hey i just got a new sunburst anthias. from the start it was in the bottom coner of the bag. acclimated over the next 4 hours, slowly. put him in and he went straight to the bottom. i see him swim a little but never more than a 1/4" off the bottom then rests between some rocks. been sitting there kinda sideways. i know they hide sometimes for weeks but do they normally "wedge" themselves in rocks.
fathead anthias is this normal???
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steve-s
Well-known member
What kind of lights do you have and can you run with just actinics for a short time? This species will adapt but they can become stressed in typical bright reef lighting. They are fairly deep water fish and not accustom to the bright light.
What tank mates?
Cheers
Steve
What tank mates?
Cheers
Steve
fishermann
Well-known member
I have 4 bartletts anthias and one has always done that, just her way,but she comes out when not resting around on rocks and swims with the others, I've had them for almost a yr. now. Steve has a good point with the lighting for a few days still it gets acclimated to its new enviroment.
Kimo
Active member
I have seen anthias do that. However -
If you notice that he has trouble swimming or can't hold his position in the water he may have a damaged air bladder due to improper collection. They are deep water fish and this happens sometimes.
Hopefully everything will be fine
Jamie
If you notice that he has trouble swimming or can't hold his position in the water he may have a damaged air bladder due to improper collection. They are deep water fish and this happens sometimes.
Hopefully everything will be fine
Jamie
thanks for the info, my lights are 6X80watt T5's. since i put the anthias in i left the lights off for 1/2 the day now only running 3 bulbs; 2 atinic/blues and 1aquablue. the only tankmates are 5 greenbanded gobies and a mandrin goby. tank is 72X18X20. have about 25X-30X water turn over. all water parameters are good. i think he does have some issue with his swim bladder. when he does swim its only right off the bottom. but he does not seem to have trouble. hard to tell though, he moves a litte and its between rocks so can not get a good look. hes breathing looks slow and deep. eeeee
steve-s
Well-known member
If a swim bladder problem, the fish will have problems maintaining control and will swim erratically/haphazardly.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
fishermann
Well-known member
I would take a guess and just say he is adjusting to his new surroundings, some fish like tangs well go and hide for a day or two, as long as he isn't haveing trouble staying upright and in control and your water is good he is just new and adjustingmost likely.
i hope so. i have had other anthias, not the sunburst. i know sunburst are a little different than most anthias. wish he whould just move up off the sand. that would make me feel much better. he moves between 2 spots about 6" apart. but i have not been able to see him swim yet. just move a little. he is always leaning against either the rock or back of tank. i dont think he is going to make it. i got him from marine depot live. the bag had a leak and was half empty. they told me they would give me credit on him if he does not make it.
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fishermann
Well-known member
Well thats to bad but I would leave him be and if he is strong enough he well make it, if not there isn't much that can be done. Messing with him well just stress him, given time he may come out of it. When I treated for red bugs I lost 2 of mine and thought I had lost a 3rd one, she hid in the rocks for 4 days didn't come out to eat or anything, and all of a sudden one morning when the lights came on she was there swimming around and is still with me so now I have 4 instead of 6.
well he did not make it. dam. ok least they will give me credit for him. all the other fish i got with him are doing great. i even got a maroon clown that was suppose to be a yellow clow goby. have him sitting in a QT. dont know what to do with him. i have percula clowns, and dont want him in my other tanks. anyone live near redondo beach and want a real good looking maroon clown??eats like a pig about 3 1/2 inches. he is one of the best looking maroons i have seen. could take him to LFS and get some credit. but only like maybe 5 bucks. would rather just give him away to someone who will take good care of him any takers???
steve-s
Well-known member
Sorry for the loss. One thing I would suggest in future is testing the salinity of the transport bag. Two big issues with "on line" purchases is the toxic nitrogens that may develope depending on the time and possible rapid salinity changes from acclimation. Since you have a QT, the absolute best way to ensure a smooth transition is allow the bag to float in the QT for about 10-15 min for temp acclimation. After that point, open the bag and test the salinity and pH. Instead of acclimating the bag water to the QT water, manipulate the QT water to match the bag water. With that done, you can simpley drain the bag water out and release the fish to the QT. The acclimation time could be a large part of the issue with this fish if the transport bag had high ammonia and/or salinity low.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
fishermann
Well-known member
Sorry to hear of the loss. I usally take about 3-4 hrs to acclimate my animals and with anthias I would make it 4 hrs. The bag being half drained was probably a big contributor to his demize. He probably was having an oxeyen issue, plus not much water.
steve-s
Well-known member
Long acclimation times for fish are actually not preferable. They often do more harm than good given the potential toxins in the transport water. The sooner the fish is out of the bag water the better.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
fishermann
Well-known member
There are alot of people who do long acclimations and as your doing them you take some of the bag water out and replace with tank water, have never in many years had an issue doing it this way, I guess there is more then one way of doing things and that is what makes thjis an ever evolving hobby.
yeah good point steve i never did test the water. that could have played a part. i think he just had a real bad trip over to my place. right from the start he was haveing trouble. might have been swim bladder i never did get a chance to see try to swim. does make me a little siddish on getting another one.
barrierreefcf
Sponsor
fishermann said:
You are right fishermann. In the case transporting a fish for a couple hours acclimating them the way you do is just fine. And its probably not going to kill the fish to do it your way with mailorder livestock either, but let me give you an example of the scenario that I believe Steve is describing. Say you order fish online, (or in our case tranship them from the country of origin) and they are bagged for 24-48 hours. The metabolic wastes accumulate (ammonia) and the ph drops in the bag water. The ammonia becomes less toxic in the lower ph but when you open that bag and oxygen starts to mix with the water the ph comes right back up making the ammonia toxic again. Adding water from your system would also cause this ph increase. We have too test ph and salinity of the bagged water in our tranship shipments and time permitting with every shipment mix stock water to match the shipping water. We float the fish to match temps and then take them out of the shipping water and place them in the ammonia free, lowered ph and matching salinity stock water. Then we slowly bring the ph up by dripping system water until the ph of the acclimating pan and the system match. This way there is no ammonia present in the acclimating process to become toxic as the ph rises.
Just thought I'd fill in the details
Cy
fishermann
Well-known member
Wouldn't argue a bit with that scenario, but this fish was from Marine Depot which is overnite as is most of the fish bought online. I do not cut a big hole in my bags, I cut a very small one and pour off some of the bag water and don't allow a large amount of oxygen in the bag and it takes quite awhile for ph to change much once the bag is opened. Agreed ammonia is an issue which is slowly deluted as the PH is slowly raised with small out takes of the bag water and addition of the tank water over numerous times during the acclimation period. I can certainly see what both of you are saying if it has been days, but most of us do not buy fish that have been bagged that long.
nice post. that makes a lot of sence. i think i am going to start to do domething like that for my QT in the future. LFS fish probability only temp and salinity, but for sure i will be checking the online fish i buy. at least the more delicate ones, i know me, might get lazy with fish like clowns.:razz: nice info thanks.
well now i really want to check it. marine depot is close to me dont think it took a flight to get here. but i sometimes get fish from others that do fly them to me. humm, i will be getting a couple new fish from marine depot next week so i wll test it a few times and see. dont want to use my probes in that water, so will have to go by salifert test kits.
barrierreefcf
Sponsor
prow said:
If you have time and remember PM me with the test results (or add it to the thread) as I'm very curious to see what you find. Sorry to hear about the Anthias.
