I'm looking to add a trio of anthias to my 120gal. I've never kept them before so I'm not to sure about their needs. Anyone have any basic knowledge about keeping anthias? Also any suggestions about what species would be good.
Anthias
- Thread starter JGoslee
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Triggerhappy
New Member
well first off they have a high metabolism and need to be feed 3-4x a day as in nature they graze constantly. An auto feeded with flake would be good if you can't be around to feed that much. which type are you thinking of getting. feed meaty foods too like mysis, brine and other prepared frozens. excellent reef fish for deep or shallow reef set ups
OP
OP
I really like the squarebacks but I read somewhere that they like to kill each other. Any truth to this?
i had 3 lyretail anthias and they are great fish. i think prob. one of the best for reefs. and with having a few of them they are good cause they dont get too big. they are very hardy fish and easy to keep. i know many people say to feed them 3-4 times a day but i always fed mine 2x a day and they were fine and healthy. they are also great because they are constantly out swimming around the tank. i generally use rods food for my tank and they seemed to love it.
I don't think that's true. I know they that alot of them just"die" for no reason, and do need to be fed a few times a day. also, the squarebacks color will fade significantly in high lighting.
OP
OP
I was looking at the lyretails. They're very colorful. Do you think a trio is a good number or should I go with a few more?
well personally i would keep one male and a few females. because i guess if you put in just females then one of them would become the male anyways, so you mine as well get a cool looking male to begin with and a few females for him. i would say if minimal get 2 females. they are beautiful fish and are very bright and keep beautiful coloration.
LAMPCOV
Great, another addiction
I don't want to hijack, but would like to ask a relevant question. Please only answer if it doesn't derail the OP's needs, I hate hijacking, but don't want to make a duplicate thread.
I've got a pair of 2x2x1 (30 gal) frag tanks and am looking for a fish to eat the leftovers so I can feed the LPS in there well. Would an anthais be a good choice or is the tank too small.
I've got a pair of 2x2x1 (30 gal) frag tanks and am looking for a fish to eat the leftovers so I can feed the LPS in there well. Would an anthais be a good choice or is the tank too small.
i would almost say a 30 might be on the small side. you would only be able to keep one in the tank and just dont know if it would be enough room for them, as mine were very big swimmers. they also seem to prefer to be kept in a group, which you would be unable to do with the size of your tank.
OP
OP
I'm pretty sure that a 30 gal would be to small for anthias. The need lots of swimming space.
Have you thought about adding a sixline wrasse? I kept one in my old frag tank. He ate everything pods, flatworms, astrina starfish. Very good watch dog for a frag tank.
Have you thought about adding a sixline wrasse? I kept one in my old frag tank. He ate everything pods, flatworms, astrina starfish. Very good watch dog for a frag tank.
cl2ysta1
I
they almost always come in with worms. THey need to be wormed with prazi pro before being placed in a reef. this is one fish that I never QT more than long enough to get it wormed. Because they need to be fed very frequently in the beginning until they realize that when food comes they need to eat it. at first they will eat a few bites here and there. Later you can get away with feeding them only a few times a day. Be prepared to wean them onto flake as every one that I have ever owned only ate finely minced mysis at first. Be prepared to lose a few. They are pretty sensitive in the beginning. I've always lost at least one during acclimation, and usually one more that will just never eat for me. I ordered 8-10 at a time. good luck they are a great fish once established.
OP
OP
Wow I really like the red stripes! I think I just found which anthias I want.
Treylane - Do you keep red stripes? Do you have any basic info on them?
treylane
Active Member
I don't know about the typical "basic info" ... all I know is that I've had one for about a year or so and he's a tough fish for sure. He seems agressive enough that I don't plan to add any more of his species to the tank. For the first few weeks he was slightly shy, preferring to hide in the rocks when it wasn't dinnertime. He's now out in the open all the time, he loves FOOD, and he's GROWN! He ignores prettymuch all the other fish in the tank cept for my fangblenny. Seems fairly common for anthias to hate fangblennies for some reason.
i didnt know that for anthias... i had a shoal of purple queens, the wouldnt touch mysis i got them eating on frozen cyclops and then added baby brine shrimp when i fed the cyclops, then added mysis when i fed both the others,then could use any of the three... a couple just faded away in the first couple of weeks, so i went from 6 to 4... i was feeding the purple queens 5 times a day, if i was ever going to keep them again id use one of those feeders that feed over the day or a plankton reactor
