Pseudanthias tuka

snorvich

snorvich

Team RC member
Team RC
Does anyone keep this beautiful fish successfully? If so, what is the trick? Thanks in advance.
 
A LFS in my area has had a pair now for ~1.5 years. They are in a tank that's about 120 gallons (weird deminsions) with a number of other fish ( flame wrasse pair, radiant wrasse, CBB, LNB, pair or dragonettes, pair of janns pipefish, chevron tang to name a few). These fish have huge bellies, and eat everything thrown in tank including mysis, live blackworms, pellets, etc.

They are very large (~4-5") and have no problem taking down big food items. The tank itself has no mechanical filtration at all, no sump, no skimmer, it does have a couple of vortech's and a lot of caulerpa growing in it though.

I have no personal experience with them, so obviously I don't know what to attribute their success to, (maybe the fact that there is no sump/skimmer to remove microfauna?), but figured the info might still be useful.

I'll snap a pic next time I'm over that way, but it's about 45 miles away, so who knows when that'll be.
 
Steve, the purposeful success stories I've either read about or seen in pereson involve CONSTANT feeding of very specific small foods like eggs, live foods, and some tiny frozen foods. NPS tanks with constant feedeing systems are probably ideal. The rest I call "lucky" success stories - often going through many to find a few that live. I think there are some great foods available nowadays, so it's possible, but unless your willing to put in some major effort, I wouldn't get them. JMHO.
 
SDguy said:
Steve, the purposeful success stories I've either read about or seen in pereson involve CONSTANT feeding of very specific small foods like eggs, live foods, and some tiny frozen foods. NPS tanks with constant feedeing systems are probably ideal. The rest I call "lucky" success stories - often going through many to find a few that live. I think there are some great foods available nowadays, so it's possible, but unless your willing to put in some major effort, I wouldn't get them. JMHO.
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Thanks Peter. Wishful thinking on my part but not to the point I was really considering them. I have become highly interested in Anthias, however, after the success of my group of Resplendents. Is there a thread someplace that is mostly about anthias?
 
There's a photo library, but not much info there. Definitely some good species specific threads in this forum (including P. tuka success)... just search by species. Liveaqaria came out with a pretty good series on anthias, IIRC. Might check through their site. The RK articles are OK too.
 
I love Anthias, but am 0 for 3 with these guys. I'm done trying, for now.The guy I consider "THE" authority on anthias is keeping several and says his two rules are: frequent feedings, including Cyclops-Eeze ( a real plus for anthias, IMO & IME); absolutely no fish that are even close to aggressive; and some very mild mannered dither fish to help getting them to feed. I guess thats three. He even has a homemade drip line that uses his homemade frozen food that drips into the tank as it thaws.
 
I bought 2 by mistake - without proper research.
One has survived and is doing well, with his 13 other anthias tankmates.
They are difficult feeders. This guy now takes almost any fresh frozen food provided the particles are small. The frequent and heavy feeding I now do to keep these anthias happy has definitely pushed my nitrates up in the tank.

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For the record, I also have a large male square spot given to me by the local pet shop.
After a week , its still not feeding. I only pay for it if it survives. The owner realized it was going to die in his holding thanks, hence the freebee.
 
SDguy said:
Some of the pics I'm seeing in this thread/links look like pascalus?
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Me too, I thought it was just me. Color, like common names can be deceiving, but the obvious pointed snout is what I've always looked for in p. tuka.
 
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Steve, I would treat them like any other hard to feed Anthias. I have yet to find an anthais that will not go for the Roe (I use Rods Reef brand). Once I know they are eating something, I can take the time to wean them onto other foods.

FOr example, the female Pictilis is now eating frozen enriched brine, it is jus teh first step, but with your patience and experience, you have as a good a chance as anyone.

I too may try them if the Pictilis go well for 6+ months.

Bobby
 
Makenna said:
Steve, I would treat them like any other hard to feed Anthias. I have yet to find an anthais that will not go for the Roe (I use Rods Reef brand). Once I know they are eating something, I can take the time to wean them onto other foods.

FOr example, the female Pictilis is now eating frozen enriched brine, it is jus teh first step, but with your patience and experience, you have as a good a chance as anyone.

I too may try them if the Pictilis go well for 6+ months.

Bobby
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Bobby,

I would appreciate progress reports as these are also fish I would LOVE to try. Glad your first step is a success. I do feed capelin fish roe, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze among other foods.

Thanks (!) for chiming in. :love2:
 
snorvich said:
Bobby,

I would appreciate progress reports as these are also fish I would LOVE to try. Glad your first step is a success. I do feed capelin fish roe, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze among other foods.

Thanks (!) for chiming in. :love2:
Click to expand...

Assuming you get a few of these guys; please keep us posted. Every time the "touchy anthias" question comes up; I regret converting my big reef to a FOWLR and only have a 55 reef (and 3 big FOWLRs) right now. The big reef tank was great fun; it just got to the point where it took all my time. I still keep some tougher anthias in two of my FOWLR tanks, but think the tough ones really need a reef. Although I'm really not sure why; maybe because I'm stricter with water conditions in a reef tank. Good luck, I'm guessing that you're past the "thinking about it stage'' and have your mind made up. I've got to be careful: so often when a thread starts " I'm thinking about....", it means they already have them. I'm sure this isn't the case with you, though.
 
I've been wanting to try the Tuka's and/or Evansii which are also difficult to feed. I'm starting to think that the odds of keeping any difficult to feed fish are highly increased for people who are already committed to feeding multiple times (4-5x for me) daily.

Of course there are always the fish that just won't eat, or are too passive to compete for food. In those cases I haven't had much luck, but either of those situations can occur even with less difficult fish.


BTW, I think an anthias thread is a great idea... somebody should start one :thumbsup:
 
MrTuskfish said:
Me too, I thought it was just me. Color, like common names can be deceiving, but the obvious pointed snout is what I've always looked for in p. tuka.
Click to expand...

The males of both P. tuka and P. pascalus have pronounced pointed snouts. Morphology of both species is nearly identical in males and females. The easiest way to tell them apart is, in females, the yellow stripe along the back and both lobes of the tail in P. tuka that is absent in P. pascalus. In males, P. tuka has much more yellow (rather than white/cream) under the mouth, and the size and shape of the dark red spot on the dorsal fin is entirely different.

P. pascalus is generally more pink overall than the purple of P. tuka, but this can depend a lot on lighting and photo settings and is a very subjective property anyway. You can spot it after seeing several of them side by side though.
 
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