When it comes to Anthias sp. I have become quite interested in this family , my original anthias that I have had have been the common lyretail anthias I have had them for around 5 years , the largest one was almost a male colouration but not quite a couple of months ago one of the smaller females started the chasing the once dominant "œmale" anthias so badly that I found it dead after 5 days, 2 days later the orange female had turned into this.
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I have found them to be hardy where anthias families are concerned but also very aggressive in their own species especially if things get out of balance in the hierarchy.
There are currently 3 anthias squampinnis in my aquarium , 1 male and 2 females.
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Recently I found an anthias I had never seen before at my LFS, and I purchased 6 of them , 1 died in quarantine the rest proved to be very hardy fish, eating well and not at all as aggressive as the lyretail anthias. I have what seems to be 4 males and 1 female of this species all my research seems to indicate that it is the undescribed anthias called the reticulated anthias in the trade which is closely related to anthias Marcia found in the oman region but this one is found closer to Indonesia. The LFS I got them from said the supplier called them anthias "œKashiwa" but I have not found much information where that name is concerned. The males have incredible displays sometimes I have found them interlocking jaws on the odd occasion and doing the spawning dance with the one female, the one male who begins it sends all the males into the dance at this time their colouration changes and they get a bright red area on their tails which is not visible at other times in the last picture you will see this red area( I hope to show a video soon of their display behavior), They are very beautiful fish and not at all aggressive and eat very readily even pellet foods and seem to be the "œperfect" anthias for the aquarium.
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