Official Borbonius Anthias Thread

So true Greg. I recall you or Renee mentioning that you took those great pics with spot-lights over the tank (that you normally don't run), what kind of lighting do you generally run over their tank?

There are one set of shots that had 3 of those clamp-on spot lights. That was probably the pics I posted in this thread originally.... I'll have to go back and look. They just had ambient room light while in QT and now have Power Compacts on their 60g.

Age may very well influence colours, but all three of mine are a different colour from each other.

EDIT: Ya, the ones I posted were under the spot lights and the one Greg posted were under PCs. The pale/skinny pic... I don't remember the lights.
 
I may be wrong, but size may have something to do with the color disparities too. It seems to me the smaller ones aren't as colorful.

it took a good month for these fish to color-up, but after chilling out and getting some good food, they began to look pretty nice. in a bit over a year, they've grown more than double their original size.
 
This is such a great picture. I am looking into maybe a pair or trio of these.

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I have a some questions on these guys. First thing is can you keep them at temps around 78-80F with sps coral lighting with no ill effects? Asking because I know they are deep water. Second is I've heard of other anthias killing each other off until you are left with one like Bartlets and Dispars. Do these suffer from this problem?
 
parameters

parameters

My tank is a mixed reef and I keep it at 74-76 degrees. I have 2 borbs and the larger one is the king of the tank atm. While he does seem a bit aggressive he never bites ... just chases a bit. The bigger one does seem a bit more colorful than the smaller one.
At first they would hide a lot but now they don't seem to mind the light at all and are out and about all the time.
 
I have a some questions on these guys. First thing is can you keep them at temps around 78-80F with sps coral lighting with no ill effects? Asking because I know they are deep water. Second is I've heard of other anthias killing each other off until you are left with one like Bartlets and Dispars. Do these suffer from this problem?
Mine's been thriving (color progression similar to namxas' pictures) for the past several months with temps 78+ and 250w MH in a shallow cube. It was aggressive to a pair of Ventralis when they were first introduced but has since calmed down.
 
Here's my 2. I've had them close to a yr. The larger one has more color than the smaller one. I wonder if the larger one is the female?
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eatting my other fish

eatting my other fish

Everything i thought i read about the Borbonius Anthias is they are peaceful fish. Well i've had 2 now for 2 months now. Good size. I had 3 clown fish. 1 med small and 2 smaller ones. One day the med clown just disspeared. 3 weeks last, today. I caught my Anthias inside a "cave" of one of my coral. Where my 3 med size fire goby like to hang. HE ATE THEM BOTH. Has anyone else experience this?
thanks

* i have still in my tank the 2 small clown, med twinspot goby, 2 blue hippo tangs (1 small 1 med), 2 strip damsel, 1 domino damsel, 1 small yellow wraase, 1 med black cap basslet,
 
Everything i thought i read about the Borbonius Anthias is they are peaceful fish. Well i've had 2 now for 2 months now. Good size. I had 3 clown fish. 1 med small and 2 smaller ones. One day the med clown just disspeared. 3 weeks last, today. I caught my Anthias inside a "cave" of one of my coral. Where my 3 med size fire goby like to hang. HE ATE THEM BOTH. Has anyone else experience this?
thanks

* i have still in my tank the 2 small clown, med twinspot goby, 2 blue hippo tangs (1 small 1 med), 2 strip damsel, 1 domino damsel, 1 small yellow wraase, 1 med black cap basslet,

serious ?:eek2::eek2:
 
Everything i thought i read about the Borbonius Anthias is they are peaceful fish. Well i've had 2 now for 2 months now. Good size. I had 3 clown fish. 1 med small and 2 smaller ones. One day the med clown just disspeared. 3 weeks last, today. I caught my Anthias inside a "cave" of one of my coral. Where my 3 med size fire goby like to hang. HE ATE THEM BOTH. Has anyone else experience this?
thanks

* i have still in my tank the 2 small clown, med twinspot goby, 2 blue hippo tangs (1 small 1 med), 2 strip damsel, 1 domino damsel, 1 small yellow wraase, 1 med black cap basslet,

H. borbonius is not a peaceful fish by any means, altho their aggression is usually among themselves, and altho they bicker, they don't pick each other off like some species.

i can believe the anthias killed your other fish, but they can't eat anything they can't swallow (they're planktonic feeders). i'm not sure what you mean by "ate" your other fish. that being said, our trio will eat from a feeding stick, but even then, the food has to be bite-sized.

just a bit puzzled here...
 
Do you think these guys would do OK with azure damsels and bicolor chromis, Chromis margaritifer? They are not that aggressive as far as damsels go, but they are first in tank.
 
IME with ours, he is rather territorial. I'm surprised since he's in a 180. He's about 3" and nice and fat. I would think when he gets bigger (and I have seen one about 6") that he would eat what ever they could swallow - but I'm just guessing. I feed fish goo, and he sucks down some large chunks of fish, clams, scallops, etc.

When ever I added a new fish, it used to be the coral beauty who would harass the new addition. Now it's the borb. He's by no means the biggest fish in the tank, but he thinks he's the boss.

I don't think he'd "knock off" other fish per se. But can be a "harasser" if he wants to be.
 
looks nice. just needs to fatten up and color-up (the spots will go darker). the fish in the top and bottom pics is a male (note the yellow "knob" on the 3rd dorsal ray).
 
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well those pics are of the same one. that one is the larger of the two. The smaller one has darker spots. the smaller one is hiding as it just came in this morning.
 
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