Single Lyretail Anthias in a 75

Froggy · 05/22/2007, 08:42 AM

I have really become a fan of Anthias and wanted to add a fish that is an active open water swimmer. Anthias seem to fit that order. Lyretails are my favorite Anthias and through my searching on RC seem to be pretty hardy.

I have a 75 gallon mixed reef with a current fishload of :

1 Kole tang , 1 six line wrasse, 1 maroon clown, and 1 purple firefish goby.

My 75 gallon is way too small for a proper sized school of Lyretail Anthias. I found 2 female and one male Lyretails at the LFS and I observed all of them eat both Mysis and Cyclopeeze. I decided on the more active of the females. Today is day 3 and the female ate pretty well on the first 2 days. Now that the background is out of the way here is my question

Will one female Lyretail be Ok in my 75 for the long haul or should I have passed since I do not have a large enough tank to house a large enough group?

pmartin727 · 05/22/2007, 09:12 AM

How big is she?
And how much Rock do you have? They need room to swim.

Froggy · 05/22/2007, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pmartin727
How big is she?
And how much Rock do you have? They need room to swim.

She is fairly small ( a little under 2 inches I would guess ). Not sure on the total weight of the rock in my tank but I tend to use less rock when it comes to the aquascape and there is plenty of swimming space. I just fed some Cyclopeeze and the new Lyretail ate that with gusto so that is a good sign. My main concern is how it will fair singly in the tank and not as a group. Give me a sec. and I will post a couple of pics of the new fish and its home.

Thanks for the response.

LobsterOfJustice · 05/22/2007, 09:40 AM

The female will turn into a male. It will be fine alone, but will lose some of its color.

I disagree about the tank being too small for a proper harem of Anthias. I have three females and a male along with 9 other fish in my 75.

Froggy · 05/22/2007, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LobsterOfJustice
The female will turn into a male.

I disagree about the tank being too small for a proper harem of Anthias. I have three females and a male along with 9 other fish in my 75.

Thanks for the response Lobster. So the female will turn into a male even without the hierchy to establish the dominant fish. I did not know they would change when alone.

Interesting on your thoughts about tank size. What other fish do you keep? My thoughts were with my other fishload that adding a harem of Lyretails ( especially when they do better in larger groups ) that I would begin having nutrient issues with the feeding demands. I have a bit of an oversized skimmer ( a Euroreef CS 6-1 ) but it is not extremely oversized to compensate.

I took a couple quick pictures ( please forgive the poor quality ). They were really fast shots and are fuzzy

. Here they are anyway.

straight on but fuzzy

Thanks for looking and opinions so far. Keep them coming.

pmartin727 · 05/22/2007, 10:13 AM

She looks fine good choice, the tank looks like you have space.

I think you could get away with adding two more anthias....
Just watch your bio load.....Regular water changes. (Every 3-4 weeks).

i have a much smaller tank 30g. With 5 fish in it. Everyone told me that was too many (3 tops) but I have had sucess. Including an Anthias (Bartlet Juvy).

The key is testing and keeping the boi-load under control.

falconut · 05/22/2007, 10:22 AM

You should have no problems keeping her singly. I had my single male for over 1-1/2 years until a power failure killed him. Now I have two females.

I'm not sure that the single female will turn male by itself. I was always under the impression that they needed other females to cause them to turn. But no actual experience there. I've had my two females for about 8 months now. The larger one has become the dominate female. It hasn't changed to male yet. She got a longer spike, but the coloration is still the same. So we'll see over time.

As far as feeding, the Lyretails are very easy. My male was fed only once a day. And so are my females. I just feed everybody a decent amount of food. Sometimes over the weekend I add some flake food into the skimmer for a second feeding, but they mainly get just the one. Never had a problem with any of them dieing or getting skinny.

Froggy · 05/22/2007, 11:01 AM

Thanks everyone. I actually hope she will not change sex being alone. I personally prefer the look of the females which is why I chose her instead of the male.

