School of Anthias

[ponokareefer]

Hi there,

I was considering getting a school of anthia's in the future and was wondering how your's were doing?

Ryan

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I started with what I thought was a school of five Lyretail Anthias, hoping one would change. Of course, due to Murphy's Law, they split into separate groups & 4 turned into males. The dominant male killed or harrassed 2 of the subordinate males to death. I now have one dominant m, one subordinate m (hides in the rockwork), & one female Squarespot Anthias. Not exactly what I thought I was buying but the dom. male Squarespot is very beautifully coloured.

I have since added a male & 2 female Dispar, as well as a male Lyretail (A. squampinus). There seems to be a truce within the tank, but that might be because its a 220g & they get fed more than 3 times daily.

Anthony

[ponokareefer]

Do you have an automatic fish feeder or do you feed them all by hand? If you use an automatic fish feeder, what kind of food do you put in it? That sucks to hear about more than one turning into a male.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I feed manually, usually with a turkey baster. I work at home as an academic tutor so it's not a problem. Usually do one big meal and two or more smaller meals. Mix of mostly rinsed PE mysis, with a little frozen or live brine shrimp once in a while & a cube of frozen blood worms. One small meal of NLS (New Life Spectrum) pellets. A few times a week, I'll add half a sheet of Nori for the tangs & Majestic Angel.

Yeah, totally did not expect so many males to transition.

Anthony

[Jaws]

I haven't had the best experience but not too bad either. The first batch of 8 I bought, 4 died within the first week. I eventually replaced them with 3 more for a total of 7. The 7 I had lasted a long time until I noticed one died. I bought one more and within a day or two I noticed two more missing. Now I'm at 5 and they seem to be fine. I have an automatic fish feeder that feeds three times a day. The first feeding is a combination of all kinds of flake food and the second and third feeding are freeze dried cyclopeeze and spirulina. They only seem to be interested in the cyclopeeze. They barely touch mysis when I put it in the tank either. I've noticed their colors fade quite a bit after a couple months since putting them in the tank and I'm looking for suggestions on how to improve the situation.

[Justusfish]

Jason/Jaws:

I am having the same trouble with my anthias. I bought 9. Feed them three times a day and everything was great, so I thought, for about two weeks. I then found one dead on the bottom of the tank. Shortly thereafter they started to go missing until I had about 4 left. Miraculously 2 more showed up again so I have 6. One eats like a pig and the others seem disinterested in food. Their colours are a bit lighter than when I bought them. I too need some suggestions.

Justus

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Mine eats mostly PE mysis and NLS pellets & the dominant male is gorgeous.

Loss of colour may be also due to stress if the subordinate fish are being picked on or intimidated by the dominant fish.

Anthony

[ponokareefer]

From what I've read on them, loss of color is due to bright light usually. They prefer dim light, so anything above flourescents usually dims them. It is not a sign of illness on its own, but if they're not eating, that is a sign of illness.