Easiest Anthias

[shred5]

I have kept lots of them..
Lyretails and Bartletts are the easiest because they eat anything. They are very hardy but hard to keep in groups especially bartletts.

Bartletts I would only keep one of unless really large tank because in the end you will only have one. They all seem to turn male and want to kill each other.

Lyretails are aggressive and the males tend to harass the females but the females fight and kill off the smallest first and then so on. Keeping one is best but I have had decent luck with pairs, its just the female will hide mostly till feeding. Large tanks with lots of them can be kept with less issues.

My favorites are Dispar and Ignitus because they are hardy and have very little aggression, matter of fact they sometimes protect each other. They are a little harder to get to eat and occasionally one may even eat flake but they take most frozen foods no problem as long as it is small enough. They do not ship well either but once past the hump they are very hardy. The other issue is like most anthias they require lots of feeding or suffer.

I have had very good luck mixing different anthias.

As far as food anthias require lots of feedings. Lyretails and Bartletts seem to be ok with 3 feedings a day but most others seem to wither away over time with anything less than 4 feeding and some require way more than that. I still think most should be fed at least 6 times a day. They are a extremely active fish and burn lots of calories. They also produce lots of waste and why not recommended for smaller tanks.

 

[Tokash23]

A single anthia, yes, but not a group. They need space to work out their hierarchy.

Thanks

 

[shred5]

One more question. Would I be better off getting a male and 2 to 4 females or getting all females and letting them work out who becomes the male?

Depends on the anthias. Lyretails and Bartless it does not matter as long as their are not 2 males. Problem is allot of times they look like females but have started the change already or the female is larger can also be a issue. Bartletts they all end up male in most circumstances anyway. Now with ignitus I have had 2 males no issues.

Very large tanks are a different story and sometime the fish they are kept with make a difference.

Lyretail males are bullies and can be bullies to other fish. But kept in check wiht something like a trigger or larger tangs their aggression can be kept down.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Just out of curiosity are there any Anthias that will work in a 40g breeder? Have always liked the Anthias but never had one as i have always had a smaller tank.

A species that does fine singly, such as sunburst would be fine.

A trio of randalls would work as well if acquired as all females.

 

[eatbreakfast]

One more question. Would I be better off getting a male and 2 to 4 females or getting all females and letting them work out who becomes the male?

Oftentimes, males don't handle transport as well and may be a bit more reclusive than females. In cases like this a dominant female may usurp a male. So unless you are getting them from an LFS where you can see them in person to ensure the male will remain dominant, I would suggest getting all females.

 

[bluerexy]

I've had good success with Lyretails. Barletts are also another good choice just like everyone else on here states. Only thing is that they are super pricey around me. The LFSs around me seem to get disbars in for a reasonable price so I think I'll be adding a few to my 180.

 

[shred5]

I've had good success with Lyretails. Barletts are also another good choice just like everyone else on here states. Only thing is that they are super pricey around me. The LFSs around me seem to get disbars in for a reasonable price so I think I'll be adding a few to my 180.

One reason is Dispars and ignitus are shallower water fish and are in huge schools. Makes them easy to catch plus demand is not as high for them as lyretails. But being shallower water makes them more accustom to the bright light of our tanks than some others. Allot of the anthias in the trade are deeper water and need acclimation to our lights.

Also anthias prefer faster moving water than most other fish.

 

[eatbreakfast]

One reason is Dispars and ignitus are shallower water fish and are in huge schools. Makes them easy to catch plus demand is not as high for them as lyretails. But being shallower water makes them more accustom to the bright light of our tanks than some others. Allot of the anthias in the trade are deeper water and need acclimation to our lights.

Also anthias prefer faster moving water than most other fish.

Dispars and ignitus have a much larger natural range. And are collected in countries where fish collectors are paid very little. Bartletts are mainly only collected from Marshall Islands.

 

[Brew12]

Depends on the anthias. Lyretails and Bartless it does not matter as long as their are not 2 males. Problem is allot of times they look like females but have started the change already or the female is larger can also be a issue. Bartletts they all end up male in most circumstances anyway. Now with ignitus I have had 2 males no issues.

Very large tanks are a different story and sometime the fish they are kept with make a difference.

Lyretail males are bullies and can be bullies to other fish. But kept in check wiht something like a trigger or larger tangs their aggression can be kept down.

Oftentimes, males don't handle transport as well and may be a bit more reclusive than females. In cases like this a dominant female may usurp a male. So unless you are getting them from an LFS where you can see them in person to ensure the male will remain dominant, I would suggest getting all females.

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the advice.

I think I'm going to set up my QT and place an order. My 2 LFS never seem to have anthias in stock.

 

[Fishfinder]

Oftentimes, males don't handle transport as well and may be a bit more reclusive than females. In cases like this a dominant female may usurp a male. So unless you are getting them from an LFS where you can see them in person to ensure the male will remain dominant, I would suggest getting all females.

That's what happened to me, now they have constantly been fighting

 

[Brew12]

Well, I pulled the trigger and have 4 female Carberryi Anthias on order for Saturday delivery.

