Please help me pick anthias for my 120g!

[acro-ed]

Hi,
I am very interested in getting a small group of anthias for my tank. I spoke with the guy that runs the LFS, who is very knowledgeable, and he suggested Dispar anthias. I am also strongly considering Lyretail anthias as well.

I have been keeping reef tanks for about 15 years now. I don't have a whole lot of experience with fish...I'm a coral guy. I am looking for suggestions as to which type to go with, based on my setup, while sticking with the "smaller" and "hardier" of the anthias species.

The setup is a 120g (4 x 2 x 2), mostly SPS. Very open aquascaping with lots of room for fish to swim. I have MH+VHO lighting, so the anthias would need to be suited for high light. I have a lot of flow as well. The tank is plumbed to my frag tanks, as well as a reservoir with a cryptic zone. There is about 300 lbs of rock total between the tanks. My display is barebottom, and I have a larger Warner Marine skimmer in the sump.

I only have a small number of fish at this time - ancient mater pair of perc's, ancient mater pair of green chromis, and a little mean blue and yellow damsel. These fish have been living together for quite a while and there are no real aggression issues.

I feed a wide array of food already: "reef caviar," cyclopeeze, rod's food, mysis, rotifers, and otihime(?) pellets (some really stinky tiny pellets from japan....fish go CRAZY over it). I also just picked up some Brightwell zoaplankton 500-2k in anticipation of getting whichever anthias I choose next week.

I am planning on putting the tiny pellets in an autofeeder, and feeding an assortment of frozen stuff every night like normal. I figure 2x a day should be sufficient, based on what I have read.

So now I am seeking advice from people who have kept anthias in a similar size tank. Which ones should I go with??

Thanks!!
Ed

 

[small alien]

I haven't kept anthias. This is a brain storm. How about a harem of lyretails and a midas blenny which is a lyretail "mimic".

 

[davocean]

I think hands down lyretails are not only the easiest to keep, eat readily, but also easy to keep bright colors.
They are an excellent way to break in on anthias, and also seem to adapt to pellets, and the ability to deal w/ less feedings daily.
Dispars are cool too, but more sensitive IME, and don't ship that well.

 

[el aguila]

The larger anthias tend to slowly pick off the smallest one until you have very few left. On the other hand some of the smaller ones are more docile and are not as aggressive, and probably give more of the effect that most people are looking for in a group of fish.

I have a 190 with 3 Sunburst and 8 Dispars. I am very pleased with the Dispars and would like to add 3-4 more females and possibly 4-5 Lori Anthias. While there are other varieties you would probably be good to start with Dispars, Ignitus, or Lori.

A really good resource for Anthias is Scott Michael's "Reef Fishes Vol.1"

 

[acro-ed]

Thanks for the advice.

Any particular meds that are recommended for Dispar's before they are put in?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[MCCOOL]

My dispars, like all my fish, were treated with cupramine and prazipro.

 

[Fishkybizniz]

Anthias

Anthias

We have a 180 FOWLER with a few low light corals. Lyre are delightfully playful & colorful fish. We started with a harem of 6 (1 M 5 F) and the group never settled down so we lost all but 2 females. Learning females will turn into males, in restocking we added 3 females and let them figure out who the male would be. That worked out much better. Only lost 1 with a nice harem of 4 going strong. Not to worry about the male getting plenty of color. The one that changed into a male is much prettier than the one we bought as a male. If we ever lose any we plan to always add a female. They seem to smooth the pecking order thing out faster and by far this harem has lasted longer.

 

[acro-ed]

Thanks for the info everyone. I totally forgot I made this thread until the most recent reply. I ended up getting a group of Ignitus anthias. I ended up with 6. I first ordered 5 and 1 died within a day, so I was left with 4. I then ordered 4 more, and two were lost in shipping but later showed up. 2 of those 4 died within one day (presumably the ones that were lost for a day). So now I am left with 6, and they look amazing. 5 stay together at all times (1 male and 4 females) and the other lone male just swims nearby. The males have not been fighting, but I'm sure they will eventually. If that happens I will throw the extra male in my frag tank.

I have been feeding 3 times per day with an automatic feeder with crushed up Otihime (sp?) and Coral Vibrance. I have been feeding another 2 times per day with an incredible assortment of frozen food. I am using everything from cyclopeeze, refrigerated zoaplankton, Rod's food....to fish eggs, h2olife assortments, and best of all...minced cobia (my wife caught a nice fat cobia last month, so the usused portions got pureed into anthias food). The anthias eat like champs and are all fat and happy.

I am totally thrilled with the schoal of Ignitus. Of course the major drawback to this whole anthias idea is that I now decided to get another skimmer. The old Warner Marine worked amazing, but it was getting pretty filthy, so I stepped up to an Itech 400.

Thanks again for the help!

-Ed

Coral shot:

A couple of the Ignitus (wow they move fast!):