LobsterOfJustice · 05/22/2007, 01:13 PM

Assuming you have decent filtration and do regular maintinence, you are no where near your max fish load.

4 Lyretail Anthias
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Mimic Lemonpeel Tang
1 Scribbled Rabbitfish
1 Solarensis Wrasse
1 Majestic Angel
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Damsel
1 Mandarin

I feed my fish 4 times a day, one frozen cube (or the equivilent of dry food) each feeding. All the food seems to get eaten. I have good flow in the tank so any waste (uneaten food or poop) will not settle and rot, but will get filtered out via sock or skimmer.

Froggy · 05/22/2007, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LobsterOfJustice
Assuming you have decent filtration and do regular maintinence, you are no where near your max fish load.

4 Lyretail Anthias
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Mimic Lemonpeel Tang
1 Scribbled Rabbitfish
1 Solarensis Wrasse
1 Majestic Angel
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Damsel
1 Mandarin

I feed my fish 4 times a day, one frozen cube (or the equivilent of dry food) each feeding. All the food seems to get eaten. I have good flow in the tank so any waste (uneaten food or poop) will not settle and rot, but will get filtered out via sock or skimmer.

Thanks for the stock list. I was planning to top out at about 6 fish with the Lyretail being the 5th in my 75. I want to resist the urge to "add just one more" and didn't feel adding a school would be wise for me. I would like to have a school of Anthias in the future when I "get the bigger tank" I wish that day would come sooner than later.......

rickh · 05/22/2007, 03:49 PM

Here's my take on the situation. The Anthias is a schooling fish--when kept alone they will just hide all the time. Many Anthias also need to be fed several times a day. R

TWallace · 05/22/2007, 04:17 PM

I disagree on anthias hiding if they're the only anthias.
I had my bartlett's as the only anthias in my tank for several months and it was almost always out in the open.

I also disagree that most anthias need to be fed several times a day. I feed once a day at most, occasionally skipping a day. I've kept bartlett's, truncatus and lyretail anthias with success. I've never fed any of them more than once a day. Maybe some of the more difficult anthias (evansi, tuka, dispar) require frequent feedings.

Lyretails are definitely an easy, hardy anthias. I currently have 3 in my 55 (1 male, 2 female). Very pretty fish, and thankfully pretty cheap, too. I'd like to try ventralis some day, but I've heard they're very picky eaters and some what pricey and hard to find.

05/22/2007, 08:42 AM	#1
Froggy Reef "Hobbyist"...right!? Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canton, MI Posts: 2,160	Single Lyretail Anthias in a 75 I have really become a fan of Anthias and wanted to add a fish that is an active open water swimmer. Anthias seem to fit that order. Lyretails are my favorite Anthias and through my searching on RC seem to be pretty hardy. I have a 75 gallon mixed reef with a current fishload of : 1 Kole tang , 1 six line wrasse, 1 maroon clown, and 1 purple firefish goby. My 75 gallon is way too small for a proper sized school of Lyretail Anthias. I found 2 female and one male Lyretails at the LFS and I observed all of them eat both Mysis and Cyclopeeze. I decided on the more active of the females. Today is day 3 and the female ate pretty well on the first 2 days. Now that the background is out of the way here is my question Will one female Lyretail be Ok in my 75 for the long haul or should I have passed since I do not have a large enough tank to house a large enough group? __________________ Hello, my name is Joe and I am a reef addict. ......Hi Joe.......... Current Tank Info: 120 gallon mixed reef with TBS live rock, 8 X 54 watt TEK T5's, Euroreef RS250 skimmer

05/22/2007, 09:40 AM	#4
LobsterOfJustice Recovering Detritophobe Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 7,443	The female will turn into a male. It will be fine alone, but will lose some of its color. I disagree about the tank being too small for a proper harem of Anthias. I have three females and a male along with 9 other fish in my 75. __________________ If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. I remember when zoanthids were called things like "green" and "orange" and not "reverse gorilla nipple." Current Tank Info: 180g reef with all the bells and whistles

