What Do You Feed Lyretail Anthias?

[The Flying Turkey]

I picked up a female Indian Ocean Lyretail Anthia this weekend.

I have a pair of clowns already in the tank. I started feeding the Anthia the same pellet food I feed my clowns but she eats it then spits it out. So far the only thing she'll eat are mysis shrimp. Should I give her some time to get used to the pellet food or should I try something else?

 

[HiddenUser]

Mine will only eat Mysis.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Any Squamipinnis anthias I have kept were all able to be trained to eat pellets. Start with frozen foods, but try to alternate a few varieties besides the Mysis, such as spirulina brine, reef plankton, or a mix such as rod's or larry's reef frenzy. After a couple of weeks they will greet you at the top of the tank begging for food. Once they begin this behavior skip a day of feeding and on the next day feed pellets. Without fail this has worked for me in getting Squammis to eat pellets.

 

[davocean]

^^ Yep, what he said is pretty much spot on.
The cool thing is this also usually entices more finicky anthia to eat pellets too should you decide to try other species.
They do best in groups, I prefer at least 3 females to one male.

 

[ETORRES477]

Try Live California black worms if you can find a LFS that sells them. My Anthias loves them as well as my other fish. An old school reefer on here put me on to feeding live, my fish have never looked better. Superior to any frozen or pellet food IMO.

 

[davocean]

Try Live California black worms if you can find a LFS that sells them. My Anthias loves them as well as my other fish. An old school reefer on here put me on to feeding live, my fish have never looked better. Superior to any frozen or pellet food IMO.

True they do love them, like many other finicky fish, but once you start doing live it often spoils them for anything else, and in the case of anthias that require 3-4 daily feedings that can be a bummer to stay on top of if you have to work or have daily obligations.

 

[ETORRES477]

True they do love them, like many other finicky fish, but once you start doing live it often spoils them for anything else, and in the case of anthias that require 3-4 daily feedings that can be a bummer to stay on top of if you have to work or have daily obligations.

I dont only feed live, I supplement with frozen foods for the second and final feeding of the day. Most of us in this hobby have daily work or we would not be able to afford to be in this hobby lol. The main meal is always live, either black worms or white worms. Its really not that hard, I buy a portion each week that usually lasts untill my next visit. I store them in some water in my fridge, works like a charm and keeps them squirming and wiggling.

 

[sbutler08]

I've always fed Lyretails with PE Mysis, never had an issue with them not eating, but then again I've never offered them anything else.

 

[vlangel]

I've had a pair of lyretail anthias for probably 4 years and I give them a mixture of frozen Marine Cuisine, enriched Brine shrimp, Mysis, Krill, Clam, pellets and occasionally flakes. I started out with 3 feedings/day but they have been weaned down to 1 and occasionally 2/day for years now. Both are fat and seem happy.

 

[3Twinklets]

All of my Anthias including the Blotchy eat pellets. Not to say that they do not enjoy other things too, but ever since I got a sample of the Spectrum pellets I have been using it.

 

[james30ct]

Mine eats live black worms, spectrum pellets and frozen blender mush.

 

[First reef]

I feed mine Brine shrimp.

 

[The Flying Turkey]

Thanks for the info guys.

I've been feeding mysis shrimp, but last night she actually ate a few Spectrum pellets. I think I'll keep trying both and slowly back off the mysis.

 

[davocean]

The beauty of getting them to eat pellets is you can do an autofeeder, this helps a lot in doing the multiple daily feedings, and of course makes me worry less about going away for the weekend.
Mine love NLS pellets.

 

[b-rolla]

+1 for mysis. mine wont mess with pellets or flakes, they do like to snag the nori from the tangs though. gl

 

[mfinn]

I just got some lyretails a couple weeks ago and so far they seem to eat frozen brine and Mysis, tigger pods, arcti pods and roe.
I've tried NLS small fish formula A pellets a couple times and they mouthed a few, but spit them out.

 

[davocean]

I just got some lyretails a couple weeks ago and so far they seem to eat frozen brine and Mysis, tigger pods, arcti pods and roe.
I've tried NLS small fish formula A pellets a couple times and they mouthed a few, but spit them out.

They pretty much all do that at first until they get used to them, but lyretails pretty much always end up adapting to them.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Old thread, but considering lyretails myself. I feed Misys nightly. Its a newer tank, but ive been in the hobby for a while. looking at adding a trio. Multiple feedings daily concern me from a nutrients level, but i usually feed frozen followed by nori. Say i switched to seaweed extreme pellets, would that suffice them for a second feeding for the day? ill have to suppliment the rabbitfish and cuc eventually anyways.... so i guess if you count nori, ive always done 2 feedings daily as i give frozen, then desert of nori for the rabbit, and in past tangs.

 

[Oh_Reefer]

Wanted to ask another question and chime in on the food topic...

I've always seen these guys be really difficult to get eating well, but I ran across a few at a local shop that were eating very well so I picked them up. I got 3. I'm feeding LRS and spirulina brine shrimp... they hit that stuff like piranhas.

Question on sexing these fish... they're hermaphroditic, so If I'm correct when 3 are introduced together 1 will eventually become male and change color to the red? Right now all 3 are almost identical and are all orange. Any idea how long that takes?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Uncle99]

Mine are eating flake, pellets, Mysis, brine, and bloodworms.
Just give him time.