Anyone keep different species of anthias in the same tank?

Dustin83

Dustin83

AC Members
Nov 17, 2005
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Orange County, CA
Hello everyone.

The picture below shows one male anthia that I have in my tank (The one on the left... I couldn't get a better picture of him).

I have always thought that this was a bicolor anthia (pseudanthias bicolor), but I am not so sure after googling the bicolor anthia images. The red spot on the side throws me off. Is this some other type of anthia?

The reason why I am asking is because I want to add 3 or 4 females to add more colors to the tank. I'm aware of the 1 male to multiple female rule for anthias but was wondering how they will react if I start mixing different species. Is this a complete no no? In that case, I would like to have a clear idea of which specie this is, so I can find compatible females.

m.JPG

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Ok. After some more research and googling, I have been convinced that this is Red-belted anthia (pseudanthias rubrizonatus)... I can't believe I have thought this was bicolor all along. I only paid about $25 for it which is actually much more like the bicolor price than the red-belted.

Now the problem is... I'm not sure where I can get them... LFS's around here including the one i bought this one from are not sure whether or not they can find them.

That leads to my original question. Do different species of anthias get along in the same tank? The tank is 150g by the way.. and this male that I have is about 4" long (supposedly fully grown).
 
I've never kept Anthias so I can't speak from experience - however - I've just been reading my "bible" (A PocketExpert Guide Marine Fishes) and this is what it says:

"This is a hardy but aggressive anthias species. Best to keep solitary individuals, except in extra-large aquariums, where a group should consist of one male and eight or more females. Its pugnacious disposition makes it risky to keep with most other anthias species and more-peaceful zooplankton feeders, such as fairy or flasher wrasses".

HTH
 
Dustin83 said:
Ok. After some more research and googling, I have been convinced that this is Red-belted anthia (pseudanthias rubrizonatus)... I can't believe I have thought this was bicolor all along. I only paid about $25 for it which is actually much more like the bicolor price than the red-belted.

Now the problem is... I'm not sure where I can get them... LFS's around here including the one i bought this one from are not sure whether or not they can find them.

That leads to my original question. Do different species of anthias get along in the same tank? The tank is 150g by the way.. and this male that I have is about 4" long (supposedly fully grown).
Click to expand...
:grinyes:
 
HAHA. Thanks for the clarification on the size. I laughed when I saw that, too.

Yeah... sounds like it's one of the more aggressive anthias... I better go find female redbelted... I had hard time finding info on this one because it appears that many people call it "tricolor anthia".. I thought pseudanthia kashiwae was tricolor anthia.. but they must share a common name... After googling tricolor anthia, i was able to find out a lot more about it, and learned that it's a pretty aggressive specie.

I'm just embarrassed that I thought this was a bicolor the whole time. :)

Thank you for your inputs.
 
So here is the update!


Rather than going with the female redbelts, I gave my male redbelt to a friend and decided to startup a whole new crew.

(NO CPD, I did not get the recommended 8 females :) )

I tried to decide between lyretails and bartlett.

After going back and forth and cancelling and updating multiple orders, I went with the lyretails. I had these guys before and was for some reason fascinated by the way one distinguished male schooled with rather plain females... (I know.. weird)

So I ordered 1 male and 4 females. The supplier however forgot to cancel one of the pending orders and ended up sending two packages! I offered to send one back but the supplier simply asked me to "find a good home for them".

Long story short, as of today, this is what's in my QT.

1 male lyretail + 4 female lyretail
1 male bartlett + 3 female bartlett.

The best part of it all is, I only paid about $100 for all the above.

Actually, the best part is that every single fish is eating well and healthy.


I have NO idea what I'm going to do with them. I kind of want to keep all of them... maybe add them slowly few at a time.

I know I shouldn't! I just can't think of a "better home" than the one in my living room :)
 
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