Anthias experts: which species for my tank?

[acesq]

Originally Posted by jbvdhp

I saw your ventralis from Jordan, they looked good


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Really? You must have been at the airport when they came in. Did you take anything from that shipment? I picked up the undescribed Cirrhilabrus wrasse as well. Nice fish.

[jbvdhp]

Originally Posted by acesq

Really? You must have been at the airport when they came in. Did you take anything from that shipment? I picked up the undescribed Cirrhilabrus wrasse as well. Nice fish.

I asked Jordan about getting in ventralis anthias and the quality of the ones he's been getting, and he sent me a picture of these, and I'm assuming these are your girls. This was about a week ago


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[acesq]

Yes! That's them, I could recognize them anywhere!! Haha!

all 4 still alive, but 1 is barely hanging on. the other three are eating well...

[ThRoewer]

I suppose yours and mine came from the same collection station.

This were my 3 this morning:



They stayed in that corner all day.

How long does it normally take until these guys settle in and start to get more comfortable?

[acesq]

Its important to get them eating as soon as possible. If they aren't going for the trigger pods, try some frozen

[ThRoewer]

I tried cyclopeez and it seems there was some reaction to it, but I couldn't tell if they were really eating.
After I turned the white light off they came out of that corner though.

[acesq]

I assume you have something for them to hide.in as well? Mine sleep in pvc pieces and are in and out of them during the day. The cyclopeez should get them eating

[ThRoewer]

Yes, a few PVC pipe ends, a rock from my sump and some eggcrate with Cheatomorpha on top to provide a shaded area. My video shows the setup.
By now they are in the pipes.
I found that they start swimming around a bit when I turn the pump off.

This morning it looked like the largest one was eating some Tigger Pods that were floating by. The other ones still seem to ignore them.
I'm just preparing some cyclopees to try those again.
I also have a few adult brine shrimp I will try.

I'm going to leave tomorrow until Wednesday so they better start going for the live pods.
Somehow these guys have it all backwards. Normally all other fish I acclimated would go for the live pods like crazy before even trying the frozen. And these guys are supposed to be planktivores...

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[ThRoewer]

Tried more Tigger Pods, some live adult brine shrimp, LRS fish eggs and cyclopees, but so far no feeding frenzy.
One seemed to snap something, but all still have hollow stomachs.
They are not that shy anyone, just seem not to be interested in food.

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[block head]

Nice fish. I just picked up a trio of saddlebacks. Eating Cyclops and mysis an hour after coming home. I have just actincs on. Mine are supposedly a deepwater species. I noticed a very subtle feeding motions. Sometimes they make big obvious strikes at food. They also sip food with just their mouths easy to miss. Mine are being kept in low flow . Korallia 1 in a 15 gallon. Live rock ,pvc , sand a little macro. No fighting. 2 stay in the open , one is skittish. Most of the time they ride the current. They hid the first hour.

[ThRoewer]

Tonight it looked like the largest was picking some pods. Though all still have pretty hollow bellies.
When there is no movement in the room they like to stand in the relative low flow right below the eggcrate (so close that grammas would be swimming upside down). As soon as I get closer they go closer to the pipes and rock, but don't really hide.

I will load up the tank with more tigger pods in the morning before I leave and then they are on their own until Wednesday. Lets see what I come back to.

[Big E]

If you haven't already I'd get the temp lower, it could very well help in getting them to start feeding.

Some good info here--

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068950

Copps is an expert.................he mentions how important temp is over and over.

[ThRoewer]

Well, that could be a problem right now with the heat wave... and later in my reef tank which runs 23.8°C (75°F) at the lowest in the winter and peaks at 27°C (81°F) in the summer/fall
I really didn't plan on putting these guys with my BSJs... and even so that tank has no heater, it goes up to 27°C during the day in the summer - the BSJ don't seem to mind as long as the nights are cool.

[acesq]

I'm definitely violating the temperature rule. I guess I'll be a good test case for long term health in the high 70s. (77-79). My harem has been in my tank since the end of December 2015. They show no signs of discomfort, eat vigorously and have bright color. If they make it for a full year ill consider that success.

