Lyretail Anthia Question

[dochow]

My local Petco just got a shipment of beautiful Lyretail Anthias. I never thought I'd see them at petco.

Would it be OK to put one male Lyretail Anthia into my 75 gallon mixed reef or is 75 gallons too small?

I would not be able to keep multiple females with him since tank is only 75 gallons.

My current stock is:

1 Kole Tang
1 Starry Blenny
2 Stubby Ocelaris Clowns
1 Royal Gramma

Tanks has 30 gallon sump/refugium. 75 pounds live rock. System is about 5 months old.

 

[hybridazn]

It would be fine in your 75. Just be prepared that if there are no females present that he will lose the bright male colors and look a little drab.

 

[dochow]

Would it be ok to put two females in with him or would I be cutting it close with space?

 

[Justiful]

I got one in my 46 gallon. (female though, males get several inches bigger) -- Yes with caution.

Note:
Under Petco lighting they look pinker, under decent LED lighting they will look orange or purple. I don't know why Petco lights distort colors but they do. I thought I was getting a pink female, ended up with a bright orange when I got home. Apparently they only come in orange or purple so that makes sense lol.

They are orange for females, purple for males. Females will turn male in the absence of a male usually. But they do not change back. However in the absence of another female they usually don't complete the change and just start to change to purple a bit and grow the longer fin up top.

Oh also they are not a fan of flake food, they will eat a little of it. But mostly mine eats Mysis. He also will eat brine. But he likes mysis most. He doesn't like krill. I soak my frozen food in a bit of garlic guard before feeding and fish go nuts.

Caution:

I would rate this fish semi-aggressive. I also have a Royal Gamma and the gamma started acting the fool to the much large anthias on day 1, they fought gamma lost. Now he hides from him every times he comes near, and the anthias is aggressive towards him. Eventually long term I may have to re-home the anthias or Royal Gamma, as the gamma used to swim all over the tank and only show aggression if a fish got near his sleeping spot. Now he stays most of the day near his sleeping spot and hides when the anthias gets near. Never travels the tank. He is also eating less as the anthias chases him back in the cave when he spots him out of it too far. Though I do make sure he eats every single day. It is a bit sad, as I like the Royal gamma, and he was fun to watch as he cruised the tank swimming happily before the anthias.

If I could do it over again I would have skipped the Lyretail Anthias. It is a wonderful fish don't get me wrong. But so is the Royal Gamma. However the anthias is not super aggressive to other fish. So perhaps the Royal Gamma just started something and the anthias won't let it go. One way or another I do not think the two will get along. But you may have a different result, if you do I would love to hear about it.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Squammipinnis color for males is also dependant on region where they are collected. Some are purple, some are more red. The op pic is quite representative of the red dominant variant.

You should have plenty of space in a 75g for a male and small harem of females, I suggest three females.

Squammipinnis anthias are on the aggressive side for anthias, but still fine for most community reefs. If kept in a group, aggression will be focused on other members of the group. If kept singly other fish in the tank may get that attention.

 

[dochow]

You think 4 are ok in my 75 gallon with the current stocking?? I'm slightly worried it may become a battle ground in there.

 

[eatbreakfast]

You think 4 are ok in my 75 gallon with the current stocking?? I'm slightly worried it may become a battle ground in there.

I do, but I also have close to 30 fish in an 80g, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[dochow]

So I moved forward with the Anthias 4 days ago. I bought one male and two females. They are getting along great with my tank inhabitants. Every so often the tang will chase them away from his rock, but no significant quarrels at this point. One of the females is eating everything I present from live black worms to Mysis to brine to fresh chopped live clams. The male is eating only Mysis, brine and clam and the other female only eats tiny portions of brine. Odd that they all aren't eating live black worms! I did not QT and I did not fresh water dip. Honestly this is super risky, but there is some schools of thought out there that introducing fish to a low stress environment and feeding live and fresh foods will help prevent outbreaks. Unfortunately I will cross my fingers and see what happens... Here is a pic: