Acclimating Anthias

[WarmSoda]

My first fish purchase will be a attempted trio of Bartlett's Anthias; but, of coarse, I've run into two problems.

1. Live Aquaria doesn't sell the fish as a trio, and I might get 2 males and a female or (heaven forbid) 3 males...
2. I'm not sure how to acclimate them, and get them started on frozen food.

Any thoughts?

 

[Wes888]

wow! Their description says "Diet: Plankton Eater". That's gonna be a little harder to feed than the other fish. I got 2 female and 1 male of another type of Anthias and they are Carnivore. They got big appartite and eat anything I throw at them.

 

[dcantucson]

Yote has had a lot of experience with Anthias, I think. He'll be able to give you a lot of advice.

I can't have them as they are big jumpers!

 

[Wes888]

Really? The description on mine didn't say jumpers. Anyway, the Anthias are great! They always swim in the open and bring out all other fish to swim in the open as well.

 

[yote]

I had 3 anthias.Come home from work one evening,and all 3 was laying in the floor.
Their great fish,but will jump in a heart beat.Feeding em aint bad either.They eat frozen rotifers,cyclops,small mysis,enriched brine.
BTW David.
Its Capt thats got the Anthias experince:D

 

[Melosu58]

Well as you see I have them. I feed a variety of foods to them. Flake, Vitamin fortified brine and mysis. They seem to eat it with no problems. As far as acclimating them I just acclimate them like my other fish. As far as getting them sexed these fish are able to change their sex. Even if all were females the dominant one will change to a male.

 

[ccCapt]

I have 5 Bartlett's (had 6, but the bigger male killed the smaller male recently). Make sure you qt them and treat with Prazipro. Anthias are well know to carry internal parasites.
While in qt, I started mine with frozen mysis till they were eating good. Now they eat anything and everything I put in the tank...including nori. I also feed them a minimum of 2x/day.

Check Divers Den for trios. They occasionally have 1 male/2 female sets for sale. I requested 3 females from Divers Den and they put together a 3 female pack for me.

 

[WarmSoda]

I have 5 Bartlett's (had 6, but the bigger male killed the smaller male recently). Make sure you qt them and treat with Prazipro. Anthias are well know to carry internal parasites.
While in qt, I started mine with frozen mysis till they were eating good. Now they eat anything and everything I put in the tank...including nori. I also feed them a minimum of 2x/day.

Check Divers Den for trios. They occasionally have 1 male/2 female sets for sale. I requested 3 females from Divers Den and they put together a 3 female pack for me.

Darn. I don't have a QT tank. Not sure what to do.

I just ordered some Rod's food. Will that work for these guy? Also, I just had a prolific bloom of copods (or what I think are) and my Cerith snails just laid 8 strands of eggs, will the Anthias eat these? (I want them to)

 

[Melosu58]

my Cerith snails just laid 8 strands of eggs, will the Anthias pick on these?

All fish will pick on these. That`s why many dont make it to babies. They are a treat to the fish in the tank.

 

[dcantucson]

WarmSoda sounds like it's time to add another tank. They always come in handy as a QT or otherwise.

 

[WarmSoda]

WarmSoda sounds like it's time to add another tank. They always come in handy as a QT or otherwise.

Well, ironicy, I think my 10G freshwater, might turn into one!

My grandma just came by and told me she needs some fish for her tank, and would take them off my hand.

What would I need anything extra to turn it into a decent QT tank?

 

[dcantucson]

No not really. Pretty basic set-up for a QT tank. Usually you go bare bottom, some pvc pieces for hiding places, basic lighting (any type thats cheap), and a HOB filter.

 

[WarmSoda]

I've run into a problem. My LFS says the Bartlett's are extremely hard to sex, and he can't do it. Are they're any other hardy ones that are easier to sex but look as nice as the Bartlett's?

 

[Wes888]

I had 3 anthias.Come home from work one evening,and all 3 was laying in the floor.

Ouch. I guess I'm lucky. When I got mine, I had a grid all around my tank because of the firefishs. Since all of my fish seems to be very friendly to each other and I haven't seen any tendency of jumping from any of them, I've removed the grid now.

 

[dcantucson]

Wes you in danger! What if one of them gets a wild hair...

 

[Melosu58]

They will do it themselves. LA says, "
Anthias species all share the trait of being hermaphroditic. If a dominant male perishes, the largest female of the group will often morph to take its place. "

 

[WarmSoda]

They will do it themselves. LA says, "
Anthias species all share the trait of being hermaphroditic. If a dominant male perishes, the largest female of the group will often morph to take its place. "

I understand that. I don't want to waste $150 on three fish to have them all be male, and have them all kill each other. With the hermaphroditic traits, It doesn't work the other way around, though. If they're is three males, the other two will not turn into females, they remain male and fight it out with the others for territory, until death.

 

[Bifferwine]

Rod's food will work just fine for them. As for how to get the genders that you want, it's probably just up to luck, if your LFS can't sex them for you. I have no idea what the sexes of my anthias are, but they all seem to get along okay, and I have three different species in my tank.