Regular readers in this space are used to us waxing nostalgic about all of the amazing Anthias that are available for aquarium enthusiasts. Most of us have either had or wanted Dispar or Lyretail Anthias at one time or another, and with good reason. There are very few other fish that tick all the boxes of colorful, gorgeous, schooling, active and aquarium appropriate size. What some of you haven't seen, is the most noble of this genus, Pseudanthias nobilis. These fish are vastly less common in Local Fish Stores than pretty much all the other Anthias species, but even more gorgeous. If you're the kind of aquarist that is looking for all the color and activity, but need something less common, the Noble Anthias is going to check these boxes is a big way.
The Noble Anthias is a deep-water fish, rarely seen less than 150 feet deep. They're usually found hovering in current above deepwater reefs and rocky outcrops, primarily in Indo-Pacific waters. They're most often found in large mixed sex and specie groups, with a male to female ratio of five or so females to every male. When this distribution gets out of whack, the most dominant females will turn into males to compensate (it turns out that hermaphrodites are pretty common in the fish world.) We suggest keeping them in this same distribution; keep no less than five and one can be a male, five females are also fine, over time you may even get to watch one of them morph! If you have a very large aquarium, say 180 gallons plus, you may be able to get away with keeping more than one male, as long as you also increase the number of females in the group to maintain the harem numbers in the same distribution as they are found in the wild.
Pseudanthias nobilis in the wild will spend their whole day eating zooplankton out of the water column. This takes a ton of energy as the currents in their wild home are very strong and as a result, they require a lot of feeding. Since most of us can't stay home and feed our fish tiny meals all day long, we suggest at least three feedings daily, and more would be better, if possible. Luckily, Noble Anthias segue over to captive foods well if kept in groups, and even finicky fish can be trained by feeding thawed foods like Gamma Foods including Copepods, Artemia, Chopped Prawn, Mysis, and their full suite of enhanced Brine Shrimp along with some live brine or mysis. We also strongly suggest getting a high-quality pellet into this feeding regimen, for two very good reasons. First, quality Pellets like Nutramar Complete will offer them a broad range of nutrients in a very protein dense package. Second, once the fish are used to pellets, you can utilize an automatic feeder for one or more of their daily feedings, making it much easier to get them as many meals a day as they need. Click here to learn more
The Noble Anthias is a deep-water fish, rarely seen less than 150 feet deep. They're usually found hovering in current above deepwater reefs and rocky outcrops, primarily in Indo-Pacific waters. They're most often found in large mixed sex and specie groups, with a male to female ratio of five or so females to every male. When this distribution gets out of whack, the most dominant females will turn into males to compensate (it turns out that hermaphrodites are pretty common in the fish world.) We suggest keeping them in this same distribution; keep no less than five and one can be a male, five females are also fine, over time you may even get to watch one of them morph! If you have a very large aquarium, say 180 gallons plus, you may be able to get away with keeping more than one male, as long as you also increase the number of females in the group to maintain the harem numbers in the same distribution as they are found in the wild.
Pseudanthias nobilis in the wild will spend their whole day eating zooplankton out of the water column. This takes a ton of energy as the currents in their wild home are very strong and as a result, they require a lot of feeding. Since most of us can't stay home and feed our fish tiny meals all day long, we suggest at least three feedings daily, and more would be better, if possible. Luckily, Noble Anthias segue over to captive foods well if kept in groups, and even finicky fish can be trained by feeding thawed foods like Gamma Foods including Copepods, Artemia, Chopped Prawn, Mysis, and their full suite of enhanced Brine Shrimp along with some live brine or mysis. We also strongly suggest getting a high-quality pellet into this feeding regimen, for two very good reasons. First, quality Pellets like Nutramar Complete will offer them a broad range of nutrients in a very protein dense package. Second, once the fish are used to pellets, you can utilize an automatic feeder for one or more of their daily feedings, making it much easier to get them as many meals a day as they need. Click here to learn more
