Mixing Anthias?

[Andrew Schubert]

I was wanting to have a small school of Anthias so I purchased a trio of Pseudanthias ignitus Anthias. Unfortunately, only one of the 3 made the shipment from Divers Den. Question is, do I have to purchase more Pseudanthias ignitus, to get a school.

I was thinking of add some Nemanthias carberryi Anthias as they look very similar. But will the 2 natural mix into the same school, or will they kind of go their separate ways?

 

[mattzang]

i think @Angel_Anthias lover has a bunch of different ones

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

They will probably school together, my anthias (lyretails, randalls and red saddle) all swim together, though they do go off on their own at times, and as they are fairly similair i dont see why they wouldnt mix. Good luck, just make sure you dont end up with 2 males with the ignitus and caryberri, as they could fight a lot as they are similair,but i dont have direct experience with either species so i cant say for certain. Hope this helps

 

[mikeintoronto]

I currently have 5 species in my tank:
Lyretail
Sailfin
Dispar
Bimaculatus
Stocky

In the past I also had borbonius, red band, cherry, carberryi, and squarespot in there. Certain species don’t mix well (Bimaculatus and squarespot) but for the most part they all group together. More aggressive species will chase heterospecifics but they don’t tend to punish them the same way as conspecifics. Very docile species (like your ignius) can get bullied by aggressive species if the tank isn’t large so I’d choose other peaceful species like dispar, carberryi, etc. If the tank is large you have much more flexibility.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

They will probably school together, my anthias (lyretails, randalls and red saddle) all swim together, though they do go off on their own at times, and as they are fairly similair i dont see why they wouldnt mix. Good luck, just make sure you dont end up with 2 males with the ignitus and caryberri, as they could fight a lot as they are similair,but i dont have direct experience with either species so i cant say for certain. Hope this helps

Yea this is the exact reason I'm thinking of mixing. Live aquaria only has medium size ignitus in stock, which my current one already is. So I dont want 2 males fighting. Where as the carberryi can I get as small, which I would assume allow my larger med same Anthias be the dominate Male of the group..

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I currently have 5 species in my tank:
Lyretail
Sailfin
Dispar
Bimaculatus
Stocky

In the past I also had borbonius, red band, cherry, carberryi, and squarespot in there. Certain species don’t mix well (Bimaculatus and squarespot) but for the most part they all group together. More aggressive species will chase heterospecifics but they don’t tend to punish them the same way as conspecifics. Very docile species (like your ignius) can get bullied by aggressive species if the tank isn’t large so I’d choose other peaceful species like dispar, carberryi, etc. If the tank is large you have much more flexibility.

My tank is 120 gallon.

 

[Qasimja]

ive been entertaining the idea of mixing carberryi and sunburst

 

[Auto-pilot]

I have a sunburst, carberryi, purple queen, bi-color, lyertail, bartlet, and dispar and they all swim together and do well. I have to feed often to keep everyone happy.

 

[Haydn]

Yea this is the exact reason I'm thinking of mixing. Live aquaria only has medium size ignitus in stock, which my current one already is. So I dont want 2 males fighting. Where as the carberryi can I get as small, which I would assume allow my larger med same Anthias be the dominate Male of the group..

My apologies if I have misread your reply- are you hoping the existing Ignitus will become a male and keep the new Carberryi female? that won't happen. The Ignitus will always be a singleton which may or may not change to male. A dominant Carberryi will become a male.
I have a large group of Ignitus (30+) and currently have 4 males, although I do get them showing to each other (especially when they are trying to add females to their groups) they don't fight. I have found they to be fairly laid back for anthias.

 

[CardiNole]

I have a sunburst, carberryi, purple queen, bi-color, lyertail, bartlet, and dispar and they all swim together and do well. I have to feed often to keep everyone happy.

What are the males vs females for these species? I assume mostly feamles, but do you have multiple males?

 

[shred5]

I have mixed allot of different ones with no issues.

The problem is most different species wont shoal together and as a matter of fact most anthias wont shoal period in a reef tank.

Ignitus do seem to be ones that actually do shoal. Unfortunately ignitus do not ship well. Once through quarantine though they are rather hardy and easier to feed than some other species. Most will eventually eat flake too and that is the hard part for most anthias other than bartlett's and lyretail's. Bartletts and lyretials are the easiest and hardiest but two of the hardest to keep with others of their own species. They like to kill each other off so I like to keep one of each with my other anthias.

By the way dispar anthias are very similar and do well ignitus. They are so similar I have a hard time telling them apart, just that little bit of yellow. Almost the exact same care and behavior too.

 

[Auto-pilot]

What are the males vs females for these species? I assume mostly feamles, but do you have multiple males?

To be honest I started with one Male but since then a couple of others have changed sex. They do not fight or bother each other
Do not start with a bunch of Male fish, it will not end well

 

[Lilly Moore]

To be honest I started with one Male but since then a couple of others have changed sex. They do not fight or bother each other
Do not start with a bunch of Male fish, it will not end well

How did you introduce all of the, in order and do you know what they were when you put them in

 

[Auto-pilot]

How did you introduce all of the, in order and do you know what they were when you put them in

Hey sorry for the super slow reply, I haven't been on here in a long time. All but one of the anthias was female when i introduced them

 

[Vested]

Hey sorry for the super slow reply, I haven't been on here in a long time. All but one of the anthias was female when i introduced them

Are your anthias still doing well?

 

[Auto-pilot]

Are your anthias still doing well?

Yes they are doing great!! The mix of different species has worked great to keep aggression down.

 

[Auto-pilot]

Yes they are doing great!! The mix of different species has worked great to keep aggression down.

The only I lost a couple but I've replaced them.

 

[Vested]

Yes they are doing great!! The mix of different species has worked great to keep aggression down.

I have an established male and one female lyretail in my 90 gallon right now, I REALLY want to add a bunch more what species/amount would you recommend?