Anthia with Acute Injury

[RGoltz]

Hey everyone, I recently added a trio of Lyretail Anthia to an established reef. Unfortunately, the largest female is close to the size of the transitional male so there has been a bit of a battle for dominance.

The female has taken the brunt of things resulting in three small patches of missing scales and around the mouth, presumably from the two locking jaws. After about 1 day the patches appear to be white - not alarming, like I would expect - with perhaps a dark occlusion around them. Other than taking a position of submission by hiding in the rocks, the female is acting normally and continuing to eat, etc.

As mentioned this is an SPS reef with normal parameters plus I run an appropriately sized and configured UV.

I’m not in the camp of pulling a fish for an acute injury.

So my question is: How long do these types of injuries normally take to heal and what if anything should I be looking out for?

 

[vetteguy53081]

This will be hard to answer without seeing some pics under white lighting
Pics are like being there

 

[RGoltz]

@vetteguy53081 I’ll see if I can get some good photos tomorrow and post them here.

 

[RGoltz]

@vetteguy53081 and @Jay Hemdal she isn’t the easiest fish to photograph. I feel like I could take photos of the left side all day but there is nothing to see there!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im looking for uglies such as rash, raw skin, etc and dont see any. That is good news and these fish heal well when injured. Color is already blended well and at this point, obviously keep an eye on fish and maintain good water quality and diet. These fish feed a few times a day although we cant be there to accomplish that with a work and sleep schedule.
They need their aminos and fats and prefer meaty foods. Provide:

LRS reef frenzy
Rods Original Formula
plankton
small pieces of krill
fish eggs
mysis shrimp
hikari marine cuisine

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@vetteguy53081 and @Jay Hemdal she isn’t the easiest fish to photograph. I feel like I could take photos of the left side all day but there is nothing to see there!

I don't see any serious issues here. Generally, if scales have been damaged, it takes at least two weeks for them to regrow. In rare instances, the scars are permanent. As long as the aggression has settled down, I would opt to just wait and see....

Jay

 

[RGoltz]

Thanks @vetteguy53081 and @Jay Hemdal ways a pleasure to get a response from both of you. I appreciate it!

@vetteguy53081 normally my fish are fed 3-5 times daily with some combination of ROE, reef frenzy, MassStick, arcti pods, and PE mysis flakes. Honestly a little heavy on the flakes via auto feeder because everyone seems to agree on this food whereas my Kole is not too adept at Dr. Bassler, for example. I do have to leave for a couple of days after Christmas, so I will think about what to do.

@Jay Hemdal regarding the aggression it seems that he has won dominance. She has a hiding spot and otherwise stays out of his way or clearly allows him to maintain a dominant position. So the occasional chase but no more routs.

 

[RGoltz]

@vetteguy53081 we are definitely making progress here, see the photo below.

I do have a bit of a question, though. I purchased a group of three anthia with one transitional male hoping there would be some agreed-upon hierarchy and thus less aggression. While this may - or may not - have helped, the male still singles out the large female. Do you know how this typically plays out? Does the male simply need to outgrow the female, or is this more likely to be a protracted hassle to the death?

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 we are definitely making progress here, see the photo below.

I do have a bit of a question, though. I purchased a group of three anthia with one transitional male hoping there would be some agreed-upon hierarchy and thus less aggression. While this may - or may not - have helped, the male still singles out the large female. Do you know how this typically plays out? Does the male simply need to outgrow the female, or is this more likely to be a protracted hassle to the death?

This is not abnormal and assure you have plenty of hiding spaces for the girls. Generally most of the behavior is at feeding time.

 

[RGoltz]

When I designed the aquascape I put some thought into hiding places for the fish. It has worked out well. I’m a little concerned by the amount of time she spends hiding because in my mind, that is not the mark of a healthy fish.