Have you kept Anthias Long Term?

[Corey Baker]

I have two female and male Lyretail that have made it through two tank changes so far and a Borbonius that's been in the tank for just about a year now. All seem happy. One of the females did loose an eye i believe during a battle with the mystery wrasse, but this was quite a long time ago and she is doing just fine even with only one eye.

 

[JakeK]

Ignitus trio lasted about a month. Not sure exactly what the cause was. They never were very comfortable in the tank around other fish.

Bartletts trio...two of the three turned on the smallest and it eventually died after about 3 or 4 months. Then I had two for over two years, losing one during a tank move. The last one is still going strong and I've had it for over 3 years now. I feed 1x per day, pellets or mysis.

 

[MattL22]

Usually I’ll start with 5 or 3 and end up with a trio or pair

 

[Sonor]

I have lyre tails and dispar anthias, tank is about 4 years old the fish have been in the tank for 3.5 to 3.75 years. I feed 1 time per day, frozen brine with 1 of 3 other frozen foods every day. If i'm away more than 3 days i auto feed with small pellet food once per day, otherwise no feeding til I get home. The tank is a 190 with fuge and remote deep sand bed. I also feed as a treat, live tigger pods every month or 2, I really should do more often. If you have small specimens watch your food size. That is the reason for the brine shrimp everyday, they are zooplankton feeders. As far as the heartiest species, from my experience I would say the lyretails.

 

[DSC reef]

We kept a lyretail for 3+ years. We had to rehome him due to size and aggression. At first it was hard to feed him but after a year if the food was small and it moved fast he ate it. Tank was fed multiple times a day with reef nutrition, LRS and frozen cyclops. Bought the fish as a small female.

 

[srad750c]

I had six Bartlett’s anthis for about 4 months 2 males and 4 females. One male jumped from being harassed. My purple tang chased the other 5 out in one day while I was at work. No doubt I would have had them longer. Fed them PE mysis, PE Cyclopes, brine, and spirulina flakes. I added hw Biotip, Selcon and Polylab polybooster to their food 3 times a week. They were very entertaining. Will have in my next setup.

 

[rkpetersen]

Started with 5 Bartlett's in a 100g system. After 1.5 years there are 3, all doing well. Other 2 were harrassed to death by the survivors. I include Reef Nutrition ROE with every meal; the anthiases hunt down all the eggs, while many of the other fish ignore them.

 

[Abhishek]

Well 7 years back before I had quit the hobby, I had 4 purple queens that survived for around 4 years from a batch of 12 purple queens (terrible record I know)
Now I have a pair of Randall's that spawn at dusk almost everyday and I have them for like 1.5 years. So not long yet as I consider long term as 3+ years

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[d-man]

I’ll let you know in a yr and a few months when I add a shoal of 30 or so Bartlett’s here in a couple months to my hopefully soon set up 960g

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Really varies depending on species, many are finicky, best is to qt and get eating w/out competition as most are skiddish new to tank.

Bartletts pretty much always turn male, I don't see much long term success for groups of those.

Lyretails have been really easy for me, carberryi's not too hard, just hard to keep vibrant colors, dispars I've also had long term.

Multiple feedings are a must w/ a varied diet for best results.

Males should have at least 2 or 3 or more females to spread the badgering around

Now I'm curious. I've had a trio of carberryi for about 2 months now. What did you do to try to keep them colorful? Mine eat like pigs, they are at the top of the tank waiting when they see me. I usually drop in seaweed extreme or formula two pellets a few at a time which they will completely hog, until they lose interest and then i feed a little frozen for everything in the tank. I mix half-and-half mysis and spirulina brine. They're not as pretty as lyretails but I chose them because i only have a 75 gallon display and i wanted a group of smaller anthias. I have no standard of reference as to what they should look like...

 

[BantyRooster97]

I bought 3 bimacs in March, all 3 are still around! (knocks on wood) I love these fish, they are so active & colorful!

 

[davocean]

Now I'm curious. I've had a trio of carberryi for about 2 months now. What did you do to try to keep them colorful? Mine eat like pigs, they are at the top of the tank waiting when they see me. I usually drop in seaweed extreme or formula two pellets a few at a time which they will completely hog, until they lose interest and then i feed a little frozen for everything in the tank. I mix half-and-half mysis and spirulina brine. They're not as pretty as lyretails but I chose them because i only have a 75 gallon display and i wanted a group of smaller anthias. I have no standard of reference as to what they should look like...

Just a varied mix best as you can, at least 3 feedings a day.

 

[Fishnut]

Started with a trio of Bartletts and another trio of Randalls, within 6 months all females were killed off and only one male of each has survived.

 

[mfinn]

I've had 5 Lyretails and 2 Ignitus going on 2 years