bartlett's anthias

Madmike · 08-06-2003, 06:20 PM

I recently purchased a bartletts anthia for my reef and after doing some research, realized that the male i got would do better with a female. So off the the LFS to get a female, from the same tank and batch of anthias, i got what i thought was a female. I brought it home and acclimated, then entered it into my tank and immediatly the male has been beating up on the newbie. Is this normal behavior for a male to exert its dominance over a new female, or have i just got another male...and will one end up dying due to persistant badgering. The new fish doesn't seem to fight back though.

Any info would be appreciated.
thanks
mike

squid · 08-06-2003, 06:29 PM

Those are my favorite fish
it is very easy to tell the male from the female
lookt at the head..the mail has a larger area of color on top than the female. And no, the male won't beat up a female. 2 females will fight. It is best to get a male and 4 females. or all females and the most dominate one will turn male BUT 2 maies will surely fight a lot. They got to be males because of the the reason already stated. If you can take a pic I can tell you what you have

Ranran · 08-06-2003, 06:32 PM

Hey Mike, i think with only two of the bartletts it does'ent matter if the second one is male or female. The dominant fish will focus its attention on the other fish. i have 6 in my tank and see some spead out aggresion, but no one fish is getting bullied.
Randy

Madmike · 08-06-2003, 06:55 PM

I cant manage a clear picture right now, could you describe the color pattern of a male vs a female on the head. and if i have 2 females, will they settle down???
mike

squid · 08-06-2003, 07:01 PM

Mike... Do you remember the cube tank at the shop Deep Sea Gallery?...The bartlets were in there.

Describe, they are almost identical but the "cap" on the top of the mailes head is much more colorful, larger and does go further down the back (so to speak) then the females. The female has the same color on the head, just not as large as the male. I'll see if I can find a pic for you. I know I have a bunch, like I said, they are my favorites and we had 7 of them in the tank. Two turned to males and the second male got his a** kicked, took 2 females and stayed on the other side of the tank. It was a 300 gallon tank so there was room.

squid · 08-06-2003, 07:08 PM

not real clear cause I had to blow it up to show...these are 2 females. see the head...looks almost totally yellow. The male had like a pink cap

Madmike · 08-06-2003, 07:10 PM

hey, didn't recognize you at first, how are you??? Yah...they have settled down a bit but both look almost identicle to each other...the newbie is hiding right now. I love the color of the fish, both have the pink going about 1/2 way down their back...any suggestions, wait it out??? The tank is only 45 gallons so their isn't too much room to hide and i would hate to lose such a beautiful fish.
Mike
ps what have you been up to lately? are you affiliated with underwater creations now?

Madmike · 08-06-2003, 07:11 PM

just looked at the pic...uh oh, both of mine have a pink cap, but all 4 in the tank at the lfs had pink caps and they didn't seem to mind each others company!?!
mike

squid · 08-06-2003, 07:14 PM

Mike. if they are truely indeed males, one will die. Your tank is not big enough to house them both...Depending where you got the fish, they may take it back and give you female. I would make sure you get 2 femals.

We can't talk here .. send me your phone# on PM and I will call you, probably tomorrow though.

Madmike · 08-06-2003, 07:17 PM

ok, thanks for the info and you got pm.
later
Mike