Question about Anthias

PaulKreider · Oct 16, 2013

I have a pair of Lyre tail Anthias that I picked up id say about 6 months ago, both females, and I believe one of them is beginning to change into a male, not sure about this process! Wondering if someone can inform me about how long it takes ext and if I should pick up another female if it happens since I believe they are happier in trios? The, sorry for my lack of terminology, "top fin" has becomes more of an elongated spike on one of them, havn't noticed much of a color change yet. Somone please enlighten me! Thankyou!

Reef Fever · Oct 16, 2013

i would wait until you have a clearly defined male before adding another to the mix. then you avoid any aggression of possible sub-male quarrels

Eienna · Oct 16, 2013

Lyretails are tricky because they can be quite aggressive towards conspecifics. My first question would be the size of your tank. To successfully keep a group of these anthias requires a very large aquarium, on the order of a couple hundred gallons or so, and a sizeable school (at least 5 females to 1 male, if memory serves.) In some cases - and especially when the tank and/or school is too small - the male will tend to kill off his females one by one.

I have also heard of existing males being killed by new females. This happens when the new fish is more dominant than the existing male; she will kill him and take his place unless the tank is sizable enough (unlikely in home aquaria) to support two males.

falconut · Oct 16, 2013

I used to have two females and the larger one grow the spike and got a more purplish color. It appeared that she turned to a male, just not the great coloration of a typical male. Mine lived for several years without issue in my 90 gallon. So, you should be fine.

Not sure what would happen if you added another female, it's possible the other two would beat her up. Personally I'd just stick with what you've got.

Eienna · Oct 16, 2013

And there are always exceptions.

Sometimes you get a couple of individuals that click and live peaceably.

PaulKreider · Oct 16, 2013

Never heard of having to have several hundred gallons for a trio, The two are perfectly fine in my 55. Does anyone know a specific time frame though? Like will it takes months or years to change gender? I will probably end up just leaving them as a pair unless they quarrel, to avoid the sub male mentioned.

Eienna · Oct 16, 2013

PaulKreider said:
Never heard of having to have several hundred gallons for a trio, The two are perfectly fine in my 55. Does anyone know a specific time frame though? Like will it takes months or years to change gender? I will probably end up just leaving them as a pair unless they quarrel, to avoid the sub male mentioned.

I believe I said a couple hundred, not several hundred.

Who knows, your pair may break expectation and be fine....but 55 is, IMO, definitely too small for two and asking for trouble down the road. You're dealing with one of the more pugnacious pseudanthiines.

I honestly don't know about the time frame. I haven't owned them myself - just done a ton of reading in prep for my future dream school (pictilis anthias.) In researching the pictilis and pseudanthiines on general I've turned up quite a bit on lyretails.

So I suppose anything I've said could be taken with a grain of salt...but according to my research that seems to be the consensus among people with experience keeping them.

PaulKreider · Oct 16, 2013

Just like tangs not everyone agrees on the size of the tank, if they were showing signs of discomfort or illness I would agree they would need a larger tank and go to it, but as of now they have been perfectly happy and show no signs of stress.

falconut · Oct 17, 2013

I've currently got a trio in my 90 and they are doing great. I've had lyretails three different times, and from my opinion they are one of the easier anthias. The most I see them do is a quick dart, then into the rocks out the other side and nothing else. Maybe 1 time a week is it. From my experience, if they're good now, they'll probably be good. None of mine ever increased their aggressiveness.

I don't recall exactly how long it took to change to male, because it wasn't a huge change. The coloration changed a little, but the spike did grow fully. I guess it was around 6 months, mabe less.