I have had others in the past that lived past a year but were lost to either a power outage or killed by a rogue wrasse.

[davocean]

I've found that if you mix them w/ a species that are less shy, they tend to be quicker to eat when they see that species eating, I happen to like lyretails for this, but I don't see that on your list of options

[ThRoewer]

I've made the same observation with other fish like regal angels. Once you get one eating a new food the other one will follow.

As for the lyretails, they get a bit too big for my tank.

Right now I have lowered the temperature as much as I can - let's see if that helps.

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[suta4242]

Even if you can get the temperature down to 24-25c it will help. Yeah they can handle slightly higher long term, but it's at the expense of shorter lifespan IMO / IME. so they'll grow fast, require more food etc... At higher temperatures they're also more vulnerable to bacterial infections. Not a big deal unless you have an issue in the tank that tilts the balance in favour of undesirable bacteria in the water column.

In quarantine, I used to leave the powerhead on very low except when feeding. They do the usual thing and orient themselves in the flow awaiting to snatch their plankton. Interestingly it's usually the smallest fish that are most courageous initially in being out and about. Live brine has worked well for me with the exception of a supermale. We don't have as much choice as you guys, but I avoid buying the males as it only takes a week or two for a dominant female to transition into a male anyway.

Btw, I was most successful when these were the only anthias in a quiet tank (near three years). I lost half within a month of mixing them with other supposedly quiet species. I would never try with lyretails unless it's in a very big system. Again jme and ymmv

Hth and good luck

[ThRoewer]

I came home to a smoldering hot house and the QT of the ventralis was at 27°C (81°F) and void of any tigger pods. So I added more pods and despite the high temperature they went after them. The largest also seems to go a bit after frozen food, though the other two not really yet.

[acesq]

That's good news. Are they eating any better yet?

[ThRoewer]

At least two of them are eating frozen Calanus now.
Next is to get them to eat a variety of foods well enough to go into a tank with other fish.
A further complication is that they seem to have ich, so at some point they may need treatment.

[ThRoewer]

If hungry enough they also go now for Hikkari Mysis, especially the largest.

On the downside, it seems they got ich.

[ThRoewer]

Well, after these guys do so well I plan to add 2 more.
Carson from Aquatic Collection told me that his wholesaler here still has a bunch of females and also a few males. So I asked him to get me a male and another female.
From what I've seen the current 3 do in the QT they should do fine with 5 in the DT with all the hiding spaces and structured rockwork there.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by Big E

If you haven't already I'd get the temp lower, it could very well help in getting them to start feeding.

Some good info here--

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068950

Copps is an expert.................he mentions how important temp is over and over.

After looking into this a bit more I doubt that they really live in a significant cooler environment:


Fig. 1.9a Temperature profiles in the tropical ocean representing its vertical structure.
Thermocline is the layer of strongest vertical gradient in the temperature profile.
Dashed (- - -) line is for the winter and the continuous line for the summer season.
Source: http://nptel.ac.in/courses/119102007/


Source: http://www.offshoreengineering.com/e...n/oceanography

Based on this there is no significant temperature drop over the first 100 to 200 m.

From fishbase.org for Pseudanthias ventralis:
Environment / Climate / Range Ecology
Marine; reef-associated; depth range 26 - 120 m (Ref. 1602). Tropical; 16°N - 25°S

This means that they are found in the upper third of the mixed layer.
So unless they only exist in upwelling areas they should be fine with a 23 °C to 25 °C temperature range.

[Big E]

I'm just passing on info from people who are successfully keeping ventralis long term. You can do whatever you prefer to do.

When I talked to John (copps) per pm about a year or so ago he told me 75 would be ok.

I don't consider a year or less a success...........they should live at least 5-6 years.

[ThRoewer]

I'm not arguing that cooler isn't better, just that they are not a subtropical or even temperate species.
I'm actually getting the feeling that we run our tanks generally too hot and that most animals may do better if the temperatures would not exceed 25 °C (77 °F).