Recommend Anthias school for a 280g display...

[tonyespinoza]

I'm planning a 280g display (72x36x26 high) and am wondering how many anthias you guys think would be happy in this size tank. I understand they will be all female and one male, more than likely. The only other fish I'd like to keep are:

(2) Tangs
(2) Wrasses
(2) Clownfish
(1) Rabbitfish

I'd be interested in a species recommendation as well. The tank will be SPS with 400W halides running 8 hours a day -- not sure if that's a consideration given I read these guys like the dark. There will be lots of overhangs and such given the width of the tank (36").

Color-wise I'm partial to the orange species like the pink square since many of my corals are pink-ish and blue/purple-ish.

Thanks for any insights!

-tE

 

[package]

I had good luck with Bartlett.

 

[tonyespinoza]

how many in your 210?

 

[tom obrecht]

I had roughly 40-45 of various species in my old 260. Species included Bimaculatus, squas, carberri, bartletts and hutchi. They all did fine but did require alot of feeding. I had all softies so I got by with heavy feeding. Click on my house for details.

 

[tonyespinoza]

wow! 40-45! that's amazing.

i'm hopeful that the BK Deluxe 300 External Skimmer will help me get away with heavier feeding than normal on an SPS tank...

i'll check out your thread! curious to hear how often you fed and if you used an automatic feeder...

 

[package]

I had 4 bartlett in my 210, they did fine until my kalk reactor snowed them out.

I have had/have Sunburst also - they are IMO the best looking but do not seem to like the bright MH light. I keep them now under PCs, with a lower temp.

I had Dispar (worse of the 3 for jumping), Bartlett (also very quick, jumper) and Sunburst in each case one became dominate and chased the others. As long as there were 3-4 to spread the beating around none suffered too much.

Some of them will spook easily and will jump out of the tank or into the overflow on a RR tank - so be aware of that.

 

[rydr119]

I have 3 lyretail in my 65 and they are always out and about under my MH. I haven't had any try to jump on me. I like these guys b/c I am partial to the bright orange, and the blue across their eyes is very nice as well.

 

[tom obrecht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12370873#post12370873 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonyespinoza
wow! 40-45! that's amazing.

i'm hopeful that the BK Deluxe 300 External Skimmer will help me get away with heavier feeding than normal on an SPS tank...

i'll check out your thread! curious to hear how often you fed and if you used an automatic feeder...

I feed frozen 2-3 times a day with a variety of mysid, daphnia, bloodworm and ratifers. I feed the frozen cubes and probably came close to a full package (total) per day. A crazy amount of food I know but not only did the fish do great but the corals as well. In a sps tank I don't think you could get by with that much unless you skimmed like crazy and did larger weekly water changes. The mov't from the fish was awesome amongst the corals.

 

[tonyespinoza]

wow - that's amazing. i can't even imagine how cool it must be -- let us know if you have a current full tank shot posted somewhere. the BK will be skimming like crazy, i'm sure. but i'll have to work my way up and see how it goes. my tank is very similar, but less tall (26") with one additional 400W MH for the SPS. i actually like the movement in softie/LPS tanks better than SPS... but like many folks, i've just gotten addicted to watching the hard corals grow and color up.

 

[tom obrecht]

Here are a couple pictures from a while ago. The tank was taken down a couple years ago due to a move.

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[tonyespinoza]

wow - that's great!

curious -- do you have a new tank?

 

[tom obrecht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12374140#post12374140 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonyespinoza
wow - that's great!

curious -- do you have a new tank?

yup, sps this time around but still plan to go with a good amount of anthias species. Tank is still young but growing.

 

[Tweaker]

bartletts are nice

 

[tom obrecht]

So did you make a decision?

 

[Chibils]

Parvirostris are gorgeous (imo), as are ignitus, but parvis don't seem to be out much (I asked about them since I like them so much).

parvirostris:

ignitus:

 

[zemuron114]

bartletts and dispars school very nice together. They are found schooling in the wild as well so they will get along