- Hi guys and girls!
I'm ReefMan and today we're going to talk about
the care and feeding
of one of my favorite fish, the anthia.
I don't have any in my tank right now,
but hopefully that won't make this any less interesting.
The most common anthias that we get for our tank
are all from the genus Pseudanthias
and there are 79 species in that genus.
Of those, we actually see about
25 different species in the hobby
and all of these anthias are going to be colorful,
small perch-like fish that do best
either singly or in a small group.
The first anthia was discovered in 1758
in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Anthias are more commonly found
the the tropical oceans around the world,
sometimes in giant shoals with hundreds
or even thousands of individual fish.
Inside the shoal, anthias tend to form
smaller groups called harems.
Each harem is made up of one male
and maybe 10 or 12 female fish in the wild.
When the dominate male dies or gets eaten,
the largest female transitions to a male.
All anthias are born female.
Males often have different colors
than the females of the same species.
For instance, male lyretail anthias
are bright purple and red,
while females are uniformly orange.
In home aquariums, anthias do best
in odd numbered groups of females.
This results in the dominant fish changing to a male,
which takes a few months for it to complete.
Anthias are territorial
and the male will defend its territory
from other anthias of the same species.
If you're just starting out with anthias,
I'd recommend looking at the lyretail,
bartletts, or dispar anthias.
These three species will get you
accustomed to the requirements
that need to be met to keep these fish healthy,
while also being hardy enough to be willing to try
whatever you have to feed them
and they'll be able to get through
a few beginner's mistakes.
All anthias require a medium to large tank.
I'd say 55 gallons or so at the minimum,
but bigger is always better because they're active swimmers.
Also, because they're active swimmers,
they require several small feedings throughout the day.
These are not fish that will do well
with a single feeding each day.
I would suggest using an auto feeder like this one
to feed them at least four or five times each day,
but watch your water quality and ensure that they're also
maintaining the high water quality.
Your other fish, of course, will enjoy
the feedings that you are feeding your anthias.
I've found that anthias will eat almost anything
once you get them acclimated to your food.
You can start them on live brine shrimp or blackworms,
but after that, they seem to love
both frozen food and pellets.
Pellets are particularly nice
because you can feed them using an automatic feeder,
which helps keep the fish healthy.
I recommend New Life Spectrum pellets
and that's what I use in my tank.
Anthias love to swim in the open water,
but they'll only do that if they feel safe
and have rockwork to hide in.
It's important to give them plenty of caves
and nooks and crannies, so that they can feel safe.
They'll also sleep amongst the rocks at night.
Some anthias will even perch on the rocks from time to time,
but in general, they'll be bold and active fish
in the open water parts of your aquarium.
I would recommend a screen top.
The anthias that I had in my tank here
slowly jumped out one by one over time
and that's why I currently don't have any.
Despite having a screen cover,
which is not on the tank anymore,
they found the openings in it and then that was that.
So make sure that your cover is secure
and that the openings are pretty small.
Once you're comfortable with your abilities
and maybe wanting an anthia that is
maybe a little bit more unusual
or will be more of a challenge to keep,
you can look at things like the evansi or ignitus anthias.
Or for even more of a challenge,
you can look at loris or flavoguttatus anthias.
Keep in mind that anthias are found all over the world
and some of them, like the ignitus anthia,
are from deeper waters,
that will appreciate cooler temperatures
and subdued lighting in your tank.
Otherwise, normal reef tank conditions
will work great for almost all anthias,
so do a quick search of the species
you're interested in before buying it.
That's good to do no matter what you're buying
and you'll find quickly if that anthia is
going to be a special care,
like a deep water species or something like that.
Forums like Reef2Reef or Reef Central would be great
resources to use for that kind of information.
So that's all this week,
I hope you enjoyed learning about anthias
and I will see you next week.
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already.
Bye!