My thoughts on Anthia's

[AJsTank]

As many of you know, I just wrapped up a 400 gallon build and I'm about 60 days out of my cycle. I wanted to share with you guys my thoughts and experience with Anthia's.

For about 5 years, I had 5 Bartlett's and 5 Lyretail's in my 120. All they did was fight and chase each other around. When I sold them to about 4 different individuals, they caused issues in their tanks as well. Even the Females turned Male in 2 of these tanks and wrecked havoc with all the other Anthia's.

In this new tank build I wanted to throw in about 30-40 Anthia's along with a handful of Angels. I knew I was going to stay away from Bartlett's because they were the meaner one in my tank. I did have issues with the Male Lyretail's, but I thought throwing a couple in my 400 would be okay.

The first week, I dropped in a Harlem of Purple Queens, 3 Dispars and 3 Ignitus. All of them lived for 5 weeks, ate very well and schooled together nicely, were getting fat and were getting brighter and more colored. About 3 weeks ago, I decided to throw in 2 Lyretail's. One is 3/4 of an inch and the other is about 1 inch. The larger Lyretail, quickly turned Male and within the last 7 days, it has killed almost every single one of my other Anthia's. The Male Lyretail literally just chases all the other Anthia's around in my 8 foot long tank and bites them and rams them. Every time I pull the dead on out, it is severely bruised all over it's body.

I've come to the conclusion that all these bigger species of Anthia's DO NOT get along and are way too dominant. I am convinced that if I would have just stuck with all my Purple Queens, Dispars, Ignitus and then added my Ventralis when they came into season, I would have been okay.

Very frustrated at the moment.

 

[AJsTank]

I guess after he kills off the rest of my Anthia's, I either have to figure out how to get him out (which is almost impossible) or just go back and add a school of lyretails...

 

[TJ's Reef]

HUGE BUMMER as I really like your original plan for Anthias. I would love to add a few more Dispar to my tank but will most likely wait for the upgrade sometime in the future. Originally had four Hawaiian Bicolor (1 male /3 female) and introduced a pair of Dispar as lights were going out and the following morning the male was immediately attacked by male Bicolor and was beyond recovery by the time I could intervene. The female Dispar is mostly left alone except at start of feedings, then showed her place in the pecking order........... #4. Hopefully you will get it figured out or catch the lil SOB.

Cheers, Todd

 

[AJsTank]

HUGE BUMMER as I really like your original plan for Anthias. I would love to add a few more Dispar to my tank but will most likely wait for the upgrade sometime in the future. Originally had four Hawaiian Bicolor (1 male /3 female) and introduced a pair of Dispar as lights were going out and the following morning the male was immediately attacked by male Bicolor and was beyond recovery by the time I could intervene. The female Dispar is mostly left alone except at start of feedings, then showed her place in the pecking order........... #4. Hopefully you will get it figured out or catch the lil SOB.

Cheers, Todd

That deep water tank with all the Anthia's in it at Steinhart is what inspired me. I really like the Purple Queens, so I might just stick to those and then try to add Ventralis. That is if or when I can get that stupid Lyretail out.... ugh

 

[tuna_bullet]

I have square anthias in with mine and they get along great, I cant add the queen antias either they get beat up........

 

[AJsTank]

I have square anthias in with mine and they get along great, I cant add the queen antias either they get beat up........

Yeah, any of those bigger species do not get along with the smaller ones, IMO. I KNEW I should have kept them out. He will probably live to be 10 years old.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Any thoughts on having 1 square and 3 Bartlett's in a 180? I'm thinking of doing that...but then read this...

 

[AJsTank]

If it's a bigger Square, you might be okay, but no matter what, the Male Bartlett will pick on it... Just my opinion..

 

[tuna_bullet]

my square is awesome great color, I threw 2 females in with him and the male squapanus has three females the two males always cruise out front and the ladies hang out in there holes.....I have 7 total in my 180....

 

[Marquiseo]

I had many different species of anthias. From lyretails to sunbursts. I had a trio of lyretail which started off aggressive but eventually changed to be quite tolerant of all the other species in the tank. I fed at least 3 times a day with a mixture of different foods which I believe contributed to my success with them and other species. Also, I noticed that the only time the lyretails were aggressive during change was when the male was weak or if he had died so if the male was kept strong and healthy then you would see less aggression in the lyretails species. Another I did was get the females at a younger age and bought the male from an established system. The females grew up together and there was no need to fight to become dominant because I had a male already. It bonus that it was from an established system. Eventually it changed when I started to change my feeding regiment. So I got rid of the lyretails to make room for higher end anthias.

 

[AJsTank]

I had many different species of anthias. From lyretails to sunbursts. I had a trio of lyretail which started off aggressive but eventually changed to be quite tolerant of all the other species in the tank. I fed at least 3 times a day with a mixture of different foods which I believe contributed to my success with them and other species. Also, I noticed that the only time the lyretails were aggressive during change was when the male was weak or if he had died so if the male was kept strong and healthy then you would see less aggression in the lyretails species. Another I did was get the females at a younger age and bought the male from an established system. The females grew up together and there was no need to fight to become dominant because I had a male already. It bonus that it was from an established system. Eventually it changed when I started to change my feeding regiment. So I got rid of the lyretails to make room for higher end anthias.

Interesting. It makes sense what you are saying. I do feed 3-5 times a day, lightly. I think that's what I was able to keep the 10 I has in my 120 for 6 years. These 2 Lyretails are so tiny, but the bigger one is still changing. Maybe that's the problem. I do, however always get all females. Maybe once that Male is established and I keep adding females, it will be okay. He picks off the biggest one of the group 1 at a time.

 

[AJsTank]

Tuna, does your 2 males have any issues with each other?

 

[Eienna]

Interesting. It makes sense what you are saying. I do feed 3-5 times a day, lightly. I think that's what I was able to keep the 10 I has in my 120 for 6 years. These 2 Lyretails are so tiny, but the bigger one is still changing. Maybe that's the problem. I do, however always get all females. Maybe once that Male is established and I keep adding females, it will be okay. He picks off the biggest one of the group 1 at a time.

I hear of that happening a lot with lyretails, unfortunately.