Anthias question

RogerWilco357 · Jul 7, 2012

OK I have been thinking of getting rid of the larger blue tang in my tank as he is outgrowing it ..and replacing him with a school of anthias . Now i have come to find out there are alot of different types of anthias along with different colors and character attributes . Now if I have 3 of one type and add another 2 from two different species will they get along or fight ..lets say 3 bartletts and one 2 sunsets..
any intel is appreciated ..
also will they be ok with multiple wrasse?

blackx-runner · Jul 7, 2012

I have 2 different species and they swim and together all the time. Never once seen any issues. I don't know if this will be the same for all species. I believe mine are lyretail and ignatus. My tank is also fairly large at 250 gallons.
I have 1 flasher wrasse in the tank as well and have never seen an issue with the anthias.

EcoFrags · Jul 9, 2012

anthias dont fight so long as you feed them they just get hungry adn have to eat quite often...dont keep 2 sunburst however as they do NOT get along i had to build 2 separate large caves for the 2 of them or they would have kept fighting over the same large cave i had built...in general though anthias are fine to keep in small schools and bartletts are active and swim a lot so i'd recommend them personally (5 of them is best depending on size of tank)

chort55 · Jul 9, 2012

I have 2 bartletts w/ 7 wrasses. The bartletts are somewhat aggressive, but they are smaller then most of my wrasses and the only ones they really bug are the aggressive whip fins anyway for the most part..... or themselves as the smaller one is now starting to also turn male.

Reef Fixations · Jul 9, 2012

I've had a few different types of anthias.

Bartlett's 3 females and 1 male (from day one ate flake, spectrum pellet and frozen)
Dispar 4 females & 2 males (from day one ate flake, spectrum pellet and frozen)
Suzuki Sailfin Male (usually in a day or 2 they started eating frozen but I never had luck getting any one to eat pellet or flake)
Japanese Whitebar Male (from day 1 or 2 they started eating frozen and after about 5 weeks began eating spectrum pellet and flake)
Carberryi 2 females and 1 male (day 1 began eating frozen but none lived passed 3 weeks; maybe they didn't eat enough, none appeared to be sick)
I had all of the above in the same tank and they either schooled toghether or nestled together when sleeeping or staying hidden

Lyretails (P. Chierospilos) I had 2 females and 1 male and the male was super aggressive and did a number on a Mysteri Wrasse that I had but they were in a small holding tank so maybe it isn't a fair example. Very easy to keep but they IME they need to eat quite a bit. They all eat flake, pellet and frozen in a short period of time.

I didn't have luck with Sunbursts. I just coulden't get them to eat.

I had 3 Kashiwae Anthias. They got along with everyone in the tank but fought until the dominant female established control. They ate frozen from day one but took about 3-4 weeks to start eating flake and pellet like pigs.

My 2 female & single male Tierra Anthias were extrmelely peaceful as well and the male was very easy on the females IME. They also ate frozen from day one and with in a short period began eating flake and pellet.

Bimaculatus Anthias: I had 2 females and 1 male and the male can be pretty harsh but females are even more so if there is no male present. My 2nd Trio was much more relaxed.

Pictillis Anthias: My male was really easy on the females but the dominant female was hard on the other one but none of them messed with other fish in the tank.

I've never had luck with Squarebacks but I don't recall them having aggression towards other anthias.

Hi-fin Perchlets... another one that I had no luck with at all. I couldn't even get them to eat and that usually isn't an issue for me. They also showed no aggression towards any other fish.

I know u wanted to know if it was okay to put 2 species together but my experience with that is limited.

Best of luck on your search.

RogerWilco357 · Jul 9, 2012

thanks alot for the intel seems they are all ok to buy and man you have had alot of them how many do you have now?

Reef Fixations · Jul 10, 2012

Trio of Bimacs and (2) Male Japanese Leucozonus (Whitebars) and male Suzuki Sailfin.

EcoFrags · Jul 10, 2012

I was going to ask the same thing lol thats a lot of anthias...ive got my bartletts eating pelletts nothing else tho my lyretails eat a combo of mysis and the reef plankton frozen and the aunburts eat the same...my ventralis eat the reef plnkton only from what i can tell but they are pretty small so makes sense

MIKE NY · Jul 10, 2012

I have had probably close to a dozen differnet species of anthias over the years and currently have about 8...by far the easiest to feed and keep are Lyretails and Bartletts with one rule,unless you have a very large tank, keep only one male and two or more females..Bartletts, however, have a tendency for more than one male to mature when kept in groups even if there is a male present already and they are aggressive towards each other...Although many of the species are peaceful some are aggressive either between themselves or towards other fish....my male stocky was a terror attacking all other male anthias...my squarebacks are a nice anthias, but just large. My Disbars are peacefull, but are finicky eaters and so are my Randall's. I also have a pair of Sunburts that actually share the same cave...I don't recommend doing so unless your willing to take a chance that they will be a mated pair. The most difficult anthias I kept were my Purple Queens...it took a week to get them to start eating small foods like NutrMar Ova and eventually larger foods like pellets, brine etc..they were doing well eating a few times a day for ten months then one day their out eating and the next their gone.