Very aggressive Lyretail Anthis

[Pmauro55]

I have had a lyre tail and this for a while now and it’s always been aggressive but recently it’s become more aggressive and has actually killed three fish so I caught him and he’s off to jail. Will I ever be able to put him back in my display tank or is it just a fish? I have to be home.

 

[Uncle99]

Does better in groups of 3-5.

 

[Pmauro55]

Do they all have to be lyre tail or can I have a variety of Anthis? He killed my new purple stripe dottyback in under 5 seconds then went after my Royal Gramma

 

[Uncle99]

Do they all have to be lyre tail or can I have a variety of Anthis?

You can keep two different groups but I’m guessing if you have only one, it’s changing to male and may account for the aggression.

I’d add 2 female lyretails first to see how that goes, then, you can consider a second group if you got the space.

 

[Pmauro55]

I have a 150 in my bio load is OK so I guess I could have a couple females, But for now he’s gonna stay in my isolation tank. I thought I might be able to re-introduce him to her three weeks especially after I get some more live rock in there.

 

[ryanjohn1]

My experience is once aggressive always aggressive.

 

[Uncle99]

I have a 150 in my bio load is OK so I guess I could have a couple females, But for now he’s gonna stay in my isolation tank. I thought I might be able to re-introduce him to her three weeks especially after I get some more live rock in there.

Sounds like a good step to attempt to resolve this issue.
Maybe a mirror might keep him busy.

 

[areefer01]

I have had a lyre tail and this for a while now and it’s always been aggressive but recently it’s become more aggressive and has actually killed three fish so I caught him and he’s off to jail. Will I ever be able to put him back in my display tank or is it just a fish? I have to be home.

It would help some I think if you could provide what your display has in relationship to current fish stocking. It would also be helpful to describe it more. Fish only, soft, sps, lps, mixed and how long it has been running. Reason for timeline is to give a sense of depth and maturity. Coral size.

Some posts around the web suggest that Lyretail anthias are aggressive but only towards their own kind. One turns to male, rest female, then one day one of the females change and now two males fight to the death. Rinse and repeat until only one is left. Some posts indicate keeping as many as possible so that there is only one male and no challenges. I've personally never had long term success with them when I attempted to keep 5 of them in my 210.

I currently have 4 pink squares with one in a transition state. It is aggressive towards fish but not the killing type. It will chase them for a bit then go back to minding its harem. Mostly happens with new fish such as my Milletseed Butterfly and Lyretail Damsels. I have so many of those damsels though it confuses him so it is actually fun to watch.

Single Lyretail aggressive towards other fish though I don't know as I've not seen it. Mirror as noted above is a great idea. May help. Some fish it does. Acclimation box will also help. The only problem is that it could be fine in there but once you release back to agro and you have to catch again.

When in doubt and to protect existing fish safer to always rehome. Plenty of people willing to pay for a transitioned male Lyretail. They are an amazing fish.

 

[Pmauro55]

My tank is a 150. It is just under one year old. so far I have two bonded sets of clown fish three reef chromis, had to lyre tails anthis. The one left killed the other. He also killed one of two carpenter wrasses, killed a hippo tang and Royal gramma. I actually witnessed all the attacks but couldn’t catch the anthis. He finally went into a hole in a rock , I put my net over the exit and scared him out and into the net with my finger. All of the fish are very small on purpose,I want to watch them grow. The lyre tail is the second largest fish in the tank. The only thing larger is a sail fin tang which was added today with a new royal gramma, and the purple strip , that was killed literally 5 seconds after it was introduced, 1 spot blenny, sail fin blenny, citron goby, 10 more hermits and a cleaner shrimp. I have 100 lbs premium live rock with 35 lbs more arriving in 2 days I run an additional 75 gallon sump with Refugium, oversized skimmer and oversized uv
Parameters
Ph 8.1
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 0.0
Phos .05
I performed an old-fashioned cycle, which took four months. The tank has been operational for 9 1/2 months on top of that.

 

[Tcook]

I would probably rehome that aggressive lyrtail then start with a group of 5-6. I kept 6 lyretail with a bimac in my 120 and they did well.

 

[homer1475]

Wow never heard of anthias being aggressive to other fish. Other anthias, sure, but not other fish.

My lonely male lyretail is the biggest wuss in the tank, It even runs from the mandarin.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

My experience is once aggressive always aggressive.

Yup.

Crazy that a lyretail is aggro to something besides fellow lyretail's. As said above, anthias tend to be scardy cats when it comes to their own kind. Of course they will thunderdome each other when sexing issues come into play, but once a male is established, the female pecking order settles down

Seeing that it went after a purple dotty and a royal Gramma isn't totally surprising, as the body shape is similar. I'd be more worried about the dotty and gramma going at it, those don't mix well at all!

 

[Doctorgori]

Anthias are weird: the death/murders didn’t settle down until my current trio is two female dispar and a “converted” male Lyretail ….

 

[TehBrainz]

My lyretail is the same. I only have a pair but he was the bully until my hippo and foxface outgrew him. For at least a year he would keep the clowns in their corner (they weren't totally opposed to this) and the tank was boring as noone was allowed to swim in the column except for him and his gal. No deaths though, but close, that's so sad for your tank.

I got the hippo, foxface, and tomini at the same time and got them small (but not tiny). Maybe 1/2 to 3/4 his size with plenty of hiding spots in the tank. He continued to be the bully until they quickly matched his size and then became larger. He still flairs up. But has lost his edge since he isn't the biggest fish. Still a monster though in attitude towards EVERYTHING. Including me.

 

[Pmauro55]

Yup.

Crazy that a lyretail is aggro to something besides fellow lyretail's. As said above, anthias tend to be scardy cats when it comes to their own kind. Of course they will thunderdome each other when sexing issues come into play, but once a male is established, the female pecking order settles down

Seeing that it went after a purple dotty and a royal Gramma isn't totally surprising, as the body shape is similar. I'd be more worried about the dotty and gramma going at it, those don't mix well at all!

The Dottie and their gramma are fine. They stay at opposite ends of the tank, plenty of room to separate the two of them. And both are quite small, so no issues yet