Anthias?

[pomme]

Anthias?



I was in my LFS and i saw some anthias in there, and i have always loved them ever since i went diving in the GBR. And have always thought that i would love to keep some in my tank. And was told i could but i would need very good water conditions and and need to feed them at least twice a day. The feeding part of it is okay as i have my food set-up every other day in a 1 litre jug with ro water and then is dispensed in the tank 20 times a day, but do they need any speciel food? I was also told that they prefer and do bestin a shoal of 6 -8 but i would have thought this alone would have been above my tank capacity of a 100 gal. I was thinking of keeping them with 2 percula clowns and 5 grren chromis and maybe a shoal of 3 of these guys?

But obviously not for a long while.

All help appreciated.
Andrew

[Geoff]

Nice Pic!!

those look like squamipinnis.

ok, here is the lowdown as i have read. they do need to be fed several times a day. they have very short digestive tracks so they need to eat often. they will eat flake if the flow is fast enough that it looks like live, but eventually they will be used to it. once comfortable some are not picky eaters. some individuals are tought to get out to eat. they are shy in the beginning. usually some kind of feed and run technique works. but it sounds like you have an auto feeder of somekind. these are less shy than most anthias but still do not like rambuctious tankmates.

as for how many. 1 in a tank of your size. they are very aggressive towards their own kind. unless your tank is bigger than a 180 then you can have 1 male and 7-8 females. you must get one dominant male and all the rest non-changing females!!! if you have a changing female in the bunch someone is gonna die. anthias start out female and then will change to male if there are no other males in the area.

hth,

G~

[pomme]

i may get one, which would say was the best kind to get, bicolour, bartletts, Squamapinus, Lyretail?

[Geoff]

that pic is all squamipinnis, they are also called lyretail here.

if you look at the pic closely they are all female. the male of the group is located slightly lower than dead center. more of a red colour.

the problem is the male will loose its intense colour if no females are around. a female will change to a male if left by itself, but it will also be a duller colour variant.

the squamipinnis seem to be the hardiest of the anthias. they seem to adapt to the bright light of the reef aquarium much better than the others. most anthias are deep water fish. this is why most are shy about coming out when first introduced into the tank.

G~

[pomme]

cool thanx ill have a think more about it.

[photobarry]

Just some eye candy.

[pomme]

what an ugly fish

[Casey]

sweet shot Barry

[photobarry]

Why thank you! That silly fish won't sit still, which makes getting a decent pic rather difficult.

[icebear]

i like this one...is that the male?

[photobarry]

Yup!

[pomme]

how many have you gotand in what size tank?

[photobarry]

Take Geoff's advice. I would recommend only one as they can get quite territorial. Mine chases after my single chromis and has terrified my neon dottyback (who used to think he was top dog in the tank).

(I'm not telling so I don't get myself in trouble )

[pomme]

oh right, now i was just wondering as i amthinking of a larger tank at themo but years in the future,something like 800 gal, i hope anyway.

[Geoff]

that pic you posted is great at showing the way they harem in the wild. all the anthias you see in the forground belong to that one male that IB pointed out. in the background you can see another harem just above the reef. they try and keep their distance from each other.

G~