Purple queen anthias(Mirolabrichthys tuka)

[h20 freak1]

My lfs has these guys a lot and they are stunning, easily my favorite anthias. Unfortunately I can't find much out about them besides that they are finicky eaters which is what is said about all anthias. I know the frequent feeding thing for anthias and Im trying to make a system to handle that issue before I get any anthias.

Anyone have experience with them?I would love to have a trio.

 

[BangkokMatt]

They will die!
Tukas' have a dire survival rate in Home Aquaria and should be left in the Ocean. Why they are still collected and sold is beyond me.
Avoid.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've yet to hear a long term successful tuka story... I'd avoid these. Get an "easy to keep" Anthias species.

 

[h20 freak1]

Oh, thats sad.


How are lyretail schooling behaviors? Probably looking at 3

 

[snorvich]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14328169#post14328169 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BangkokMatt
They will die!
Tukas' have a dire survival rate in Home Aquaria and should be left in the Ocean. Why they are still collected and sold is beyond me.
Avoid.

Yes, unfortunately true. Gorgeous, but unkeepable. Anthias will loosely aggregate (shoal) but pick easy to keep ones.

 

[nikon187]

lyretails are much hardier

 

[Machiel]

Stories I heard about tuka's are all the same, you allmost need to be retired, should have plenty of time to feed them 5-6 times (or even more) a day and still you need to pray and hope they'll survive.

 

[Dante_JoseCuerv]

Pretty much everything said here is the general consensus about these fish. You buy them, they die. I think I've heard about people keeping them for about a year, but you'd probably have to culture some zooplankton for them since they're horribly picky eaters. Even then I doubt they'd survive.

In any case, Lyretails and Ignitus, Hutchii if you like that green color. Those are all much hardier.

 

[sly fox]

i kept some for about 7 months, but went away for 3 weeks, someone was feeding for me only 1 x day and i came back to the whole shoal dead... i fed 6-7 times a day. The problem I found with them was that they tended to sit in current and not move too much for food, so whereas a lot of fish will swim around eating these guys didnt tend to...the burn up a fair bit of energy and arent aggressive feeders

in the wild i believe they have a very high bite rate...i loved them but i wouldnt have them again, theres a guy on the zeovit forum that has had some a couple of years, but thats very rare... they normally last a couple of weeks if that and die of starvation...

 

[TheH]

I had a triplet of them for about 3 months. One died fairly quickly, the other two later. I was feeding twice a day consistently and throwing in a third feeding here and there (freeze-dried powdered cyclops and flake food).

Interestingly, I have seen them nibble at flake food when I throw it in along with the cyclops, but it didn't seem to help them long term.

 

[ryshark]

Is this what the Tukas look like as Juvis?
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_1...ategory=4&category_search=61&root_parent_id=4

I was sold two fish today that look just like this, the lfs told me they were dispar, whcih I am seeing now they are not.

 

[BangkokMatt]

They are tukas. Take them back and don't shop there again.

 

[snorvich]

Yes, it is very sad to me that LFS sell fish that are simply unkeepable. Sad for the fish and sad for the poor folks who buy them thinking they are gorgeous.

 

[MattL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14328266#post14328266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by h20 freak1
How are lyretail schooling behaviors? Probably looking at 3

Fish don't school in captivity. Well, at least not in the tanks we have.

Lyretail Anthias are easier to keep fish and they do interact with each other constantly. They have very interesting behaviors.

They do require lots of space for tiny fish, though, and I worry a 60 would just be too small.

They also jump more than any other fish I have ever kept, and I imagine they would quickly exit your 60 if not tightly covered.

I'd avoid a group of Anthias alltogether until you upgrade.

Matt

 

[Matt_Wandell]

Should probably be avoided by the vast majority of aquarists, but they aren't impossible. We have a group of 9 that have been with us for 2 years. The first 3-6 months are the major hurdle as they come in starved and are very picky. It helps to keep live food in the water at all times. After they've been in captivity for several months they will start to recognize more items as potential food. They never quite figure out how to eat full grown mysis, live or frozen IME. Within a year our juvies started turning into males, which they all seem to want to do eventually. I feed them 2-3 times per day by hand and 5-6 times per day with an auto feeder.

The comments are right on the money--unless you're retired or work from home, want to culture live food every day, and can be around to feed them 5-6 times per day...don't bother.

 

[snorvich]

Wow. I am envious of your success; these are gorgeous, gorgeous fish.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

Thanks!

I should point out that I work at a public aquarium so it is kind of like I spend 8 hours a day around the tank. I really don't feel like they need any sort of special skill or knowledge to keep thriving, just a lot of time! It takes me around 30 minutes a day to prepare and feed just for these fish...and then a good 5 minutes each day staring at their bellies, eyes, fins, worrying about them like a newborn baby... :lol:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

your dedication has paid off, Matt- nice job!

What type of autofeeder and what food(s) does it dispense?

 

[Matt_Wandell]

Hey Gary!

I have to give credit to the folks at MBA for the auto-feeder. I don't know if they created it first, but it's where I got the idea. I fill this with live enriched adult and baby Artemia every morning along with a bit of Phytofeast Live to keep them "topped up".

Parts are:
Brine shrimp hatching cone from AquaticEco.com
8 cycle digital water timer valve from Gilmour (this is the grey box, basically a poor man's actuated ball valve)
Associated plumbing is pretty self explanatory. In this picture I hadn't plumbed a fill line yet. There is a tee off the return plumbing so I can fill the feeder every morning with system water by opening a valve. There's also an airline inside to keep everything suspended.

It dumps in every hour for 8 hours a day. This is half the battle as they need to eat more than brine shrimp, even enriched, every day. So capelin eggs, chopped clam, chopped mysis, arcti-pods, etc. are all tossed in. At this point they will snap at anything small that floats by but it took a year to get to that point. Capelin eggs and very finely chopped clam may work as first foods after they are eating live stuff.

One other thing, QT and isolation for several months is imho a necessity. Even given proper conditions I would expect these guys to have died if they went straight into a community tank. Too shy, wimpy, and slow to figure out where the food is for the first few months.

 

[snorvich]

Excellent information!! Thanks ever so much. I tried to follow the link provided, but SPS is a private forum and does not allow enrollment. Sounds interesting though.