help with Anthias

[Milez803]

currently i bought a bicolor anthias, i think its a male, and bought another male anthias. (squarespot) wonder would it be a problem in a tank that is 100 gallon tank..i been reading alot about anthias and notice that they are very aggressive toward other male.. at this moment the squarespot anthias seem to be scared..so i hardly see him..but when i see them together ..they don't seem to fight...its been about 2 days..together... any advice would be really helpful...

 

[morgan]

i personally wouldnt mix anthia speices and in my expiernce they seem to do best when they are a small school of 6 or so if i really wanted to keep anthias i would have them in a speices only tank or with friendly fish that arent to aggressive eaters
the main problem with anthias is they have a very short intestinal tract compared to tangs so they need to eat more then most fish to stay healthy

 

[krisfal]

Just to clarify on morgan's statement regarding needing to eat more, they need to be fed several times during the day, one big feeding will not do.

I have never mixed anthius species in fact I just sold my sole surviving bi-color so that I can get another group of anthius.

 

[KYLERCO]

I have 3 bartletts and just added a bi color over the weekend..... I have not witnessed any issues as of yet. Also as far as feeding goes, the smaller the food the better...... try using prawn roe, and even rod's coral blend(same as reg only no big pieces). I have been lucky as my anthias eat just about anything I put in the tank. I feed once in am and once in pm.

 

[Milez803]

i feed my anthias with flake and rotate with some mysis shrimp once in awhile, the dispar seem to eat everything, but the squarespot haven't show any sign of eatting yet... and still tend to hide when he see me enter the room..

 

[krisfal]

Milez803, neither flake (high amount of land based food e.g. wheat) nor mysis (freshwater organism with low or no omega 3 fatty acids) are providing your anthius with the nutrition it needs, your fish could slowly starve to death on this diet. I would really encourage you to study this post on Fish Nutrition

 

[Sascha D]

You can feed flake if you go with Formula 1 and 2 mix. I would go with the frozen varieties because its less messy, offers higher nutritional value (or less nutrient loss depending how you look at it), easier to use and encourages better feeding habits by stimulating smell and taste.

You should also supplement a meaty food with a SW base like Krisfal said.