HI, does anyone know anything about the pictilus anthias? My LFS had a pair so I bought them totally on impulse. I have a 10 week old 90gal tank with the ecosystem refugium. I have 2 small tank-bred clowns that I've had for about a month. I also have a 7" deep sand bed so I hope these fish wont eat the beneficial sand creatures (I've been told no shrimp, crabs, gobies, starfish, etc) They were sold as a pair but the female (i think) is half the size as the male and they have different color patterns. The guy at the LFS said they are reef safe and peaceful, and would be fine with bartlett Anthias ( which I might get about 4 in a few months) He said they wont grow much larger than the male's size, which is about 4". He also said to feed them frozen mysic shrimp. I feed them live brine shrimp tonight and the smaller one ate many but the larger one just hid. Any advice would be great. I hope this wasn't a mistake.......
pictilus anthias
- Thread starter pitmindi
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s.reef
New member
When it comes to feeding I would not worry too much if they have not started eating yet, it takes a little time especially with finicky fish like anthias to start to get acclimated to aquarium life. Mysis, cyclopeez are good foods to get them on.
We had a full blown male pictilus anthias at a store I use to work at and he was a good 6" so the 4" max that the LFS is wrong. On that note a 90 gallon may not be big enough in the long run...this is one of the bigger anthias in the trade. In a tank that size I would also not mix different anthias and keep an eye on the smaller female, make sure she doesnt get picked on.
We had a full blown male pictilus anthias at a store I use to work at and he was a good 6" so the 4" max that the LFS is wrong. On that note a 90 gallon may not be big enough in the long run...this is one of the bigger anthias in the trade. In a tank that size I would also not mix different anthias and keep an eye on the smaller female, make sure she doesnt get picked on.
Thanks so much for your information. JD474 would you please tell me more about yours. What size tank are they in and how many do you have? Male or female? Is the female much smaller than the male? What is there personality like? Are they peaceful fish? Do they retain their color? Can you forward me a picture of yours? I am sorry for all these questions but I wasn't able to get much info on this specific pictilus anthias when I googled it.
