Question about Lyretail Anthias

[Amazon]

I'm going to be ordering 4 lyretail anthias. What I don't know is whether I should get 4 females and let one turn to male (presuming one would) or to buy 1 male and 3 females. If I do the latter, could one of the 3 females also turn male?

Any advice?

 

[Ray]

I had them in my tank before and if I were to do it again I would buy 1 male and 3 females, I bought all females last time and the males take a looooong time to change. There is also the possibility that one of the other females could change, I think I had 2 males in my group (6 or 7 total at one point) they got along OK for some time then 1 day there was only one. One did give chase from time to time and the other male hung alone most of the time.

 

[pillowfish]

Just curious but why 4 of them??(honest curiosity if there is a reason behind having 4) I have a trio..luckily I saw them in person and picked out which ones I liked best...1 was already a male he is strikingly gorgeous...unbiased opinion of course) and I chose 1 large-ish female and small female. Honestly don't know too much about the rankings and sex changes(still don't get the whole "supermale" concept). But I know in the wild they do live in large quantities with the male having several females around him. If the male goes buh-bye..female turns male(you already know this..) but if in captivity if you do not have a large enough enviroment and the latter option you were asking about does happen-(which may with possibly having 2 pairs?) the males will most likely fight for the females. This is all book based knowledge and it recommends no more than 2 females per male unless your aquarium is vey substantial in terms of size.HTH..and is semi-accurate

 

[Amazon]

They are going in the 180. I had set up my QT for another fish, but that didn't work out. They are on sale at DFS right now, so they may as well make use of the QT.

I've read that 1 male to 3 females is a recommended mix. I have no idea who comes up with those numbers I think there will be room for that many.

 

[Sherri]

I am looking at them too and I hope you don't mind if I highjack! Do you feed them multiple times a day? Are they jumpers? Do they sleep high or low in the tank? I am trying to add fish with a lobster who eats low living/sleeping fish. I only have a 65 g so guess the 1 male 2 females or one of each would be the path ...

 

[Greg Hiller]

In my case I had 7 females and one male. The male was a bit on the small side, and one day one of the females decided he was too small (perhaps size does matter after all!!! ). Chased him into a crevice and he never came out again. The female changed to male pretty quickly (weeks). I'd say that if the females are large one will likely change quickly if there is no male. OTOH, more than one might change and you might end up losing some because of it.

 

[Ray]

Greg when you say change do you mean color as well? I should have specified above that my male took a long time to change color not change sex

 

[MikeG]

I have 6, 1 male and 5 females. The male was large and all 5 females were small when I got them. One of the females is much larger than some of the others now and does constantly flash and chase around the other females but the male puts her in her place real quick. I am hoping she stays a female.

They are only fed once a day and very often will go a day without being fed. They all seem healthy and happy. Have had them for several months.

You can see my male and one female here

 

[Amazon]

beautiful fish!

I'm on the fence between lyretails and disbar. I like them both &%^& it

 

[Sherri]

I was also looking at the threadfin -- they look cool too but I think are harder to get to eat.

 

[Greg Hiller]

>Greg when you say change do you mean color as well?<

Yes, it actually changed color within a few weeks as well.

MikeG, I also find that the recommendations that I've heard in the past regarding lyretail Anthias needing to be fed multiple times a day are not really necessary. While it might be better for them, I've had no trouble having them continue to grow and stay healthy for several years now on 1X/day feedings. This of course may not apply to other species of Anthias. Some I hear can be hard to get to eat and can be rather sensitive.

 

[3mrhythm]

i think the lyretails are easier to acclimate to captive care than the dispar.. I've kept all sorts of different ones in the past and had the best luck with the red bar and the lyretails.

most books say 1/5 ratios but in the 90 I had i usually did a 1-3 and seemed to have very good luck.. the red bars i really liked


as far as looks the ventralis Anthias takes the cake.. but i would reccomend heavy feeding and low light .. and slowly aclimate them to a higher lighting situation. they are extremely colorful and if they make it through acclimation make great specimens

 

[3mrhythm]

enrich all the foods too and vary the diet .. mysis, cyclops, maybe some chopped silversides and clam.. keep em fat and they'll do great.. try to make sure they arent caught with poisons.. if you can get a true net caught group it would raise your chances greatly.. I've tried a few queen or tuka anthias in the past but never got past the 2-3 week mark with them even though they eat great..has to be cyanide or something

 

[Ray]

>Greg when you say change do you mean color as well?<

Yes, it actually changed color within a few weeks as well.

MikeG, I also find that the recommendations that I've heard in the past regarding lyretail Anthias needing to be fed multiple times a day are not really necessary. While it might be better for them, I've had no trouble having them continue to grow and stay healthy for several years now on 1X/day feedings. This of course may not apply to other species of Anthias. Some I hear can be hard to get to eat and can be rather sensitive.

WOW! I had mine for over 2 years and it never changed color fully like Mikes pic! He was more orange then red, They were all bright orange when I got them.

 

[Amazon]

Update: I now have 5 lyretail anthias. One male. The male is gorgeous! They are all fat and happy. Eating frozen food before I took them. Although this morning they hid when I approached to feed, I saw them come out and pick at the food (PE mysis with entice, garlic extreme, and vitachem) from a distance. I also put in a little bit of zooplankton.

They are quite shy - swimming from pvc to pvc

Hopefully they eat better when I get home.

 

[Bitingthesun]

I'm also very interested in these, so I'm watching this thread.

the feeding once a day is the best news I've heard, as that's keeping me from getting some.

Amazon, where'd you get them from? LFS or online?

 

[Sherri]

Also -- are they jumpers?

 

[Amazon]

Bitingthesun - I got them at Jay's in NH. If you want them let him know - he hand picks them at the distributor. I believe he goes every Monday. These are gorgeous fish - I figured I'd pick 3 or 4 from the 5 he got. I took them all - not one was less than perfect. I was minutes away from ordering online and it was another reefer who said they got theirs at Jay's and was quite happy with them. I called him and he just got them.

mental1 - although I do not know if they have a reputation for jumping, I consider all fish to be jumpers. All of our tanks are covered because we don't feel it's worth the risk. I'm sure others who own them can jump (haha!) in. Do you have an open top tank?

 

[Sherri]

Yes -- I read that one of the types of anthias -- I think it was the threadfin -- are jumpers. I don't have a canopy and covering the tank would look icky -- that's a technical term! I am thinking that the lyretail may be the fish for me -- unless they jump. Can you watch where they go to sleep? Do they sleep mid-tank? High? I really need to know because if they sleep low it is only a matter of time before the lobster would find 'em! Also -- does anybody have these guys in an open top tank? Or does anybody know if they are known to be jumpers?

 

[Bitingthesun]

I have an open top too,

I'm worried about any fish I get jumping

but it's just so cool with the open top