Help please...Blotchy Anthias

[RedSea500MaxS]

HELP PLEASE

i finally broke down and ordered two blotchy anthias...approx 2” each so Nice size and great colors!

Properly acclimated 30 min, with drip. Put in my reef tank....gone.

Now for past 48 hours they are both WEIRDLY laying under rock overhang 1/2” off sand. They never move!

My tank is mostly tangs so no threats, and I have only 5 fish In 140 gal.

is this normal for blotchy anthias? I thought they were easy?

today I am going to try live brine...see if that gets their eye.

ideas PLEASE?

 

[Tamberav]

Sounds normal to me because I have a fathead anthia which is another hawk type anthia and it would sit on the bottom and sometimes wedge itself between the rocks. It now swims out in the open frequently but patrols its cave. It took a long time to get to that point though as it was shy.

The hawk anthias do behave a bit different then the lyretail types...etc. I believe they are also from deeper waters and like overhangs/caves.

 

[pcon]

Sounds like they are simply stressed out in a new environment. What kind of conditioning and QT did you do before releasing them into the tank?

These are deep water fish. What have you done to condition them to warm reef temperatures and intense lighting?

Tangs absolutely can be a threat to any newcomer, did you do any social acclimation with a “peace maker” type box?

 

[Bigwrasse]

they are a pretty shy fish when introduced to a new tank. You would definitely benefited putting them in a qt tank so they could acclimate of the stress of shipping and get them eating without competition from other fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Stressed and haven't adapted to new surroundings. Rare to get one swimming around and eating the first day or two

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

Thx. They had QT at wholesaler. I don’t have a qt tank, but my show tank is peaceful.

little more action today. I bought some live brine...that’s usually a treat.

thanks all.