Problem with coloration in Anthias
 

Hi,

I have a shoal of lyretail anthias, Pseudanthias squamipinnis, in my 700 gal reef system. They have been in the tank for several years but gradually their colouration has changed from the bright orange of the females and purple/pink of the male to a dull 'dirty' shade of their respective colours. General health seems fine though.

I'm certain that it is a nutrition issue. I feed my tank several times a day vith a variety of foods including my own home made mix of blended seafood and Ocean nutrition Prime Reef flake and Formula Two pellet. The rest of the tank occupants show excellent health and colouration, especially my powder blue tang. Tank also has a large refugium attached stuffed with caulerpa and a DSB.

I have over the past week started to feed much more frozen food such as brine shrimp, mysis and krill in an effort to add more pigment to their diet.

I would be interested to know what foods other people have used to increase the colouration of their anthias. I want to get their bright colours back before I purchase more to enlarge the shoal.

Thanks in advance,

Cam.

I have had this problem in the past. Nothing has worked for me. Wish I could be of more help.

It could be that the bigger the lyretails get the more their color fades naturally.

Have you tried to get them to eat krill? My Volitan Lion is a deeper red color after I started to feed him krill, also I know that salmon flesh is pink because of the krill it eats, lots of animals in the wild depend on what they eat to gain their color like flamingos...and such. So maybe the krill might darken them up to their normal colors.

salmon also helps to color up fish in FW. for SW i have no experiecne with salmon other then my big preditors but they dont ever change color so i would say try the krill and mabey some piece of salmon and see if it works. i mean its not like there getting brighter by just sitting there. i say go for it. try some new foods but i wouldnt expect to see drastic color changes right away either so i would add different foods over the coarse of a few months and see if it makes any difference.
good luck

Mark

I feed my lyretails cyclopeeze to keep their color. I also soak all the other food they eat in selcon and Zoe. Also feed them spirulina brine and brine with omega 3 and this seems to be working good for me. Hope this helps.

I would use the cyclopeeze. It has red pigments & very nutritous for them.

The reds and orange will just pop when you start feeding them cyclopeeze.

Very good stuff. Just remember, a little goes a long way. Frozen is usually a bit better as it disperses into the water column easier.

I had the same problem with the colors........definately a nutritional issue. The past month I lost 2 females at the 5 year mark.

I won't get these again as 5 years isn't a long enough time for me. I want fish that last 10+ years.

Cyclopeeze is so small how can it make a diffrence? I've occasionally fed it but never on a consistent basis. Other than a treat I can't see how fish can get much from it. Maybe it has the punch a vitamin has for us humans?

Cyclopeeze is an excellent food for anthias, it remains in the water column for extended feeding times so what it lacks in size is made up for in quantity.
The cyclops offered by H2O Life is brackish water, as is their mysis shrimp which is great for marine fish. Shrimp in general will enhance color.
I'd also suggest New Life Spectrum pellet foods and some Aquatrol spirulina flake food.
Joe

Thanks for the advise everyone. I'll keep up my shrimp feeding regime and start adding cyclopeze again. It seems flake etc. just doesn't seem to have the right pigments for anthias, but is great for other fish.

Thanks,

Cam.

Second cyclopeeze and I have had good luck with the vibra-gro brand of pellet food for color enhancement - I have been told foods with lots of carotenes in it will help with coloration.

I fed shrimp, formula one, mysis,clams, scallops. They didn't lose color till about a year ago.

Anyone with Anthias over 5 years old?

Nothing against cyclopeeze but it's only been around for a couple of years.......don't see how it has this proven track record..........yet.
Anthias have high metabolisms & the amount of cyclopeeze you'd need to nourish them would be ridiculous. I would not consider it a staple.

I have some anthias that are about 7 years old. Their color has faded and I found this thread looking for a solution. Feed PE mysis, spirulina brine, and regular mysis, and PE pellets daily. I will give the cyclopeeze a try. I have frozen PE cyclopeeze on hand but don't use it very often.