Hi! I have some questions regarding anthias. I want to get a trio for my tank (100 gallon) and was wondering if it is best to get all 3 females or 2 females and 1 one male and why? I see trios pop up both ways on diver's den for live aquaria. I will probably either buy there or LFS. Also I have heard that they need to be fed multiple times a day, is this true? Finally, is there any particular species of anthias you would reccomend? Any other advice regarding them is welcome! Thanks!
Keeping Anthias
- Thread starter gabeb
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I have 4 Lyretail's, all bought as females and one transitioned to male. They are housed in a 144. I have zero experience with other anthias species so not much help there.
I feed my tank twice a day. A few pellets at 3:00 pm, then I do some lrs, cube of mysis and a cube of emerald reef at 6:00 pm (shared between 2 tanks) . I picked them up in October and it took 2 or 3 months to start the transition. The male has it's color and now growing out it's streamer.
ca1ore
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100 gallon tank limits you a bit with larger species like squares, bimacs or pictilis - but they’re all on the expensive end anyhow. Lyretails are a good ‘starter’ anthias, as are dispar/ignitus. Bartletts are common, and very pretty fish, but need a lot of space.
FishyDP
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This has pretty much been my experience. Bought 3 lyretail females a few months back, one is transitioning to male now. Really nice colors, one of my favorite fish in my 150. I feed pellets and flakes in a.m. and frozen mix in evening, they eat everything. All 3 are growing and seem happy. The male gets a little aggressive towards the 2 females at times..I think 3-4 lyretails would work in 100g depending on your current stock list.
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eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
I would recommend buying all females. I have found that lyretails and bartletts are among the hardiest anthias, but they can be a little rough with each other. Randalls and dispar are still pretty hardy, but are more peaceful with each other.
If they are small specimens, feed a little more frequently, but smaller meals. A method that worked well for me is still feeding the same quantity of food for the day, but breaking it up when I was home in the evening. Just feeding a little every hour from when I got home until lights out.
If they are small specimens, feed a little more frequently, but smaller meals. A method that worked well for me is still feeding the same quantity of food for the day, but breaking it up when I was home in the evening. Just feeding a little every hour from when I got home until lights out.
DangerDave
Valuable Member
Because one will transition to male regardless.
The idea is to let the group of juveniles/females figure out the sex and hierarchy on their own. Small females will help ensure that there aren't transitioning males that will fight.
LovesDogs_CatsRokay
Valuable Member
Be careful buying anthias from LA or DD. There’s a big problem with them arriving with uronema. There’s a thread around here somewhere about it. You’ll definitely want to QT and treat with metro.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Males often take a little longer to recover from shipping. So in the time that he is recuperating, a dominant female can take advantage of his weakened state and go after the male.
SeaDweller
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I have 20 bartletts that were bought as females. Most look like they’re turning male, which look better anyway. So doesn’t matter if you buy a trio of females, one or more will turn male. Anthias are fun fish, and I feed my tank 2-3 times/day
Bartletts are know to turn all male this does not happen with others species very often. Bartletts also tend to kill each other off after they do.
SeaDweller
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You’re talking strictly Bartletts, right?
I’ve had multiple males with what started as all female lyretails (12+ in a tank) some transitioning; the only ones that haven’t turned male on me, when I had 10, were bimacs. I’ve done lyretails multiple times and always ended up with at least one male.
Bluespottedjawfish1
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I have a group of bi color Anthias and these I think are the easiest to keep, even more so than the lyretails. super cool fish. get big though.
Bartletts are about the only species that I have heard of that turn all male in a reef aquarium. They get aggressive towards each other and usually results in death.
Most other species one will turn male.
Sometime you can get a submale with some species like I did with ignitus. There usually is very little aggression with submales.
Sometime you get multiple males with other species too because I believe they are changing already and we just do not see it.
There is always the exception too.
