Purple Queen Anthias and foods

[Ferrell]

i had three queen Anthias almost thru quarantine and should’ve gone in DT this weekend. I lost one yesterday and it’s got me worried. She just quit eating nor showed any interest in eating
In the beginning, Started feeding with live baby brine and over the course of a week or two had them converted to LRS nano reef frenzy and they ate the small stuff and the YWG took out the chunky stuff. Perfect.
I guess my question is: would you keep them in QT and make sure they eating well still. (got more live brine fro AB)
Would you put them in DT with healthy pod population and feed baby brine and LRS? Do they eat pods? I would assume so and feel as if I read something about them eating them.
Any help appreciated

 

[Ferrell]

And any other food recommendations. I have Hikkari S pellets, reef chili, LRS nano frenzy, p mysis frozen, whole frozen brine. Tried all that and it’s back to baby brine.

 

[Eva Rose]

Threads I have read say they like lower lighting and often start eating on the baby brine in QT . It is great they were eating LRS nano for awhile. I don’t have the knowledge to help you. But I would change your title to Purple Queen Anthias to get the attention of both R2R members & staff who have experience/knowledge with these more delicate anthias.
Good luck. They are beautiful.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Purple queen anthias are notoriously difficult. Most refuse to eat, and those that do it can go on a hunger strike at the first signs of stress.

Newly hatched live baby brine seems to elicit the best response, small fish eggs, such as tobiko also can be good.

Any pods in a system they eat have to be in the water column, they don't pick off of the rock or substrate.

 

[Ferrell]

Thanks for the input. I can scrape pods off glass daily at feeding time. Glad to know it’s a crustacean they’ll eat.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Purple queen anthias are notoriously difficult. Most refuse to eat, and those that do it can go on a hunger strike at the first signs of stress.

Newly hatched live baby brine seems to elicit the best response, small fish eggs, such as tobiko also can be good.

Any pods in a system they eat have to be in the water column, they don't pick off of the rock or substrate.

 

[ReefFrenzy]

Glad you are having success with LRS! We have a lot of folks who offer LRS to their anthias a couple of times a day and it seems to work out well.

 

[TLO45]

I as you have tried purple queens. Very tough to keep eating over a long period of time IME. I tried Calanus and they would take that most of the time. For me it seemed more of a presentation effect as well as the food offered. Meaning if the food made certain movements in the flow it would entice them to try eating. If it didn’t appeal to them they would swim right through the food offered and never pick up a
Morsel. Mine ate fairly well after a day and then one by one they started fasting and eventually all parished. I’ve seen displays that house them and they appear healthy and fat but this was in a public aquarium in a large reef display with swarms of anthias swimming in a natural way. I’d say if you try a variety of foods and they pick up on something stick with it. It will probably always be a challenge to keep them feeding. Good luck !

 

[Ferrell]

Thanks all again. I did some research prior to purchasing. Knew “some” Anthias were really tough but thought these weren’t one+ LFS confirmed they were easier than most. I was wrong I guess. I will do everything in my power to help them survive and thrive.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I had 13 for ~2 years that pretty much only ate Cyclopeeze and Speckled Trout eggs. Added 5 Lyretails and lost all but one Purple Queen.

 

[Ferrell]

Dang sorry to hear that Bob.

 

[Sabellafella]

i had three queen Anthias almost thru quarantine and should’ve gone in DT this weekend. I lost one yesterday and it’s got me worried. She just quit eating nor showed any interest in eating
In the beginning, Started feeding with live baby brine and over the course of a week or two had them converted to LRS nano reef frenzy and they ate the small stuff and the YWG took out the chunky stuff. Perfect.
I guess my question is: would you keep them in QT and make sure they eating well still. (got more live brine fro AB)
Would you put them in DT with healthy pod population and feed baby brine and LRS? Do they eat pods? I would assume so and feel as if I read something about them eating them.
Any help appreciated

Hello! So I will let you know my experience in keeping tuka and evansi anthias for quite some time. Despite their poor reputation for eating, you need to start first with healthy specimens. They'll often come in unhealthy, in return they'll refuse to eat. They will usually stick together in your aquarium eating particles out of the water column. I started mine on live brine, but they've quickly took on lrs. I had to cut up the foods into fine particles for them to eat(otherwise they'd spit the food out).

