thinking about a harem of anthias...

Moonstream

New member
I currently have a 75g DT; once I am done with "rennovations" it will be a 100- 120g system. there is plenty of skimming action in it (1 octopus for up to 135g, and planning to add 1 coralife for up to 65g as well) and I am planning to do weekly 20g water changes.

my question is; would it be possible to keep a group of anthias in it? I apsolutly LOVE dispar, lyretail, barletts and purple queen anthias, and I am looking to have 1m and 2-3f. would this work, or is it a bad idea?

could I have a mixed group of them? ex. 1 lyretail, 2 barletts or dispars and 1 purple queen?
 
Yes, you can have a group of different mixture of Anthias. They won't bother each others. But I suggest for each type of Anthias, you should have 2 females for 1 male. IE...1 lyretail male and 2 lyretail female...or 2 purple queen male and 6 purple queen female. For starter you should start out with the Lyretail Anthias because they are the hardest out of all Anthias. I currently have Lyretail and Purple Queen in my reef tank. In additions Anthias should be provided with lots of rocks and caves that resemble their natural habitat. They appreciate strong water movement and will not do well without excellent water quality.
 
I think that your tank sounds like a good home for a group of anthias. Recently, I got 4 female lyretails and let them change to males on their own. Currently, I have 1 male and 3 females. No aggression.

It can be hard to introduce new individuals to the group. I would suggest group additions, or, preferably, getting the new fish in an isolation tank for a month or so until they are agressively eating and nice and fat. Then, they have a very good chance of making it while the group gets used to them. IME, fresh anthias can sometimes suffer if the established group keep them from feeding or chases them around a bit.

I would personally rank your list as lyretail, bartlett, dispar and then queen on ease. Once acclimated, they all seem pretty hardy. They will need to eat frequently at first, but after a few months when they have gotten over shipping and nice and fat, I just feed mine once a day and they do great.
 
I found a few more anthias that I really like while browsing LA's anthias page,
lyretail anthias
dispar anthias
sunburst anthias
carberryi anthias
evansi anthias
ignitus anthias

I would love to have 4-6 of one or more species, would this be possible?
 
Having admired the looks of purple queens, I've viewed numerous threads about them. In virtually each one, however, many experienced anthias keepers report having no success with that species. Mikey, how many do you have, and for how long? What and how often do you feed them?
 
thanks! I dont want to get any fish that are not known to do well in captivity... I think ill probably go with lyretails!
 
HI

Get yourself a good sized group (at least 5 to 6) female only group from a single species of Anthias of your choice and let them do the sorting who will become the male. Don't bother with the higher prize for the males, at least one will change to a male anyways. Watching the interaction in a good structured group is priceless. IF you have enough space you could add another group from a different species, but I would (and always have) keep them in groups not smaller than 5.

Jens
 
Be careful with lyretails... They're monsters (grow to 5-6")!

If you do though, I'd recommend buying one male from the Maldives as big as you can, and the females smaller than him. The Maldives have much better colors, but only on the males. This will allow the male to stay male (since he's larger) and the females to stay female (ideally).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12915962#post12915962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrwilson
Having admired the looks of purple queens, I've viewed numerous threads about them. In virtually each one, however, many experienced anthias keepers report having no success with that species. Mikey, how many do you have, and for how long? What and how often do you feed them?

I have 2 purple queen Anthias. 1m, 1f. I have them for about 8 months now. For the first month, you need to feed them 2wice a day. After about few weeks you can cut down to 1 time a day. Purple queen anthias are very shy Anthias. You need to give them time to get use to your tank. I suggest you start out with Lyretail anthias first. They are pretty hardy. I currently have 1m and 2f. Very easy to take care.
 
Much success in the short two months I have have my Purple Queens has been in grinding rotifers, PE mysis and cyclopeez together in Garlic extreme... All 4 seem to do very well in my 80 gallon mixed... Almost pot bellied, and no longer shy.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12915962#post12915962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrwilson
Having admired the looks of purple queens, I've viewed numerous threads about them. In virtually each one, however, many experienced anthias keepers report having no success with that species. Mikey, how many do you have, and for how long? What and how often do you feed them?
 
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