Anthias feeding

JohnnyTJ09 · May 14, 2019

Hello, I recently purchased 2 small Bartlett's anthias about an inch long. I have been feeding two times a day at around 4pm, 8pm. my only other fish is a baby clownfish and she is starting to get a little plump. Am i feeding the anthias often enough and is there anything I can do to get my clown to not eat as much? I am using these little micro pellets and feeding frozen about twice a week

Tank size: 88 g

3 months old

MSB123 · May 14, 2019

Anthias need to be fed much more often. 3x a day minimum IMO. I would aim for 5-8x a day.
I would spot feed them small amounts to prevent the clown from getting the food.

eatbreakfast · May 14, 2019

Feed a smaller quantity of food per feeding. Feed just what they can eat in 10-15seconds.

JohnnyTJ09 · May 14, 2019

right now they are a little timid and don't feed at the surface yet, will that change soon?

eatbreakfast · May 14, 2019

That will change. They quickly learn to associate you with food.

JohnnyTJ09 · May 14, 2019

thanks

WMR · May 14, 2019

Feed them as often as possible. Anthias are very active and have a high metabolism. Try to feed them as wide a variety of frozen foods as possible. Smaller sized food items are best. Once they’re eating, they usually accept most other foods.

Corey Baker · May 14, 2019

Just another opinion/experience on how i do it. I feed my lyretail and barbonious anthias a mix of all frozen(LRS, mysis, krill, sprillina, and so on)just once a day but maybe on the weekends ill do a couple feedings a day. With that said i feed very heavy and as directly to each fish as possible for that one feeding and make sure everyone get their fill. The 4 anthias in my tank have all been in there over 2 yrs now. I hear a lot how they MUST have multiple feedings but i can be done other ways.

ca1ore · May 14, 2019

Tiny Bartlett’s are particularly needing of multiple feedings. Make sure they’re really eating the pellets. When I’ve had tiny ones they only really ate frozen. Adequately fed they will gain size quickly.

Mastiffsrule · May 14, 2019

Corey Baker said:
Just another opinion/experience on how i do it. I feed my lyretail and barbonious anthias a mix of all frozen(LRS, mysis, krill, sprillina, and so on)just once a day but maybe on the weekends ill do a couple feedings a day. With that said i feed very heavy and as directly to each fish as possible for that one feeding and make sure everyone get their fill. The 4 anthias in my tank have all been in there over 2 yrs now. I hear a lot how they MUST have multiple feedings but i can be done other ways.

I agree with this. I have 2 lyretail anthias for a while now. Diet quality is as much an importance as frequency. I find better quality will go a long way when compared with less quality multiple feedings. LRS is very good. I like to use live black worms, freshly frozen clams from the store and the other meats Cory mentioned. I have yet to run into any issues with a 1 time daily feeding. I feed a bit more also on weekends. I have also skipped a day with no issues. With yours being smaller I would agree smaller multiple feeding are best, it either way good foods go along way for health.

JohnnyTJ09 · May 15, 2019

I think I’ll try a little bit of what everyone said and see what works best. Thanks everyone.

Mariette · May 15, 2019

They do require feedings multiple times a day but that doesn’t mean you have to feed them multiple times a day. Yoh’ll Be fine if there’s a lot of pods for them to hunt. Nobody feeds them in the wild. They just need to eat throughout the day.

Art2249 · May 15, 2019

I feed mine twice a day. 7 hrs apart. Reef frenzy and mysis.

eatbreakfast · May 16, 2019

Mariette said:
They do require feedings multiple times a day but that doesn’t mean you have to feed them multiple times a day. Yoh’ll Be fine if there’s a lot of pods for them to hunt. Nobody feeds them in the wild. They just need to eat throughout the day.

Most pods in our tanks are substrate bound, either on the rocks or sand, and anthias aren't suited to pick off of the substrate. In the wild there are much more food sources that go by in the water column.

Kmsutows · May 16, 2019

The above posts about feeding once again pertain to lyretail or borbonius anthias. Those two species seem to be the exception. And just as stated above, anthias dont just pick pods off the rock work like a mandarin... they wait for food to float past then in the wild. Most anthias will take very well to fish eggs or any R.O.E..

It is very important to feed new and especially small anthias small feedings many times a day. I only feed frozen/fresh and all mine are thriving. Once more established you can likely get away with cutting back feedings but they certainly need more when new and when small

Mariette · May 16, 2019

eatbreakfast said:
Most pods in our tanks are substrate bound, either on the rocks or sand, and anthias aren't suited to pick off of the substrate. In the wild there are much more food sources that go by in the water column.

Uhhh I didn’t know that. I was assured once a day feedings with lots of pods would be fine.

AcanSamDC · Feb 15, 2022

I have 10 Anthias in a 108. 3 x Bimac, 5 x Bartlett, 2 x Randall in that order of dominance. The latter came as both male but live happily together in whatever cave the rest allow them to. It’s been a year and I still have only one male each in the two other groups. The Bimac male is dominant but works with the Bartlett male to keep all others in check. I feed two cubes of frozen mysis twice a day and am yet to lose an Anthias outside of two jumpers I had prior to buying a lid. I tried adding an auto feeder with pellets to increase feeding times, but after a few near disasters with way too much food dumping in I resorted back to just twice a day frozen. I’m not advocating feeding so Infrequently, just noting that it’s working well for my little mixed shoal.