Ventralis Anthias info please "im thinking about getting"

[Kinetic]

I had a group of 5 ventralis anthias (all female) for awhile. They were THE ONLY fish in the tank, other than a few small eviota and trimma gobies. The only way I was able to get them to eat was to start with live marine mysid shrimp, they would try to stuff 5 in their mouths all at once. The shy ones even came out to play. Ever since they never hid anymore and swam in the water column.

I started mixing frozen PE Mysis with the live, and soon enough they were just eating the frozen. I would feed three times a day (morning, after work, before bed).

Once they start eating, i find them very hardy and easy to keep, as easy as barlett anthias.

I kept my tank at 77 - 78 degrees, full blast lighting for SPS. I don't agree with the dim lighting condition requirements as mentioned earlier.

There's a similar anthias that's collected from the Hawaiian Islands or somewhere close that look really close, those require much cooler water and I don't think anyone has ever successfully kept those. But these Ventralis are OK in SPS tanks. My tank never goes above 78 degrees so I don't know how they do above that.

Here are pictures I took of them:

 

[OneReef]

I just added a third Ventralis, another female for my group, as to try and have a successful trio.

 

[itachi]

I have the hawaiian's so far for a few week and yes they do require much cooler water. The thing i believe with ventralis is that they will do better with a dim tank and cooler water because they are deeper water species not that is a requirement. But more importantly i think they require a calm tank without commotion.

 

[Kinetic]

I still don't believe the dimness will make them healthier than usual. Just because they're deeper water doesn't mean they must have less light. My ventralis did great, were fat, ate a lot, being blasted by tons of halide and t5 goodness. I don't know how much better they'd do with the lights off.

Requiring a calm tank? meaning lower flow or non-aggressive fish? Once they start eating they will fight anything that won't eat them. After mine were comfortable with the tank, I added some clowns that were pretty aggressive, the anthias eventually started chasing the clowns instead.

I also had a ridiculous amount of flow, and they loved swimming in it, never needing to hide from the current. So high flow is good as well in my experience.

Any fish should be housed in a place where there is as little aggression as possible, I don't think these guys are any more cryptic than barletts.

I have the hawaiian's so far for a few week and yes they do require much cooler water. The thing i believe with ventralis is that they will do better with a dim tank and cooler water because they are deeper water species not that is a requirement. But more importantly i think they require a calm tank without commotion.

 

[itachi]

I still don't believe the dimness will make them healthier than usual. Just because they're deeper water doesn't mean they must have less light. My ventralis did great, were fat, ate a lot, being blasted by tons of halide and t5 goodness. I don't know how much better they'd do with the lights off.

Requiring a calm tank? meaning lower flow or non-aggressive fish? Once they start eating they will fight anything that won't eat them. After mine were comfortable with the tank, I added some clowns that were pretty aggressive, the anthias eventually started chasing the clowns instead.

I also had a ridiculous amount of flow, and they loved swimming in it, never needing to hide from the current. So high flow is good as well in my experience.

Any fish should be housed in a place where there is as little aggression as possible, I don't think these guys are any more cryptic than barletts.

Keep us updated on this, i actually held off putting a harem of them in my display given the turnover in the tank is 85x+ and i have around 30 anthias in there already. How active are they in the tank ? Most of my deeper water anthias ( favaguttatus ) tend to hide hang out in holes/shelves when the lights are on. From your pictures they seem very out and about with full lighting.

 

[OneReef]

Here's a curious turn of events. I was just posting a few days ago about my Ventralis Anthias male/female pair that have done great for a year now. Yesterday, I saw a lone female at the LFS and picked her up to make mine a trio. I put her in the tank, and the same day the male died, and now one female is hiding in the rocks and the other female is out swimming around. Odd........

 

[Kinetic]

Here's a curious turn of events. I was just posting a few days ago about my Ventralis Anthias male/female pair that have done great for a year now. Yesterday, I saw a lone female at the LFS and picked her up to make mine a trio. I put her in the tank, and the same day the male died, and now one female is hiding in the rocks and the other female is out swimming around. Odd........

any signs of disease? I started with 3 ventralis, added another 3, they immediately came and swam with the other 3 (quite amazingly brave if there are already established ventralis that are the same size). One unfortunately jumped (i have an open top elos tank).

I might also be lucky to had one female that was very brave, leading the others to follow her lead.