Now I need to figure out how I will QT them. I normally use Coppersafe but I may try TTM now that I have a mixing station set up.

Really can't wait to get them in the DT. My water looks like a snow globe with all the little white copepods swimming around. Not to mention the 40-50 amphipods I get in my filter socks every 2 or 3 days. I figure between those and feeding 3 times a day they should do well.

 

[ksfulk]

Here's a shot with 5 of my 6 in it. The carberryi are great, hope they do well for you! I've QTed both with CP and TTM without issue before. Haven't used copper at all though. Black worms will get them eating too I've found!

 

[Areseebee]

Do you have yours with Lyretails? I've been contemplating getting some, I have a suspicion that it will help my little lyretails cope as well by sort of diffusing aggression without adding any from the carberryis in return. However, I'm worried I can't feed enough for them.

 

[stevo01]

If the female is outright fighting the male, then she has alreafy begun to transition to male.

I thought this may be happening. She is bigger than him already. Hoping he can keep her at bay.

 

[Salty1962]

Pseudanthias mortoni's are very nice fish.

 

[Brew12]

Here's a shot with 5 of my 6 in it. The carberryi are great, hope they do well for you! I've QTed both with CP and TTM without issue before. Haven't used copper at all though. Black worms will get them eating too I've found!

Those look amazing! Really hoping that by adding these they make my other fish less skittish. My tank is a little under stocked for its size so some dithering fish should help.

 

[Abhishek]

My two cents :-

I currently have charlenaes, randalls and loris . Of all three, loris are the most difficult .
In my experience , below is in the order of difficulty :-

Easiest - Lyretails, Bartletts, Bimacs , charlenaes (if you can find) , Evansi .. Be careful as many of them will be more aggressive too !!!
Medium - Randalls , Resplendents
Hardest - Loris, Aurolentus, Ventralis , Princess

Key is to obtain healthy eating species from reputable dealers. And in my experience, Nutramar Ova is magical to make most of them to eat apart from BBS. QT is a very key point with anthias too .

I still hatch BBS twice a day to feed my loris as they still eat only live BBS only ..

The other key point is frequent feeding all throughout the day for more difficult species

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Brew12]

My two cents :-

I currently have charlenaes, randalls and loris . Of all three, loris are the most difficult .
In my experience , below is in the order of difficulty :-

Easiest - Lyretails, Bartletts, Bimacs , charlenaes (if you can find) , Evansi .. Be careful as many of them will be more aggressive too !!!
Medium - Randalls , Resplendents
Hardest - Loris, Aurolentus, Ventralis , Princess

Key is to obtain healthy eating species from reputable dealers. And in my experience, Nutramar Ova is magical to make most of them to eat apart from BBS. QT is a very key point with anthias too .

I still hatch BBS twice a day to feed my loris as they still eat only live BBS only ..

The other key point is frequent feeding all throughout the day for more difficult species

Regards,
Abhishek

You made my heart stop for a minute there. I got through your easy and medium list without seeing the Carberryi and immediately thought I had made a mistake! I was so relieved to see they didn't show up on your hardest list, either!

Are these really that uncommon?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I've had dozens and dozens over the years of all kinds, here's some notes on different species:

• Lyretails have that brilliant orange that is just gorgeous and hard to compete with. I've never had an issue with getting lyretails to eat and they've not been skittish or shy at all. Lyretails have a tendency to be some of the most aggressive anthias species. Had everything from singles to groups of 3, 5, & 9. If kept in singles the male will dull out to a brown orange color.. my current one is still barely colored up after six months with some females.
• Bartlett's are a nice elongated type anthias that have a nice contrast in body color. Like the lyretails, I've not had issues with them eating at all AND they can be at the higher end of the aggressive spectrum. That said its seems like the aggression with bartlett's is generally limited to similar body style anthias (Carberryi, dispar, evansi, sunset). Had trios for years without issue.
• Carberryi are hands down my favorite in personality. I had a trio about three years ago, and had one die shortly after getting them. I still have the original pair and they are super mellow and rather than the aggressive nature of some species they just swim with one another and hang out in the current. Highly recommend - the color contrast isn't as great as a resplendent or an evansi, but still a beautiful fish.
• Dispar and Ignitus I have a hard time telling apart when I had them together. They ate ok but seemed prone to bacterial infections - at least moreso than the others I've had.
• Resplendents and evansi that I've had have always been on the shy side. I've had trouble getting them through QT and eating anything but live foods as well. The colors are ridiculous though. If you can get your hands on a good specimen, run with them.
• Purple Queens are divas and really hard to keep, so Id stay away from them. Never had much long term success with them.

Similar species can be mixed together without issue, so you can have two groups of three without much issue. I have a trio of lyretails, a pair of carberryi and single bartlett currently with little issue. They eat frozen, pellet and live once a day and have no issues at all. If it was my call, I'd go a trio of carberryi and a trio of bartletts.

Nice!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I have two dispar anthias in quarantine. They appear to be quite peaceful toward to each other. I will be putting them in my 125 gallon system.