Do anthias jump?

[tonyespinoza]

planning an open top, rimless and wondering if anthias are prone to jump...

[PogoMonogo]

dunno if i would say prone to, like a wrasse, but i would say not impossible.

[ReefTECK]

yes definitely. especially the females, they are often harrased, and dominated by males. Much like chromis behave with one another. This makes them especially prone to get shaken up a little bit and make a little hop away from the males.

if you have enough of them, it reduces the stress on the female, and thus reduces her chances.

[tkeracer619]

yes

[Davidl919]

One of mine did? I am going to try and cover the top with that eggcrate looking stuff people use in frag tanks.

[tonyespinoza]

i understand that virtually any fish will jump under the right (or rather, wrong) conditions...

so it sounds like a school of females may reduce the probability...

thanks guys!

[LobsterOfJustice]

Eh, the females will kind of pick on each other a little bit too.

If anything is picking on them they can jump.. that goes for almost any fish. I've lost a female to jumping.

[RonD]

I have lyre tails and a pink square and never had a problem.

[ReefTECK]

so it sounds like a school of females may reduce the probability...

With anthias it's kind of the opposite of clownfish. The most dominant female will become a male, at that point they do not change back. I could be mistaken but that's whats appeared to happen with my bartlett anthias.

I use a secure egg crate lid on top of my tank, also to keep the wrasse in.

Also, as noted above, yes, anthias form hierarchial schools, that is, there is a defined pecking order amoung subordinate females, and subordinant males. You need to have a pretty good size tank (I would estimate at least 150 gal) to keep more than one male in a group.

but this is all based upon my understanding and experience, I don't know if this is true for other types of anthias, I've had squamipinnis and bartletts

[eskymick]

Yes, I've had two Bartletts jump.

[tonyespinoza]

thanks for all the insights!