Whats your experiance with Anthias?

[loumaggs]

What type?
Are they finicky feeders?
How often do you feed?
How many do you keep?

https://youtu.be/8mC1ZSYa-yQ

[loumaggs]

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[Aquattro]

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Which one? :)

As for anthias, it depends. Lyretail, easy fish. Bartlett's pretty easy. Queen, not so much. Lots of variety and a huge range inside that.

[ponokareefer]

I have the following anthias:

1 Sunburst
5 Stocky
5 Lyretail
1 Resplendant
3 Bartlett
2 Squareback
1 Randall
3 Bimaculatus

in my 240 gallon system. I started getting them in November of 2014. The Lyretail's seem to be the most shy, but this is the opposite of what most people's experience of them are. I have had various kinds, except the stocky, that just didn't eat for some reason and slowly wither away. 1 of my Bimaculatus is in this state right now.

I feed frozen food once/day, 5 days per week. I also have automatic feeders that go off 8 different times per day. I put various flake and pellet food in the feeders.

[albert_dao]

I also see a ton of anthias withering away over the course of 6-18mo. Probably a combination of stress, internal parasites and diet.

[ponokareefer]

I should clarify that my anthias that do eat have lasted a long time and look very healthy. There's just the odd one that won't and gets skinny fast.

[Coasting]

I have a single Lyretail anthias. I originally had 5 that i added when i upgraded from my 30gal tank, and after having them for a month i added a flame angel from another reefer that had something and wiped out my entire tank except the Male anthias and my Blenny.

I have left this guy as a single since that incident, i have now had him over 3 years.
He eats pellets and whatever else is thrown in the tank. I have NEVER fed multiple times per day. Just once. Mostly pellets, occasionally i remember that i have frozen foods and the tank gets a single cube of that but normally just Omega One marine pellets.
He is not shy, complete opposite, that tank is his. He rules my entire 65gal. He bosses around my damsel. He rules the wrasses that are bigger then him. He is a fat beast. He is slowly getting his stunning purple male colours.
This fish is bomb proof.

I had a group of 4 disbar or dispar.... whatever.... in my 30 gal. Never had issues with them eating or being shy. They ate pellets after a few days of cyclopeeze. Again only ever fed once a day. Had them a few months before a bad waterchange wiped my whole tank.

[Wretch]

I have only every had a solo squareback anthias and it seemed to do very well for a few months then it just stopped eating and slowly died. Haven't tried one since.

[RDNanoGuy]

I had good success with a group of 6 Bicolor Anthias. I kept them in my 180 gal system for over 24 months. I fed the tank spectrum pellets 2 times a day with a feeding of a chum mix consisting of frozen mysis, brine shrimp and oyster feast with a bit of selcon in between the pellets for a total of 3 feedings a day. They went really crazy for the chum.

[loumaggs]

I have the following anthias:

1 Sunburst
5 Stocky
5 Lyretail
1 Resplendant
3 Bartlett
2 Squareback
1 Randall
3 Bimaculatus

in my 240 gallon system. I started getting them in November of 2014. The Lyretail's seem to be the most shy, but this is the opposite of what most people's experience of them are. I have had various kinds, except the stocky, that just didn't eat for some reason and slowly wither away. 1 of my Bimaculatus is in this state right now.

I feed frozen food once/day, 5 days per week. I also have automatic feeders that go off 8 different times per day. I put various flake and pellet food in the feeders.
wow I bet that tank looks amazing, any pictures :)

[ponokareefer]

wow I bet that tank looks amazing, any pictures :)

Here's a link to my tank upgrade thread on Reefcentral.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2450391

There are some pictures of the anthias in there. They are a difficult fish to capture a good picture of as they are usually moving around a lot.

[Coasting]

So I've now had this guy for at least 3.5 years.

I still don't understand people feeding these guys multiple times a day.... Heck there are days my tank doesn't get fed at all.... Used to just buy frozen cyclopeeze and within a few days they were switched to Omega One marine Micro pellets.

Part of me wants to add a few more to get a normal group number, but im happy with the fish I have now.... and don't want to risk it.
Plus I don't think my guy needs girls to boss around to be happy, he rules the tank and bosses the wrasses and damsel so I think he's good.

Here are some older photos of him.

Hes now starting to purple up quite nicely, get the spots on his fins, that large spike as the first ray on his dorsal.
Totally different looking fish now

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/IMG_9991.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/20131031_112133.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/1SaltFish034-1.jpg


And Today

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/IMG_5953_1.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/IMG_5940_1.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/IMG_5946.jpg

[AquaAddict]

Some of those pictures are good candidates for POTM

What kind of Anthias is it BTW.
AquaAddict

[Coasting]

He is a Lyretail

In that second photo I have a Mirror taped to the glass to distract him. He was being a total turd to my Melanurus Wrasse that I had just added to the tank.
Here he is keeping an eye on his wrasses. Not that you can tell in this photo but the Melanurus is more then twice his size now, yet Anthias is still "king".


http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/IMG_5919.jpg




I can't wait until he looks like this.
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/attachments/reef-solutions/lyretail-anthias-sale-anthias-jpg-5289d1341319847
Not too far off!




.

[squibege]

How are they with other tankmates? Any combinations you should absolutely avoid? Should you add them close to last so they don't bully new additions?

[Coasting]

I think that depends on each individual anthias, and whether you're doing a group or a single.
My guy survived the Velvet (or whatever it was that bloody flame angel had) attack of 2012 lol so it was just him and the blenny for a while before I was comfortable adding new fish. He was good with the addition of the clowns and damsel because there used to be those in the tank with him before the velvet wiped them out. But when I added another angel and my melanurus wrasse, I had to tape a few mirrors to the tank to get him to go after himself and leave the new fish alone. He's good with everyone now. He will chase the damsel if he catches that guy going after the clowns. He closely monitors the 2 wrasses and makes sure they behave themselves, otherwise he just "patrols" his tank. So there are no fights or misbehaving fish in my tank. He won't allow it. :lol:

When I had them in groups, I found they kept to themselves. Left other fish alone whether they were in the tank before them or after them.

Actually I think my lyretail spent too much alone time with the blenny.... I have photos of him rubbing up against the blenny....

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/Fish%20Tank%20-%20SW/zNewFishNewCoral015.jpg


http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias025.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias021.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias013.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias011.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias008.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/Lolaandthecrowd/1BlennyAnthias001.jpg