes sense)!

 

[psusocr]

I have three maldive lyrtails as well and i wish i had gotten 6. Always out, seem to school around here and there eat very well for me and add some great color and personallity. They have no problems with my other fish as well as my other fish having no problems with them..

Anyone have their anthias eating anything but frozen? little buggers are picky

 

[davocean]

My lyretails took a bit to take spectrum pellets, but most usually do, and mine now do.
My Caryberryi's take pellets now too, as well as my lone dispar(who seems to take male role w/ my caryberryi's)
The carbs just have a rep for getting a lil pale w/ most reefers it seems, I think a varied diet is needed.
Mine seem to bounce back and forth on brightness.
I think in OP's tank size you could and IMO should have a couple/several types of anthias, just keep a good skim going and WC's as you already probably do/should.

 

[dwanner]

Besides bartletts, carberryis & lyretails I was looking at evansis as well, but they seem to be a little touchier than most. I'm thinking I will go will a school of 6 lyretails and 4 carberryis

 

[SDguy]

After years of having both I can honestly say I prefer lyretails overall, even though I prefer the shape (pointy snout) of the bartletts. Bartletts tend to be aggessive to other anthias, and often tend to all turn male and not hang out with each other. Even if they do stay female, at least for me, the females were very pale. Pale yellow basically = no color at that point. And to top it all off, they eat too much. Again, when mixed with other anthias with more demanding dietary needs, the bartletts just turned obese in my tank. So at the end of the day, I had fat, unattractive, aggressive anthias :lol:

Did I mention how much I like my lyretails Only drawback to lyretails is that they, like bartletts, don't really hang out with each other as much as dispar, carberryi, etc.

 

[dwanner]

I'm sensing a pattern here, Lyretails seem to be the way to go. Any input on mixing Lyretails and Carberryis?

 

[davocean]

I have that^^ mix and it works well for me.
I will say my lyre's keep great bright colors, and so far seem really easy.
While mine do seperate from each other now and then, most of the time mine do hang close to each other, and even better is when ALL hang in a tight pack, lyre's and carberryi's, which happens pretty often.

 

[niter]

So at the end of the day, I had fat, unattractive, aggressive anthias :lol:

Did I mention how much I like my lyretails Only drawback to lyretails is that they, like bartletts, don't really hang out with each other as much as dispar, carberryi, etc.

Your sentiment was the impression I had gathered from research and pictures about Bartletts and why they are not high (if at all) on the list of anthias to one day have.

I agree very much about what you said about the lyretails and grouping. In my tank, they do swim together often but not regularly/always. The ignitus always move as a team, save the individual breaks they take at the cleaner shrimp station. I think that also helped their entry to the group as when the male lyretail was establishing the pecking order, he treated each female individually but the ignitus were treated as if the entire group was one fish. They still behave this way, when the anthias are ALL together they are ALL together and when they are meandering, the lyretails are individual where the ingitus are together in a group.

 

[dwanner]

Have you had good luck with ignitus keeping their coloration?

 

[MCCOOL]

I have a lone ignitus with my dispars and it has kept very good color. They all hang out together in a pretty tight group, most of the time.

 

[Apercula]

I have three maldive lyrtails as well and i wish i had gotten 6. Always out, seem to school around here and there eat very well for me and add some great color and personallity. They have no problems with my other fish as well as my other fish having no problems with them..

Anyone have their anthias eating anything but frozen? little buggers are picky

My female Maldives lyretail will eat anything, the male is a little more picky. I started feeding New Life Spectrum pellets, 1mm size, a few weeks ago and both are eating them well. The male does need the pellets to be moving in the current to trigger a feeding response. When they just sink past him he ignores them.