Easiest Anthias

[stevo01]

Im doubting my female is actually a lyretail now. Looks more like the "stocky" to me. Can someone confirm my hunch please?

Side not to some of the comments ive seen posted here. Anthias are planktivore's , they need some meat and plant in the diet.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Im doubting my female is actually a lyretail now. Looks more like the "stocky" to me. Can someone confirm my hunch please?

Side not to some of the comments ive seen posted here. Anthias are planktivore's , they need some meat and plant in the diet.

Your female looks more like a marciae or rubrizonatus.

They are a carnivorous planktivore. They will get their plant matter from the digestive tracts of their prey.

 

[Brew12]

Your female looks more like a marciae or rubrizonatus.

They are a carnivorous planktivore. They will get their plant matter from the digestive tracts of their prey.

It is amazing how nothing is ever as straight forward as it seems when it comes to fish nutrition and feeding habits. It still amazes me just how aggressivly my Foxface, Tangs, and Stary Blenny go after the LRS fish frenzy.

 

[shred5]

@Brew12 - would like to point out that you should have bbs at your disposal just to hatch and make them eat .
Nutramar ova is a miracle food for anthias if you can get some .
I know marinedepot has some !!

Oh .. I do not use medication from the first day itself in QT . Try to make them eat first before applying medicines like prazi or API General Cure ..

Regards,
Abhishek

Nutramar ova is great and so is Larrys fish eggs and P/E calanus.

They work awsum...

Even though not very healthy brine shrimp seems to get a lot of picky fish to eat.

 

[happyhourhero]

Your female looks more like a marciae or rubrizonatus.

They are a carnivorous planktivore. They will get their plant matter from the digestive tracts of their prey.

Is it ok that mine eat lots of NLS Algaemax that I try to get to my tang?

 

[eatbreakfast]

Therr is no problem with anthias eating it, but it doesn't need to be provided specifically for them.

 

[tigé21v]

This is an awesome thread!! I've learned more about ins and outs of these fish in one evening than I could've probably picked in a whole afternoon scouring the net. Thanks to everyone for their input!!

 

[Abhishek]

Nutramar ova is great and so is Larrys fish eggs and P/E calanus.

They work awsum...

Even though not very healthy brine shrimp seems to get a lot of picky fish to eat.

Excellant suggestion @shred5 on LRS fish eggs along with Nutramar Ova. However, Piscine PE Calanus - the replacement for cyclopzee was never taken happily by neither my blue star leopards nor my anthias.
The larger ones like Charlenae hardly cares while the smaller ones like Randalls try to nib at them but do not like them at all.
I would say try Nutramar Ova and LRS Fish eggs and then anything else ..

The other food that all my anthias have always loved is Hikari mysis as they are mini mysis - not the large ones like PE . So way easier for them to eat and i have always found Hikari cheaper too !!! But they would need to be lured into eating mysis slowly . Chances are they won't accept frozen mysis right on day 1.

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Brew12]

That is a very good question and I can help you with it. First you have to decide which anthias you want to keep. Anthias are my favorite fish (jewels of the reef) and over thirty years I have kept many types in many different tanks. Some mixed group types, some single groups, in mixed reefs with other fish and anthias only reefs. Some things I have learned the hard way but can save you time and money are listed below:

Lyretail are the hardest but also one of the most aggressive.
Bartlett are the most attractive in a group but fight amongst themselves and isolate the weaker, one at a time and starve them until you eventually over time only have one Bartlett standing.
Although squarespot are much larger and the male is very attractive, they also can be intimidated by the Bartletts and lyretail with isolation/starvation in the end.
Purple queen are very attractive but belong in very large tanks by themselves or left in the wild to survive.

I have kept all these fish in single and multiple type groups and in the end, in a display tank less than 300 gallons, your best bet is to get 6 smaller lyretail females and let them figure it out for themselves. In my current tank, two changed to male after a few months. The larger male is the dominant one and the slightly smaller male stays out of his way. They all seem to fight at first but the dominant male controls the females, chase them but do not isolate or kill them. It seems to be a working situation which is the only permanent one I have found in thirty years.
I'm sure some will not agree with this but all I can tell you is this is what I have found that will last 20 years after trying different combinations over time.