It reached the point where my male would shove a female over to my powerhead so they can spawn every single night for about 2 years. When I kept tuka I was still an amateur, but I did have them for over a year. Evans anthias have the same care requirements(and look alike)

If they completed qt, I would add them to your aquarium. They do need constant feeding, but you can always cut down after the first couple months of having them.

 

[Sabellafella]

Thanks all again. I did some research prior to purchasing. Knew “some” Anthias were really tough but thought these weren’t one+ LFS confirmed they were easier than most. I was wrong I guess. I will do everything in my power to help them survive and thrive.

The real problem comes when you have a group of them. A male will rule the pack, but then they'll drop one by one if one decides to change sex. I lost all but one to this exact reason.

 

[Ferrell]

Full confession lol. I don’t distinguish colors that well. I made the mistake of thinking these were Bartlett’s as that is what I was reading up on and going to acquire. When the LFS owner said queen I just thought it was a more common name, what “they” called them and dismissed it. Totally on me.
Will I still have trouble with Bartlett’s or do they feed more readily to frozen?

 

[Ferrell]

Hello! So I will let you know my experience in keeping tuka and evansi anthias for quite some time. Despite their poor reputation for eating, you need to start first with healthy specimens. They'll often come in unhealthy, in return they'll refuse to eat. They will usually stick together in your aquarium eating particles out of the water column. I started mine on live brine, but they've quickly took on lrs. I had to cut up the foods into fine particles for them to eat(otherwise they'd spit the food out).

It reached the point where my male would shove a female over to my powerhead so they can spawn every single night for about 2 years. When I kept tuka I was still an amateur, but I did have them for over a year. Evans anthias have the same care requirements(and look alike)

If they completed qt, I would add them to your aquarium. They do need constant feeding, but you can always cut down after the first couple months of having them.

Nice fat specimen!
Thanks this was the weekend to go into the Display so I’m going to proceed as planned. I feed my other fish heavy with LRS with no nitrates to speak of so I will just increase my feedings and knock a few pods off the glass and see if that helps Many thanks all for the advice and input

 

[Akersta]

I currently have (4) purple queens in my 150DD QT tank. I decided to add some live rock and sand in hopes of making them more relaxed along with a few wrasses. I’ve had them a few months and got them started eating on frozen rotifers and cyclops. It took nearly two weeks for them to start eating. However, they will now fight with my wrasses over good sized pieces of mysis. I try to feed 2-3 times a day and very heavily.

My plan is to keep them in the 150DD for 4-6 months until they are very healthy and I’m confident they can fend for themselves in one of my larger main tanks with existing fish. I’ll then run through 10-14 days of nitrofuracin green followed by TTM and general cure before adding to my main system.

I’ve only recently been feeding rotifers and cyclops but all fish seem to love them. The best part about smaller foods is that my larger more aggressive fish usually won’t go after much of it like they do mysis. That leaves the smaller fish more time to eat the food out of the water column. I’m working on an automated feeder to dispense chilled food from a small thermoelectric fridge. That way I can feed as much as I want each day to fatten them up quickly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Mine were finicky at first and yes.... brine as well as Larry's LRS was the answer. Now they eat flakes, any type frozen, pellets and reef food blend

 

[Kmsutows]

I'd suggest reef nutrition R.O.E. got my ventralis started on it

 

[ReefTeacher]

I had 4 purple queens for a couple of years. I second the use of cyclops and fish roe. If you have a local store that sells live brine, these are usually adolescent and smaller than full grown adults; I would enrich them and feed them too. Matt Wandell has a great article that I used when I had them here:

https://reefs.com/magazine/boldly-colored-beauties-the-tuka-anthias/

 

[Crimsonphoenix]

The real problem comes when you have a group of them. A male will rule the pack, but then they'll drop one by one if one decides to change sex. I lost all but one to this exact reason.

I started with 3 anthias also one changed sex and then there were 2! Have been fine since!