Anthias Survival Advice

Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
I bought three lyretail anthias (one boy and two girls) and took them out of QT a few days ago and put them in the DT (220 gal). My tank is aggressive with two triggers (Picasso and Niger), PBT, Naso, lemon peel angel, tusk, and an emperor angel. So far, the anthias have had a rough time. The lemon peel went after them immediately and was attacking relentlessly. They would jet out of the rocks to grab some food, but they would be attacked pretty quickly after jet back in. The Picasso trigger kinda half-assedly goes after them, but he seems lazy about it. None of the other fish really seem concerned. I sorta figured that the anthias were history.

I came home last night, and they were all three swimming in the open and the lemon peel was somewhat ignoring them. They would jet back to the rocks when she remembered to chase them. The male is a little beat up but the females look ok. I fed the tank heavily and they all ate quite a bit. They were out for most of the night, just hanging out on one end of the tank. By the end of the night, they weren't even running from the lemon peel or Picasso.

Should I ride it out? Do you think they will make it? Is it just because they are new and the others will get used to them?
 
Its normal and should go away in a few days.. But make sure they eat!!

Also you can change rock work to confuse everyone..

Hope things work out for you ;)
 
Lyretails are pretty good. One of the hardiest. Main thing with anthias is to feed... They love to eat and need to eat 3-4 times a day. My resplendent were chased for a while, but then began to be the ones that chased.... They get ballsy. Especially the male
 
Good luck i love queen anthias but never had luck. Ive heard fish eggs should be part of there diet but not sure if its true
 
I bought 3 of the same anthias and introduced after a saifin, blue, and potter angel. The blue was aggressive for 3 days and i never even saw them. TO be honest i was looking outside the tank to see if they jumped. Eventually came out and now are out all the time. All healthy and getting along.
 
Great. Thanks for the positive reinforcement. I hate adding new fish to my tank because it's always so stressful and I'm really attached to my other fish. I don't want to tip any kind of balance and lose one. I've had most of them for at least five years and I've even had Gary, my Picasso trigger, for 10 years. I'm pretty sure I'll have to buy Gary a burial plot when he dies.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the whole thing about feeding anthias 2-4 times a day isn't a fact. I had my reef empty with no fish in it other then an anthias for almost 2 months because of an Crypte outbreak on my tang. I couldn't catch the fish and gave up. I decided that if One fish had to die to get the other 5 out of a 20L QT after 2 months then that had to be done. I wasn't going to risk my other 5 fish stressing out and establishing dominance in such a small tank for 1 fish. So I decided to stop feeding the tank. I went 2 weeks and the fish was perfectly fine.

I'm not saying this is the best thing for the fish but after 2 weeks he never looked skinnier then he was when I was feeding him all the time. Even not being fed and having an Crypt in the tank the fish never showed signs of stress or crypt.

I read online that Anthias will eat pods. So having to feed a fish 2-4 times a day seems like a crazy amount.

I'm sure i'm going to get hell from this but i always hear about u HAVE TO FEED ANTHIAS 2-4 times a day.

Now a month later all fish are back in and everyone is healthy and happy.
 
Problem solved. When I got home tonight, all three anthias were front and center swimming with the big boys. All three a a bunch of mysis and were aggressive about it. I even saw the male anthias chase the lemon peel. It looks like they're part of the gang.
 
Joe5688 said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the whole thing about feeding anthias 2-4 times a day isn't a fact. I had my reef empty with no fish in it other then an anthias for almost 2 months because of an Crypte outbreak on my tang. I couldn't catch the fish and gave up. I decided that if One fish had to die to get the other 5 out of a 20L QT after 2 months then that had to be done. I wasn't going to risk my other 5 fish stressing out and establishing dominance in such a small tank for 1 fish. So I decided to stop feeding the tank. I went 2 weeks and the fish was perfectly fine.

I'm not saying this is the best thing for the fish but after 2 weeks he never looked skinnier then he was when I was feeding him all the time. Even not being fed and having an Crypt in the tank the fish never showed signs of stress or crypt.

I read online that Anthias will eat pods. So having to feed a fish 2-4 times a day seems like a crazy amount.

I'm sure i'm going to get hell from this but i always hear about u HAVE TO FEED ANTHIAS 2-4 times a day.

Now a month later all fish are back in and everyone is healthy and happy.
Click to expand...

anthias are planktivores, ive never seen one pick at the rocks. they def need to eat at least 2-3 times a day. especially if they are smaller.
 
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