Anthias, why doesn't everyone have them?

1journeyman

Active Member
Was just feeding the tank tonight and came to the conclusion that every large reef tank should be required to have some of these beautiful fish. I got 3 Bartlett's from here when they were on sale and man they look good. Peaceful, colorful, and schooling. Also seem to be 100% reef safe.
Can't ask for better fish.
 

teresaq

Active Member
I was thinking about them, but was told they were hard to keep and had to be feed 3 times a day. What do you feed yours. got any pictures
 

anonome

Active Member

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Was just feeding the tank tonight and came to the conclusion that every large reef tank should be required to have some of these beautiful fish. I got 3 Bartlett's from here when they were on sale and man they look good. Peaceful, colorful, and schooling. Also seem to be 100% reef safe.
Can't ask for better fish.
That is an excellent question, I have had saltwater tanks for years and have always steered clear of them because......they need to be feed many times a day,......can go after ornamental shrimp when larger. If anyone has any LONG TERM
survival rates, please post this. I myself, would be very interested. They are indeed extremely beautiful, but tend to be very delicate in our reef systems.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Well, I fall into the definite minority of aquarists who think we tend to underfeed our tanks. I feed almost every day (probably 5-6 days a week).
I make my own food, and I thaw it in the early evening and dump a small bit into the tank throughout the day.
I've noticed two things since I started doing this: 1. My Chromis have become much less agressive towards each other, making me think their aggression is over hunger. 2. The fish are more active. The schooling fish (Chromis and Anthias) really scoot through the current.
Like I said, I make my own food, have a refugium with Chaeto that grows like crazy under a 250wt HQI and strong flow, and skim heavily. I also have a very deep sand bed in my display.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by tank watch
no luck here. could not get them to eat well.
most resources say steer clear...(now they tell me! )
Well, Michael's Marine Fishes
has them listed as a 4 on the scale of 1 to 5.
Mine love to eat, hehe. My last batch of food used fresh sea trout, salmon, oysters, shrimp (wild caught), nori, squidd, Mahi Mahi, Tuna, with Zoe and Zoecon added as well as Garlic Extreme ( i know bottled garlic doesn't seem to have any medicinal value, but my fish love the smell of it)
 

anonome

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Well, Michael's Marine Fishes has them listed as a 4 on the scale of 1 to 5.
Mine love to eat, hehe. My last batch of food used fresh sea trout, salmon, oysters, shrimp (wild caught), nori, squidd, Mahi Mahi, Tuna, with Zoe and Zoecon added as well as Garlic Extreme ( i know bottled garlic doesn't seem to have any medicinal value, but my fish love the smell of it)
I would say this why they are doing well, not every saltwater enthusiast makes their own food. I give kuto's to you. Job well done. I make up my own food as well, grosses everyone out the day I do it, but oh well. I might have to look into that family. I would love a squarespot pair. But the bartletts are smaller, I will do some more studying.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Anonome
I would say this why they are doing well, not every saltwater enthusiast makes their own food. I give kuto's to you. Job well done. I make up my own food as well, grosses everyone out the day I do it, but oh well. I might have to look into that family. I would love a squarespot pair. But the bartletts are smaller, I will do some more studying.
Ya, I love making my own food. It's a lot cheaper and I know what I'm feeding.
 

gatorwpb

Active Member
Does the salmon mess up your skimmer?
Ive read that the heavy oils are bad for the skimmer, but good for sick fish.
As soon as I finish up my phosphate laden frozen prepared foods, Im going to start making my own.
... and stealing your recipe lol
 
J

jesses89

Guest
how do you get all that food to stay together?
like for instance angel formula...
its in a square..
how do you get it like that?
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jesses89
how do you get all that food to stay together?
like for instance angel formula...
its in a square..
how do you get it like that?
Salmon seems fine in my skimmer. The oysters tend to get nasty though. The skimmer seems to try to reassemble them. It's pretty gross.
Steal away! Basically all I do is go to the grocery store and see what they have in fresh sea food. Then I buy a little bit of everything. You shouldn't feed too much Salmon, but as you can see It is a small part of the overall feeding.
Jesse, I bought several ice trays. I use a Wal Mart food processor (like $13) and blend everything up. If you fill the processor up and blend for a while you'll get different size foods. Takes a bit of practice to get it the way you want.
I scoop out the food and place it in trays. Then I freeze it. Crack the cubes out and put them in a freezer container. Thaw them out just like packaged frozen foods.
 

ninjamini

Active Member
I think you guys should take this home made fish food to its own thread. Add pics so that we can see just what you are doing.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by ninjamini
I think you guys should take this home made fish food to its own thread. Add pics so that we can see just what you are doing.
Next time I make food I'll do that.
As for the thread, I think it's ok. I believe proper feeding realy makes a difference in fish like anthias.
 

aw2x3

Active Member
We've kept many of them, at the store...we currently have 8 Square Backs in our 150gal. display reef. I think they're beautiful.
If I ever started a large reef tank, they'd definately be on the list.
 

daisy

Member
and btw, is it just tank size? Because I have a lot of water attached to my tank but not part of the display - 55 gal display and about 30 gal fuge
 

saltn00b

Active Member
journeyman, you feed your fish squidd ? what does he feel about this?

i have an pink square anthias, but mine is quite the exception. As you stated, they are supposed to be peaceful community fish, well i believe mine is the more aggressive, and rarer female. i may be wrong, but i found was the common PSAs are males that are a bright barbie doll pink with a deep magenta square. well mine is a sherbert orange with a salmon pink square.
and the square is of late fading into oblivion - it almost invisible now, i think she is maturing - not sure of why.
but ever since i got her she thinks and IS the queen of the tank. she swims center stage and will rush the occasional fish for dominance. this action scared my purple firefish pair into hiding, killing one of them, and the other one spent the remainder of its like behind the rock work. she also recently killed my oldest and favorite fish, my 2 year old Yellow Coris, or canary wrasse. she chased him all the time, more and more, and one day he was behind the tank.
i lubbed that feesh

i never had a problem getting her to eat , and i only feed once a day , sometimes twice, sometimes not at all even. i think she was shy the first 3 days or so but she started to eat soon enough, after i left the room.
if i ever get another one, i would LOVE a fathead - or sunburst, they are soooo coool, i have only seen one person.
daisy - there are smaller species of anthias that i think would be fine in a 55g, just dont get a PSA , they are some of the biggest, getting to over 6"
here she is about 6 months ago, the square is almost gone now :(
 

woolfe

Member
I thought that the ones with the square are males. At least I was told that by my LFS. The guy there is pretty good (hasn't steered me wrong yet) My pink square anthias is really peaceful and doesn't bother anyone. He also eats anything. I do make my own food but sometimes (before work) I don't have time to thaw it. He eats dry flake and krill without complaint.
 

petieaztec

Member
wow noob thats a cool fish..... how big a tank you need?
journey... I thought i might have had one but i have a dottyback purple pusedo.... they are pretty though.
 
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