anthias

[jtizzle120]

hey i was jsut wondering when purchasing anthias can you buy just 1 or does it have to be a pair of 3....i also wondering if anyone has any can tell me how they are in the aquarium and if they are hard to keep i have a six line wrasse arrow head crab and a cleaner shrimp in my 72 gal bow...waht yall think any recomendations on other fish?

 

[aredmon]

I have never had any but they have a much higher survival rate if bought in groups. I also read they are kind of not hard to take care of fish but like a moderate to expert leval fish keeping. I heard they may sometimes be hard to get to start eating. They are however very interesting and beutiful fish. If you do decide to get one I would get 3 and see them eat before you purchase. if you do both then I would say you are safe to go for it.

 

[xdave]

They like groups, but 1 is ok. I would get 3 or 5 little ones (stick too odd numbers) Then I'd get an anemone and 2 clowns (not maroons) then I would get a Flame or Coral Beauty angel. It doesn't sound like a lot of fish but my philosophy is, the closer they can get to their natural max size the more healthy happy and spectacular they get. I'd rather have a few that just blow people away than tons of little unimpressive fish.
Check out the beautiful Antias in this tank Anthias
That tank is HUGE.
Almost forgot, get more males than females on the Anthias. In fact even with 5 I'd try to get 4 females. I wish your LFS guy good luck

Lokk at them in the pic, the males have the big fancy dorsal.

 

[chilwil84]

just remember anthias need multiple plankton feedings a day so they a large hit on your bioload so that is why the most successful people with them have large (150 or larger) tanks to handle the load