pseudanthias smithvanizi

[All Delight]

I'm really tempted to try this species of Anthia. I have kept a trio Flavoguttatus anthias for several months. Strange thing happened one day. I turned off my MP10 for 30 mins while doing maintenance. Then I blindly turned it back on, and one of my Flavo's got stuck and died. Then to my surprise over the next couple of days, my other 2 Flavo's appeared to fall into some sort of depression. They instantly stopped eating for 2 days, then for a day they just sat on the sandbed. The next day they were dead.

I often wonder if the disruption of the harem caused this.

 

[copps]

Hmmm... my guess is the anthias were going downhill together for some reason, and thus the reason one got taken into an MP10... if "depression" happened in an anthias harem every time one got picked off in the wild they'd never sustain themselves!:spin3:

One small anthias species I LOVE that has thrived in my main reef system with a water temp of your tank is Pseudanthias pulcherrimus... why would you not chill your system down or pick another species? The writing seems to be on the wall with these guys and it's a shame to knowingly keep them where they're not comfortable...

 

[All Delight]

There wasn't any signs of them going downhill. Not to me anyways. But they were active and eating well, same as they had been for months.

My thought about the depression thing, was based on a harem of only 3 fish. I'm sure in the wild the groups are much larger. So losing 1 individual from a trio could have an impact. Comparing to humans, if a husband and wife loss their only child, I would think the impact of losing that one child could be so devastating that both parents could fall apart. Where as if the parents had 3 children and lost 1 of them, coping with the loss may be easier. Eh....I don't know, who knows. It was just so strange that after one died so suddenly, the other 2 died so quickly.

On the topic of the pulcherrimus, I've been wanting those for quite some time now. The 2 times they were available to me, I wasn't prepared to keep them. Very nice indeed.

I like the Randall's too.

I could crank my system down to 75. My tank is kept in a controlled envirnoment where the temp is held at 73.

 

[copps]

The pulcherrimus are regularly available from Liveaquaria (or QM if you are having your local shop order)...

Randall's rock! Unfortunately the Filipinos collecting them seem to only collect the males... this is so frustrating! Dozens will come in and all be male!:headwally:

 

[All Delight]

My LFS should be able to get them from QM. Problem is getting them to get them. Or making sure they get the same ones. Everytime I try to special order from my LFS they either try to push me off on bartletts or lyretails, saying their better. :lol:

 

[jadette]

I ordered a trio of flavoguttatus but the vendor ended up getting me smithvanizi instead.

 

[jadette]

The pulcherrimus are regularly available from Liveaquaria (or QM if you are having your local shop order)...

Randall's rock! Unfortunately the Filipinos collecting them seem to only collect the males... this is so frustrating! Dozens will come in and all be male!:headwally:

+1.

I ordered 11 female randall's anthias, and ended up getting 11 super females. They're all getting along so far though.

Love the randall's!

 

[All Delight]

jadette,

How are the smithvanizi doing? How long have you had them and are they feeding well?

 

[jadette]

jadette,

How are the smithvanizi doing? How long have you had them and are they feeding well?

Just picked them up today. Of the three, one was not in good shape - had trouble swimming and dove straight into the rocks shortly after acclimation. I haven't seen it since. The other two are swimming out in the open now. I feed my tank often, and of the five offerings of food that I have given to the tank so far, the only two items they would eat were the frozen cyclops and the baby brine shrimp.

Although many folks here find them beautiful, I am actually very bummed that I ended up with these instead of the flavoguttatus.

 

[copps]

My LFS should be able to get them from QM. Problem is getting them to get them. Or making sure they get the same ones. Everytime I try to special order from my LFS they either try to push me off on bartletts or lyretails, saying their better. :lol:

Beware! QM had about 30 in last week... all males!

 

[copps]

+1.

I ordered 11 female randall's anthias, and ended up getting 11 super females. They're all getting along so far though.

Love the randall's!

Where did you order 11 females from? Did the stocklist say female randalli?

 

[All Delight]

Just picked them up today. Of the three, one was not in good shape - had trouble swimming and dove straight into the rocks shortly after acclimation. I haven't seen it since. The other two are swimming out in the open now. I feed my tank often, and of the five offerings of food that I have given to the tank so far, the only two items they would eat were the frozen cyclops and the baby brine shrimp.

Although many folks here find them beautiful, I am actually very bummed that I ended up with these instead of the flavoguttatus.

Hopefully that one comes around, and the trio thrive.

They look very pretty, but I'll agree that they are not as pretty as the flavos.

Beware! QM had about 30 in last week... all males!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm actively looking to get Flavos again. I'll hold off on actively acquiring Randall's until I get my upgrade. I'm getting turned off that all the ones captured are males. Maybe I'll turn my attention more towards the repeldents.

 

[All Delight]

Where did you order 11 females from? Did the stocklist say female randalli?

The one guy who gets me anthias says he can get females. I lean more towards believing him cause he also says he can get males for 20% more. Who knows tho..

Dumb question but whats a super female?

 

[jadette]

Where did you order 11 females from? Did the stocklist say female randalli?

I don't know which wholesaler my contact went to to grab these. The stocklist I got from him did specifically say female randalli. The males were $8 more. In theory, I got a good deal then, b/c i paid the female price (but since it wasn't really what I wanted, I don't really consider it a good deal). I bought them on two separate occasions. 5 the first time and 6 more two weeks later. Both times, all the "females" exhibited signs of turning male. All of them had extended dorsal rays, and a dark orange-red hue versus the pink and yellow colors of a female. On over half of them, red bands have already formed on their ventral fins. The only thing missing is the appearance of alternating dark bands on the body, which I heard can only be maintained with a large group of females around. Something I won't be able to achieve with a large group of almost males.

Dumb question but whats a super female?

It's what I call a female turning male.

 

[All Delight]

jadette,

update on your smithvanizi