Anthias

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Is it bad to just have one because they like to be in shoals? I know that 2 wouldnt be a good idea, but is it like either 1 or a group or just a group?

 

[bunjiweb]

I have seen people keep 1 or 2 but in the wild they are a naturally shoaling fish that group in the thousands around coral reefs. They are one of the most abundant fish in the reef so having just one probably wouldn't be the best of plans.

Ben

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Yeah I was thinking they wouldnt be extremely happy but also wondering if they really dont care.

 

[Navarre]

if you keep one then it will turn into a male over time but as mentioned, they prefer shoals and i have found that to be successful with them then you need around 1 male and 4 females. any less females than this and they tend to get bullied by the male too much and of course the higher ranking females. By adding more femals means the social group becomes more complex and the harrassment is more evenly spread.

Anthias however are not easy fish to keep and need feeding many times per day (i used to feed my shoal 5 times per day). Their stomahces are not large enough to sustain them on a couple of meals a day so they need almost costants feedings in the wild. With high nutrition diets like cyclopeze (a wonderfood for anthias) you can limit this to about 4 or 5 meals per day. However this means the tank has huge quantities of food going into it so water perameters need constant checking.