Was just gifted 3 lyre tail anthias...now what?

Xxero said:
They don't really look too out of size for your tank to me until they get next to your Clowns. They kind of dwarf the Clowns.

They are awesome though.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing.. When I first read the post I thought yeah he needs to upgrade but when I watched the video I thought, they look fine for that tank.....

Unless you just want a valid reason to upgrade in which case it certainly wouldn't hurt to give em some more room
 
They are by far my favorite fish so far. I kind of stuck my nose up at anthias in the past because of the intensive care involved, but now I don't know what I was missing. They are beautiful and super active. They don't just laze around in one spot. They are all over the tank.
 
Bent said:
They are by far my favorite fish so far. I kind of stuck my nose up at anthias in the past because of the intensive care involved, but now I don't know what I was missing. They are beautiful and super active. They don't just laze around in one spot. They are all over the tank.
Click to expand...

I was the same way many years ago, and under lame LFS lighting I would call them pain in the but SW goldfish.
Once you actually have a nice grouping under good lighting in your own tank, it's a very different story, now I can't imagine not having them.
As for the multiple feedings, I do two things, one, an auto feeder w/ NLS pellets(lyretails usually take to them pretty easy) and that doses twice during day.
When I come home I thaw mysis, and as I walk around I just grab a turkey baster and squirt some mysis in.
This makes nice feeding of the fish and they eat it all, so no excess waste in tank.
I do consider them to elevate a moderate stock tank to heavy, and I consider that when purchasing a skimmer, but it's so worth it.
 
Well a little update here, 2/3 of the anthias seem to be doing very well at this point.

The smallest female dispar was actually killed by the big male lyretail. They were all zooming around the tank during one of the feeding cycles and he went all Hannibal Lecter on her. He injured her pretty severly in a split second, I didn't have time to intervene. She died pretty quickly.

What gives? I thought these things were supposed to be peaceful? Really it's just the lyretail that's causing problems. He made the mistake of trying to attack my engineer goby and it was almost his last mistake. Snake-worm don't take no crap from nobody. (My 4 yo named him.)

After his run in with Snake-worm he's been pretty docile and hasn't gone into beast mode in a while.

But on the plus side, the other female dispar is turning into a male. It's a pretty cool process to see.

I guess the transition from the large tank to the small one has really brought out some aggression.
 
That's why some fish have large tank requirements even if their size seems small for the size tank recommended. :(
 
Well, and then there was one. I just found the big male dispar dead. All that's left is the monster make lyre tail.

I'm not sure what happened. He seemed fine, ate just fine yesterday and was zooming around the tank. He had plenty of food. I fed the tank small amounts 2x a day with a feeder and once at night with a cube of blender slop. He didn't seem distressed, and he didn't look injured.

These mysterious deaths are really bugging me.
 
Did you check out the corpse, Ben? Did it have any markings on it?

I'm still wondering if you might have a couple of mean things left in your rock that's getting to your fish???
 
Xxero said:
Did you check out the corpse, Ben? Did it have any markings on it?

I'm still wondering if you might have a couple of mean things left in your rock that's getting to your fish???
Click to expand...

I looked it over and I didn't see anything. Though it is hard to really tell. A dead thing doesn't last long in the tank with all the spaghetti worms and other detritus feeders cruising around. The bodies are usually pretty mangled by the time I get them so it's hard to say. I didn't see any obvious trauma or bite marks and I looked this guy over real good.

But I'm with you, I'm leaning towards a predator. But it's just weird that the other fish, especially the fire fish, haven't become victims yet.

I wonder if he just got out competed for food? I dunno though I saw they guy eat.

Its a head scratcher.
 
The males job is to badger the females into submission, keeping them female.
This is why we usually advise having at least 2-3 females to spread that badgering around, and more would be even better.
I'm not sure if this is your issue or not, but could be.
 
davocean said:
The males job is to badger the females into submission, keeping them female.
This is why we usually advise having at least 2-3 females to spread that badgering around, and more would be even better.
I'm not sure if this is your issue or not, but could be.
Click to expand...

Could have been. The male lyre tail is really mean. I've seen it try to bully pretty much everything in the tank. The only thing he leaves alone now is the engineer goby. They had one go round and the engineer is one large mean cuss and put him in his place. So now he leaves gives his rock a wide berth.

I did see both anthias going at it yesterday, it was quick but could have just been badgered enough that the stress got it.
 
Yeah and if he was that much bigger it might not have taken much.
A proper harem would keep him busy and should keep his focus on them more than other fish.
I don't consider lyretails to be aggressive fish, but the male does not mess around in keeping the females in check for sure.
 
I haven't seen him pick on anyone since the other died today. Updates as they happen.
 
Fantastic, as soon as I typed this I noticed the big male scratching...

Should I catch him and QT him for a prazi pro course?

Edit:
False alarm. I think he's just picking at the ground.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

griss
What's Your History in the Hobby?
2 3
Replies
48
Views
1K
T Diddy
T Diddy
G
Adding fish: need advice
Replies
2
Views
101
OrionN
OrionN
M
Copperband Butterfly 2.5 Days in, Not Eating.
Replies
7
Views
404
Paul B
Paul B
Paul B
Earthworms as fish food
Replies
4
Views
130
xLennie
xLennie
Jeremy Blaze
Best Florida Live rock?
2
Replies
35
Views
1K
griss
griss
Back
Top