 

[racerw]

Stacie... I would love to see some updated shots of all the beauties!!! T

I would love to take some pictures for you, BUT everytime I try they come out very blurry

 

[mpoletti]

Here are pictures I took of them:

Awesome shots as always Art. I would love to attempt a few in my tank, but I would need to get rid of my lyretails and chromis' before I'd even consider it.

 

[Kinetic]

Awesome shots as always Art. I would love to attempt a few in my tank, but I would need to get rid of my lyretails and chromis' before I'd even consider it.

thanks mark.

Yeah, the best way to start with these guys is to introduce them as the first and only fish in the tank. I try to boast that they're just as hardy as barletts, but they still need that ramp-up of getting used to the tank.

With zero aggression from other fish and only each other to fight with for food, they did really well.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

well since i dont have a chiller in my 75g the temp can get up to 81-82 at times so they wouldnt survive inthis tank
but when i upgrade to my 220 i will get some of them because by then i will have all the equipment including a good chiller i will be buying absolutely all the hardware before i even put water in the tank
it will take awhile though being that im not made out of money but i want the best so i will have to buy/store it as i go until finally

 

[OneReef]

This turned out to be the ultimate jinx thread for me. I earlier posted how I have had a pair of Ventralis for a year and how great they had been doing and been easy for me to keep. After posting that, I saw a female at the LFS and bought her and added her to make a trio in my tank. The night that I added the new female, the existing male died. I had the 2 females for less than a week, then the new female died, then within the next week, the last lone female died. I know have none. Crazy how adding that one female killed off my original pair. Oh well, now I guess I can add some Lyretails........

 

[MrineLfRlz]

This turned out to be the ultimate jinx thread for me. I earlier posted how I have had a pair of Ventralis for a year and how great they had been doing and been easy for me to keep. After posting that, I saw a female at the LFS and bought her and added her to make a trio in my tank. The night that I added the new female, the existing male died. I had the 2 females for less than a week, then the new female died, then within the next week, the last lone female died. I know have none. Crazy how adding that one female killed off my original pair. Oh well, now I guess I can add some Lyretails........

man that really sucks,
sorry to hear about that have you been going to this LFS for awhile or was it a newer store for you?

 

[OneReef]

man that really sucks,
sorry to hear about that have you been going to this LFS for awhile or was it a newer store for you?

I have been going there for a couple of years. I went there this morning and they had some new anthias in. Had some Lyretails and some Tierras. The Lyretails looked really big, so I ended up getting 4 tierras (Resplendant) anthias. One male and 3 females. They should be hardier than the Ventralis.

 

[OneReef]

The Tierras that I picked up today. Not as brilliant as the Ventralis, but should be hardier.

 

[OneReef]

Follow up:

The LFS that I bought the lone female ventralis ended up having an issue with their fish tanks, disease/parasites or something. They had to take all their fish out and quarantine them. Unfortunately, this was discovered after I had introduced the female ventralis to my tank, she died, and it killed off my other 2 existing ventralis. Not knowing of the LFS issue, I bought 4 tierras show in above picture, before they discovered it. They all died within a few days. Quite sad. At least now I know what the issue was....

 

[MrineLfRlz]

Follow up:

The LFS that I bought the lone female ventralis ended up having an issue with their fish tanks, disease/parasites or something. They had to take all their fish out and quarantine them. Unfortunately, this was discovered after I had introduced the female ventralis to my tank, she died, and it killed off my other 2 existing ventralis. Not knowing of the LFS issue, I bought 4 tierras show in above picture, before they discovered it. They all died within a few days. Quite sad. At least now I know what the issue was....

sorry to hear about that really!
i guess this was a jinx thread for you after all
i hope the rest of your fish are ok from this

 

[eaglesrx]

any updates on getting some ventralis anthias?

 

[MrineLfRlz]

i went ahead and purchased a barlets anthias
its accually a pretty cool looking fish not as colorful as a ventralis but i like it and so does my girl friend so it turned out ok and i didnt just buy a fish and hoped it would be ok
i dont like to do things like that

 

[eaglesrx]

i went ahead and purchased a barlets anthias
its accually a pretty cool looking fish not as colorful as a ventralis but i like it and so does my girl friend so it turned out ok and i didnt just buy a fish and hoped it would be ok
i dont like to do things like that

too bad. ventralis appear to be great looking fish.