Ugh do you think this is a stocky anthias????

[rslinger]

So I was trying to complete my family. I had 2 stocky anthias and the pet store called and said mine were in. So they don't take them out the bag and i get a reduced price....I get home and acclimate. Thinking the color is a little off i am not worried as they are freaked out you know. well in they go and bam I see there tails......now i am worried are they stocky and if they are not are they going to be ok in there. Will they still make a harem. They are really small like 3/4 in. by the way.

 

[aquaknight]

Yea, that unfortunately appears to be a juvenile Lyretail Anthias....
Here is a juvenile Stocky;

There is good news and better news, however. Depending on tank size, you can keep multiple species of Anthias together. I have 2 lyretails and 3 Bicolor anthias in my 90gal. The better news, and this also probably explains what happened to you, check out the very top right corner of the pic I posted, that's part of a tailfin of a Lyretail Anthias.
Stocky's and Lyretails usually inhabit the same parts of the reef. The collector out in the wild probably just collected a whole bunch of fish he thought were Stocky's. And since they often live with Lyretails, a couple were mixed in.

 

[btldreef]

I agree, looks like my Lyretails when they were juveniles.

 

[rslinger]

That's what I was starting to think it was.....I guess they seem to get a long so that's good. do you think that one of the bigger stocks will still change. one of the flashes color sometimes and looks like a male for a few seconds I was hoping to get him to stay that way.

 

[btldreef]

It might still change. A couple people I know that have just a single anthias on its own have had them change.