sunburst anthias advice?

[geckoejon]

hello,

i have a 75g mixed reef that seems very healthy and doing well. i am concerned about my newest addition which is a single sunburst anthias. i have had it about 2 weeks. it hid for about 24 hrs and then was out front for over a week. i have been feeding it twice a day and it's been eating like a champ. the dominant ocellaris started harassing it. for the last couple of days it has stayed hidden in the lr in a cave in the rear of the tank.

i am not sure if the clown harassing it is too much, it needs another of it's kind, or what???

any thoughts or suggestions?

current stock...

ocellaris - 2 paired but not spawning
firefish - 1
tailspot goby - 1
mandarin - 1
orange spot goby - 1

 

[Rybren]

I don't have one myself, but a local LFS has had one in it's 90G display tank for about 15 years. I had been going there for about 3 years before I finally saw it. Their fish is rarely out and about. I don't know whether they're all like this one.

 

[geckoejon]

hmm... maybe you are right and it's just it's personality to stay hidden. it seems odd that it was out front and visible for over a week though.

what concerns me even more than hiding is that i haven't seen it eat in a couple days. it was eating a couple times a day in good amounts.

 

[MK]

Most anthias are schooling fish, they live in big groups.
I do have 9 sunburst anthias in my tank and they're active all the time... They fight sometimes but it's nothing major.
Also other territorial fish aggression isn't concentrated to one fish...

 

[geckoejon]

mk, i would have loved to have a school of sunburst, but i was worried about the load on my 75g. think it might help to get another anthias or 2? thoughts on having a small school in a 75g?

 

[small alien]

I don't think sunburst are like the other anthia in terms of shoaling.

 

[MK]

Well I don't know how many fish you have in your system already and what water parameters you want to keep or what corals you have.
If lps and softies then it shouldn't be a problem cause you can run your skimmer @ "wet foam" and add some TLF 150 reactor with gfo plus one more with carbon to keep parameters under control.
Sometimes is good to get ride of big fish to get 2-3 smaller in that place
This is how I did, I don't have any tang in my system... Only small folks
Ohh I'm sorry actually I have one big guy who is cleaning my bubble algae mr. Fox face

 

[FWC]

Sounds like the clown is just being a butt. Get a few more fish to even out the aggression

 

[geckoejon]

I don't think sunburst are like the other anthia in terms of shoaling.

that is along the lines that i had read and been told also. i researched anthias and chose sunburst because they reportedly often do fine alone. they are all individuals though.

i caught the black/white clown. it's going back to the lfs tomorrow. now i'm wondering if i should just get another clown or trade out the pair? the orange/white one hasn't shown any aggression at all. thoughts?