Easiest Anthias

[ksfulk]

You made my heart stop for a minute there. I got through your easy and medium list without seeing the Carberryi and immediately thought I had made a mistake! I was so relieved to see they didn't show up on your hardest list, either!

Are these really that uncommon?

I dont think they are that uncommon, but their coloration isnt as dramatic as some of the other, similarly priced anthias (resplendents or bimacs). There's also not much in the way of sexual dimorphism, as some other anthias (like lyretails) have as well, so you get pretty but boring fish. Dispars look similar and are half the price, so if you can get 3 carberryi, you can get 6 dispars for the same money too.

 

[Brew12]

I dont think they are that uncommon, but their coloration isnt as dramatic as some of the other, similarly priced anthias (resplendents or bimacs). There's also not much in the way of sexual dimorphism, as some other anthias (like lyretails) have as well, so you get pretty but boring fish. Dispars look similar and are half the price, so if you can get 3 carberryi, you can get 6 dispars for the same money too.

Thanks, good to know!

 

[HiddenUser]

I had 5, now 4 lyretail in my tank. I think they ganged up on the 1 that just went missing. They do just fine...Prior to having an auto feeder I could go away for a weekend and not feed them for 2 or 3 days and they're just fine.

 

[Abhishek]

You made my heart stop for a minute there. I got through your easy and medium list without seeing the Carberryi and immediately thought I had made a mistake! I was so relieved to see they didn't show up on your hardest list, either!

Are these really that uncommon?

I didn't include Carberryi as I don't have any experience with them. Looking at the species , I would guess they will be in the easy to medium groups .
Generally, I have seen that the deeper the anthias is in nature, the harder they become to keep .
Apart from QT and food , the other important factor that makes them easy to keep successfully , is to start with lower temparature like 74-75F in QT and then slowly increase it to tank temp especially if they are deep water ones . Also, minimal light in the beginning in QT and slowly acclimate to higher light helps.

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Abhishek]

@Brew12 - would like to point out that you should have bbs at your disposal just to hatch and make them eat .
Nutramar ova is a miracle food for anthias if you can get some .
I know marinedepot has some !!

Oh .. I do not use medication from the first day itself in QT . Try to make them eat first before applying medicines like prazi or API General Cure ..

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 - would like to point out that you should have bbs at your disposal just to hatch and make them eat .
Nutramar ova is a miracle food for anthias if you can get some .
I know marinedepot has some !!

Oh .. I do not use medication from the first day itself in QT . Try to make them eat first before applying medicines like prazi or API General Cure ..

Regards,
Abhishek

I normally start meds on day 3 unless I see something that makes me start earlier. I'll make a point of getting some bbs ready to go just to be on the safe side. I'll have to check out the Nutramar.

 

[Abhishek]

Here is the link :-

http://www.marinedepot.com/Nutramar...Coral_Food-Nutramar-NM3151-FIFDFZFSFP-vi.html

My LFS carries it so I have enough stash for 1 year .
In my experience ,the only food that ventralis would eat other than BBS .
Try it and you wont regret it ..

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[SteveO64]

I have a female lyretail, had a little trouble to get her to eat but now she is fine. Ive had her for close to a year now. She will only eat spirulina flakes. I want to get a male but haven't had the opportunity yet.

 

[stevo01]

My pair.

The female is doing some weird stuff when the male is close but not all the time. Maybe half the time. She swims quickly straight down and back up, and the her colors change. The whole pink tail turns red. And a moment later she's back to normal.

 

[stevo01]

I have a female lyretail, had a little trouble to get her to eat but now she is fine. Ive had her for close to a year now. She will only eat spirulina flakes. I want to get a male but haven't had the opportunity yet.

My female eats anything now but at first only frozen brine. Got to get some meat in the diet.

 

[happyhourhero]

Is it bad mine eat algae pellets? Nls algaemax.

 

[rckfsh44]

One more question. Would I be better off getting a male and 2 to 4 females or getting all females and letting them work out who becomes the male?

You should get one male and at least three or four females sunset anthias are great mine eat flakes

 

[dave9905]

Most anthias im familiar with are pretty hardy, they just have small stomachs and require multiple feedings a day.

 

[Salty Carlo]

I have 3 Dispar in my tank and are very easy to care for. They will not touch flake food but love to eat mysis shrimp.

 

[Abhishek]

My pair.

The female is doing some weird stuff when the male is close but not all the time. Maybe half the time. She swims quickly straight down and back up, and the her colors change. The whole pink tail turns red. And a moment later she's back to normal.

Its theU dance for anthias getting ready to spawn
Do you see them doing the dance just after lights out especially with ambient lights on ?
In any case, you should be happy .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[wowkingjames]

Thanks for the info.

 

[mfinn]

One more question. Would I be better off getting a male and 2 to 4 females or getting all females and letting them work out who becomes the male?

I would get all small females.

 

[stevo01]

Its theU dance for anthias getting ready to spawn
Do you see them doing the dance just after lights out especially with ambient lights on ?
In any case, you should be happy .

Regards,
Abhishek

Yeah they do it quite often. The male also "perches" on a rock and sits motionless. Then snaps out and they dance. Ive seen her doing odd "rolls" around him lately too.

 

[stevo01]

Its been interesting to watch since the first day I put her in there with him. For quite awhile she was not allowed to leave the corner of the tank. Then one day she was allowed freedom and chose her favored place on the opposite side of the tank. And now this new interaction. She'd had evidence of a small nip on one pectoral fin already healed, but other than the lip lock for a few seconds its been darting.

 

[phea2]

I have 6 lyretail in my 100g tank. I bought 6 and 2 died within few days, but I got 2 more a month later and the old one didn't bother them at all. One changed into male and yes the male does harass the females a lot but there are a lot of hiding places in my tanks.

Food wise mine would eat anything that goes in the tank. I feed them pellets twice a day, frozen (mysis, brine, pods, etc) once a day and a clam every evening. They also get some flakes and seaweed once a week.