Want to add anthias need input

Briguy350 · Aug 29, 2012

I have a 75g tank with 20L sump. It's a mixed reef with some SPS's, LPS's and Anemone. Current fish 2 clowns, 1 Midas blenny and 5 Green chromis. I want to add a few more fish and would really like to add 3 anthias. 1 male, 2 females. Will this work in my tank? Also in the future would maybe like to add a dwarf angel or wrasse or tang to be my "show" fish. Thoughts?

Vmacisback · Aug 29, 2012

Not to be a downer but the success rate on anthias is low, I mean real low. I bought 12 dispar about a month and a half ago and I have 2-3 remaining. The problem is getting them to eat in a new tank. They tend to hide at first and by the time they do come out to feed they are weak and on the verge of dying. If you can get them out eating you prob have a better chance. I would try a few dispar of barletts. yes it will work in your tank.

As far as a show fish that's a good idea but instead of buying a tang I would go with some nice smaller wrasses.IMO

All Delight · Aug 30, 2012

Vmacisback said:
Not to be a downer but the success rate on anthias is low, I mean real low. I bought 12 dispar about a month and a half ago and I have 2-3 remaining. The problem is getting them to eat in a new tank. They tend to hide at first and by the time they do come out to feed they are weak and on the verge of dying. If you can get them out eating you prob have a better chance. I would try a few dispar of barletts. yes it will work in your tank.

As far as a show fish that's a good idea but instead of buying a tang I would go with some nice smaller wrasses.IMO

My experience with anthias isn't as bad as you make it sound. I wouldn't say the success rate is real low, I believe the manner in which you try to succeed has a large impact on your success. Also, the type of anthias you choose to keep could lead you down the path of predestened failure. For instance if you research barletts you'll find they are one of the easiest anthias to get started on feeding, right from the get go they are known to take pellets, frozen, flakes, etc. However, in that research you'll find that many people often start with a large group and often only end up with a 3 or less. Why? I have no idea and it seems like most others don't either, but imo trying to keep a large school of barletts is probably not going to pan out very well. I'm not experienced with dispars, I had no interest in keeping them therefore I did not research in their captive success.

All Delight · Aug 30, 2012

Feeding anthias can be very challenging. I've only kept flavoguttas, ignitus, and ventralis anthias. All of them with some success. I would say the best success was with the ignitus. I eventually got rid of them because I wanted to keep flavoguttas and ventralis which I still have.

I started to get them feeding in all the same manner. First I made sure there wasn't many fish if any at all in the tank before them. I started them on reef nutrition tiger pods, they seemed to all love it and it immediately gets their interest. After a few days or up to two weeks of this (shorter the better since it's very expensive), I'll try to feed them hikari frozen mysis finely chopped up and or frozen cyclopeze. Good water flow like one would have in a sps tank will create nice movement for the food and once they're feeding on the tiger pods and taken them aggressively I've had good results in getting them to take the frozen mysis and cyclopeze. I didn't really prefer the cyclopeze cause much of it would get filted in my sock and clog it too quickly. Some of the ignitus would take pellets, but not all of them. The flavosguttas would never take pellets. And the ventralis will take them.

For your situation I would be worried about getting anthias that are known to be difficult feeders. The chromis are quick and aggressive eaters, and most likely will not give anthias the time they need feel comfortable feeding. If you really want to put the odds of keeping anthias on your side, I would remove the chromis. They're cheap and you can always get them again in a couple months once your anthias are all settled in.

Good luck, do a lot of research on anthias before you take the dive.

Briguy350 · Aug 30, 2012

I've been researching for a few months now ever since I upgraded to the 75 and I was actually looking at the Ignitus. A lot of people get the Bartletts but I don't really like them. Catching those chromis is probably gonna be pretty difficult. I have BRS Eco saver rock and if you haven't seen it it's REALLY porus. Lots of places to go hide. I was debating between getting anthias or a few different kinds of wrasses. I really like wrasses as well so having a nice wrasse as a show fish would be cool too. What would be a good one for that? Has to be reef safe.

kodiak · Aug 30, 2012

I bought a few ignitus anthias a while back, and they didn't last long in my 65 gallon tank because they would never come out to eat. After much research I decided to try it again with a different approach. I bought a few what I believe to be ignitus about a month ago and put them in a small 10 gallon qt tank feeding them frozen brine 3 times a day. After a few days I mixed in mysis and pellets. After a couple weeks of eating good I moved them to my 65 gallon. They are now eating well and swimming in the open, so excited. Also I removed the chromis in my tank before adding the anthias. I mixed up mysis in a cup and put it in the tank at a slight angle so a little mysis would come out slowly. I also had a net in the water about 6 inches from the cup. The chroma would swim up to eat and I would net them from behind, it only took a couple of minutes.

chort55 · Aug 30, 2012

I added my bartlett anthias into a tank with nearly 20 other fish.... feed more, and feed multiple times they will eat.... anthias should be fed several times a day anyways.

My yellow tang, 6" passer angel, and all of my wrasses are just as aggressive eaters if not more then your little chromis

lol

Briguy350 · Aug 30, 2012

Say instead of anthias I went with a few different wrasses. Any recommendations?

chort55 · Aug 30, 2012

Heck, I'd add the anthias and wrasses lol..... But.... I really like leopard wrasses, but they are not for beginners, and are hard to get alive. Fairy and flasher wrasses are pretty sweet, if you want a super active lookin display add a few flashers