Small Lyretail Anthias Harem or Single Male?

[JustinFromAL]

Hey folks, I've got a 8 month old 135g (5') mixed reef that is trucking right along. It's lightly stocked (2 clowns, yellow tang, shrimp/goby combo, dartfish, bangai cardinal).

My wife's "must have" fish has always been a well colored anthias, preferably a male lyretail.

I'm wondering what the best scenario for a healthy fish would be:

A) Single male - Will he hold his color?

B) Male with small harem, preferably no more than 2-3 females. If this scenario is the better of the two, should I purchase an established male and 2-3 females or purchase 3-4 juveniles and let a male establish?

Thanks for your time!

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Bump

 

[maddmaxx]

well obviously your wife wants color in the tank. and likes anthias. and usually nobody just gets one anthia....

so here is my recommendation to you. i would get a group of 4 females. one will become dominant and turn male then rule the harem. the problem with gettin a male then say 3 females. one of those females may already turning into a male and eventually a fish will die out of the group. then your left with less fish, smaller group, and wasted money...so i recommend getting a group of 4 females and watch amazingly how one turns to male and takes over the group. this is your best option when adding anthias, hope that helped...

 

[jaa1456]

You can do it that way, but I would go with three not four. This leaves you room for another fish or lighter bio load. I bought my trio as two females and one male. You can tell the difference with them if one is already turning male. Bartletts are also a nice anthias and a little more active than the lyretails.

 

[betamed]

1 male should keep his color or at least he wont turn female. 2-3 females and 1 male would be my choice or 3-4 females and wait til one turns.

 

[davocean]

If you are looking for anthia lyretails seem to be the easiest from my exp, in keeping color, getting to eat pellets, and no real aggression issues(bartletts can have issues here)
I would get at least 4 small females if you can, and let them work it out, I have seen them change very fast.
I prefer having 3 or more females so the males keeping them in check is spread out and does not stress them as much as it would w/ just a couple females.
A varied diet and multiple light daily feedings helps them keep color best, but they seem to keep bright color easier than most anthia.
I have an auto feeder that helps, and mine love spectrum pellets.

 

[anbosu]

I would get 3-4 female lyretails and and a bartlett's. That way you should end up with two males since bartlett's always seem to go male no matter what based on what I've read.

 

[JustinFromAL]

Great info, thanks folks!

 

[falconut]

I've kept these Lyretail Anthias at different times:

1 - single Male - did great, wasn't the brightest and stayed that way.
2 - two Female Lyretails - the larger female semi changed, grew a spike and got semi purple, but nowhere near the purchased males.
3 - trio (1) Male & (2) Females - had for several months, then lost them due to ich outbreak. They seemed to spread out, female in separate sides and the male swam the tank.
4 - single Male - just got tonight, yellow breasted. The colors were hard to tell in the LFS lighting, but look beautiful in my QT tank. Here's a photo (photo not the best and doesn't show how brightly colored, but you get the idea):


I would personally get a male with some females, your female may not turn as bright as you hope. Just my experience. They're the only anthias I've kept. My LFS gets them regularly and rarely gets the other species. But they are beautiful fish.

 

[Mrbh22]

Falconut- what do you currently have in your 90?

 

[falconut]

Falconut- what do you currently have in your 90?

YWG, Yellowhead Jawfish, Chalk Bass, Yellow Tang & Bristletooth Tang, the Anthias is in my QT tank.