Anthias Tank?

[RedTail123]

I want to start a 500 gallon reef tank with 3 types of anthias, will it work?


500 Gallon

11- Disbar Anthias

11- Lyretail Anthias

11- Bartlett's Anthias

19- Blue Reef Chromis

1- Purple Tang

1- Blue Tang

Will the anthias be compatible?

 

[ben1987]

Anthias are usually fairly compatable with each other. Have you kept them before?

if not id suggest starting witha few bartlets and lyretails. They are the easier species. Anthis while they are stunning dont tend to do that well in captivity. On the reef they are eating all day every day so need feeding 6-8 times a day in captivity. Every couple of hours basically. If they dint get this then they slowly starve to death and numbers steadily dwindle til you have the few stringest left. Not really cost effective to lose 3/4 of the fish to get a group.
Decent auto feeder is a must. Then youve also got the task of mainataing water quality with feeding the tank all those times.

Id suggest trying them as they are gorgeous. But start of with a few easy ones a build your way up and research different species as you go. Tjhey arent cheap fish eaither

 

[RedTail123]

Anthias are usually fairly compatable with each other. Have you kept them before?

if not id suggest starting witha few bartlets and lyretails. They are the easier species. Anthis while they are stunning dont tend to do that well in captivity. On the reef they are eating all day every day so need feeding 6-8 times a day in captivity. Every couple of hours basically. If they dint get this then they slowly starve to death and numbers steadily dwindle til you have the few stringest left. Not really cost effective to lose 3/4 of the fish to get a group.
Decent auto feeder is a must. Then youve also got the task of mainataing water quality with feeding the tank all those times.

Id suggest trying them as they are gorgeous. But start of with a few easy ones a build your way up and research different species as you go. Tjhey arent cheap fish eaither

No, I've never kept them, I'll probably start out with the Bartlett's and lyretails like you said.

 

[ALW]

Its not reccomended to keep P. squamipinnis with any other species of Anthias.

 

[MBOU]

I dont know too much TBH however, i've always found anthias a bit of a trial to get right!

If the tanks not deep enough, they seem to have problems with their swimbladders.

The other problem i found was species seems to be unreliable, even within the species, the temperment differs! I've found some get on in groups, some pairs, some single, some multiple females to less males and others the oposite...

I've never even thought about mixind species and definately not in those numbers!

I think i would be donig more research into how they live, you are going to want to find species that have the same needs, what numbers/sexes they live in... foods etc...

My favourite is the Square Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia) at the moment! But is the one i've had most problems with in termsof swimbladder problems... mind you, might also be they dont like the whole 'flying' aspect of being imported...