New Anthias grouping

[Jeff Crawford]

New Anthias harums, Id like to start with a group of the inexpensive orange lyretails (1-male and 4 female) and then add a group of other types later.

Question one is would any male Lyretail group up with other Lyretails? or do they have to be a species match?

Question two, I see the orange Lyretails being sold as female, does one change to male and still have good color or do I have to find a male to start with that has changed in ocean?

Question three, can a harum be added to an existing harum?

 

[KrisReef]

Biology: if you have 3 female fish to another group of 3 female fish you have a shoal of fishes.
If you have 1 male and 2 females then you have a breeding group, or a harem.
If you add 3 female fish to a harem you will have a 6 fish harem.
If you add 2 harem together the males will fight for dominance. Nature wants 1 male per harem

more to say but my family is finally ready to go out to eat.

If you

 

[kboogie]

I started with three female Lyretails. One of them was not doing well from day one (I didn't notice until I got it home). Two months later I ended up with one male and one female. I then added one male and two female Bimacs. The male Lyretail chased them around for a day or two then got bored and accepted them. I then added one male and two female Red Stripe Anthias, these things are huge!!!! The females are six inches easily and the mail is about 7.5 inches. Plus they are thick! Needless to say, my male Lyretail who fancies himself to be a bit of a bully, didn't even think about messing with them, unfortunately, my Niger trigger did but he has been permanently removed from the tank after beating up the fins on my females. I have one male and two female Squarebacks in quarantine that will be added by Christmas. They all get along and the Lyretails and Bimacs school together in the current. It is very pretty!! I would like to find something very purple which would do well with this group. I would consider adding five of whatever I find to contrast the abundance of pink, yellow, and orange I have going on right now.