05/22/2007, 10:22 AM	#7
falconut Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Blackwood, NJ Posts: 3,813	You should have no problems keeping her singly. I had my single male for over 1-1/2 years until a power failure killed him. Now I have two females. I'm not sure that the single female will turn male by itself. I was always under the impression that they needed other females to cause them to turn. But no actual experience there. I've had my two females for about 8 months now. The larger one has become the dominate female. It hasn't changed to male yet. She got a longer spike, but the coloration is still the same. So we'll see over time. As far as feeding, the Lyretails are very easy. My male was fed only once a day. And so are my females. I just feed everybody a decent amount of food. Sometimes over the weekend I add some flake food into the skimmer for a second feeding, but they mainly get just the one. Never had a problem with any of them dieing or getting skinny. __________________ 180 Gallon FOWLR, 40 Gallon Sump and 10 Gallon Refuge. (2) OceanRevive S026 LEDs, ASM G2 Skimmer & SCA-302 Skimmer. Setup since July 2017.

05/22/2007, 11:01 AM	#8
Froggy Reef "Hobbyist"...right!? Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Canton, MI Posts: 2,160	Thanks everyone. I actually hope she will not change sex being alone. I personally prefer the look of the females which is why I chose her instead of the male. __________________ Hello, my name is Joe and I am a reef addict. ......Hi Joe.......... Current Tank Info: 120 gallon mixed reef with TBS live rock, 8 X 54 watt TEK T5's, Euroreef RS250 skimmer

05/22/2007, 01:13 PM	#9
LobsterOfJustice Recovering Detritophobe Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 7,443	Assuming you have decent filtration and do regular maintinence, you are no where near your max fish load. 4 Lyretail Anthias 2 Ocellaris Clowns 1 Mimic Lemonpeel Tang 1 Scribbled Rabbitfish 1 Solarensis Wrasse 1 Majestic Angel 1 Yellow Watchman Goby 1 Damsel 1 Mandarin I feed my fish 4 times a day, one frozen cube (or the equivilent of dry food) each feeding. All the food seems to get eaten. I have good flow in the tank so any waste (uneaten food or poop) will not settle and rot, but will get filtered out via sock or skimmer. __________________ If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. I remember when zoanthids were called things like "green" and "orange" and not "reverse gorilla nipple." Current Tank Info: 180g reef with all the bells and whistles

05/22/2007, 09:12 AM	#2
pmartin727 Moved On Join Date: May 2007 Location: Orange County California Posts: 426	How big is she? And how much Rock do you have? They need room to swim.

05/22/2007, 10:13 AM	#6
pmartin727 Moved On Join Date: May 2007 Location: Orange County California Posts: 426	She looks fine good choice, the tank looks like you have space. I think you could get away with adding two more anthias.... Just watch your bio load.....Regular water changes. (Every 3-4 weeks). i have a much smaller tank 30g. With 5 fish in it. Everyone told me that was too many (3 tops) but I have had sucess. Including an Anthias (Bartlet Juvy). The key is testing and keeping the boi-load under control.

05/22/2007, 03:49 PM	#11
rickh Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Lost_in_Michigan Posts: 1,306	Here's my take on the situation. The Anthias is a schooling fish--when kept alone they will just hide all the time. Many Anthias also need to be fed several times a day. R

05/22/2007, 04:17 PM	#12
TWallace Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Seattle Posts: 1,464	I disagree on anthias hiding if they're the only anthias. I had my bartlett's as the only anthias in my tank for several months and it was almost always out in the open. I also disagree that most anthias need to be fed several times a day. I feed once a day at most, occasionally skipping a day. I've kept bartlett's, truncatus and lyretail anthias with success. I've never fed any of them more than once a day. Maybe some of the more difficult anthias (evansi, tuka, dispar) require frequent feedings. Lyretails are definitely an easy, hardy anthias. I currently have 3 in my 55 (1 male, 2 female). Very pretty fish, and thankfully pretty cheap, too. I'd like to try ventralis some day, but I've heard they're very picky eaters and some what pricey and hard to find.