I appreciate the input! I didn't go with any of the species you mentioned but it does make me feel even better about going with all females and letting them figure it out.

 

[ChristopherKriens]

Im doubting my female is actually a lyretail now. Looks more like the "stocky" to me. Can someone confirm my hunch please?

You have a male P. squamipinnis and given your description of the temporary red tail and u-swim, a male P. marcia. I've kept both together with no problems but you'll likely see the male phenotype disappear a little without females of their own species. Marcia can actually more scrappy than Lyretails, so it's a fun mix.

 

[stevo01]

You have a male P. squamipinnis and given your description of the temporary red tail and u-swim, a male P. marcia. I've kept both together with no problems but you'll likely see the male phenotype disappear a little without females of their own species. Marcia can actually more scrappy than Lyretails, so it's a fun mix.

Man, looks like you nailed it. It's definitely a Marcias. Now I'm not happy with my LFS. Thanks for your help.

 

[happyhourhero]

How do you tell the difference between a rubrizonatus and a Marcia?

 

[stevo01]

How do you tell the difference between a rubrizonatus and a Marcia?

It's tough because I think a male Marcia looks a lot like a female lyretail. But look at the back half of the body. You'll notice a pink and yellow chain mail look as well as the tips of the tail.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I'm still not entirely convinced the "female" isn't a rubrizonatus. Marciae and rubrizonatus are closely related.

 

[ChristopherKriens]

I'm still not entirely convinced the "female" isn't a rubrizonatus. Marciae and rubrizonatus are closely related.

It certainly could be rubrizonatus; the pictures aren't clear enough to say either way definitively.
@stevo01, does the peduncle pattern look like this?

 

[Brew12]

I am very nervous about getting these guys through QT while keeping them eating. I feel I am as ready as I can be though.

Last night I put my QT back up and set it to match the salinity of the shipping water.

I have another power head coming for this system today so will have plenty of flow. The plan is 2 to 4 days of acclimation followed by 14 days of Coppersafe. I have an Eheim auto feeder that I will also be using. Frozen in the morning and evening, pellets twice a day while I am at work. I will gradually raise salinity in the system to match my other tanks.

I will be ready to raise bbs if needed.

After the copper treatment they are going to spend 2 weeks in my invert/coral QT. It will have been over 6 weeks since the last add by the time they make it there, so I feel I will be good. I have been getting it loaded with copepods and amphipods so this should be a less stressful place for them to hang out before going into the DT. I will treat with Prazi in this system.

I actually have some Macro algae in this system right now also. I do need to cut out an egg crate top for this system before I move them.

 

[stevo01]

The photo isn't totally clear, does the caudal area look like this?


It certainly could be rubrizonatus; the pictures aren't clear enough to say either way definitively.
@stevo01, does the peduncle pattern look like this?

Looks just like this.

 

[stevo01]

I am very nervous about getting these guys through QT while keeping them eating. I feel I am as ready as I can be though.

Last night I put my QT back up and set it to match the salinity of the shipping water.

I have another power head coming for this system today so will have plenty of flow. The plan is 2 to 4 days of acclimation followed by 14 days of Coppersafe. I have an Eheim auto feeder that I will also be using. Frozen in the morning and evening, pellets twice a day while I am at work. I will gradually raise salinity in the system to match my other tanks.

I will be ready to raise bbs if needed.

After the copper treatment they are going to spend 2 weeks in my invert/coral QT. It will have been over 6 weeks since the last add by the time they make it there, so I feel I will be good. I have been getting it loaded with copepods and amphipods so this should be a less stressful place for them to hang out before going into the DT. I will treat with Prazi in this system.

I actually have some Macro algae in this system right now also. I do need to cut out an egg crate top for this system before I move them.

You are rocking on setups and a plan!

 

[stevo01]

Update on the my Anthias I'D.

 

[stevo01]

My male Maldives lyre.