What's the best schooling anthias?

[Tangs Rule]

I have a 150 FOWLR. My fish are a 7" black tang, a 5" purple tang, a 3" vlamingi tang, a 1" blue hippo tang, a pair of watanabei's about 3" each, and 3" maroon stripe clown.

Down the road, I am looking to get 3 or 4 anthias that will school. I've read it's best to get 1 male and the rest females. What is the best anthias to school? I've read good things about the bartlett's, squareback and borbonius.

I have about 110 lbs of live rock, with a wet dry (will be changing to a sump sometime soon) with a protein skimmer and a uv sterilizer.

 

[reefman]

its more about the # than the species. the catch is most tanks can't house that many. they need a lot of swimming space.

tip: get the smallest size n have more than a few.




hint: bartlett

 

[D1J8Z]

borbonius have not been known to school- but thats only what I have heard/read

Your best bet IMO would be to buy a TRIO from Liveaquaria.com but thats just me

 

[h20 freak]

I have heard the blotchy anthias are hard to school or won't school at all. Heres an article dealing with anthias and LA http://melevsreef.com/liveaquaria_anthias.html .

He mentions the poor shipping of anthias because of there high O2 intake so buying from a reputable dealer like LA is reccomended if you plan to go the online route. Lyretails and dispars are my personal favorites, but honestly, for the most part its your personal preference because most school.

 

[Tangs Rule]

Thanks for the tips and article. So basically I need to decide between lyretail and bartletts at this point. Those pictures make lean towards the lyretails as their coloration is beautiful. Seeing them in that lighting makes me feel like I should invest in a better light (all I have is a strip light on the tank.)

What's the max amount of fish I can keep with the fish I already have? 1 male and 4 females?

 

[Bob 1000]

I have a mixture of regular and deep sea bartletts, 10 all together in a 180 display.. My total water volume is a little over 300 gallons...

 

[Tangs Rule]

I doubt my volume is that high.

 

[Bob 1000]

I wouldn't go with more than 4, and one of them has to be a male..

 

[Tangs Rule]

That's what I've read, 1 male and the rest females. 4 sounds good.

 

[dickenscd]

Bartlett will be my first choice. They are colorful, active, and very easy to feed and keep.

I had 7 in my 175G bowfront tank for 6 months, 2 of them were males at the beginning, but 3 of them disappeared or jumped out of the tank, and only left 4. I guess some fighting between 2 males causing the problems. I think 4 is a good number for 150G tank.

Have 3 in my other 215G tank, but the male seems not as colorful as the male who has 3 wives in the 175G tank.

James

 

[that fish guy]

I have schooled square anthias before but what I have read is that when you buy them you have to buy them in a 1 male to 3 female ratio and when you buy them you should buy them already together and sold as a group. I know the fish store by me sells anthias in groups like that. That is how I bought mine.

 

[that fish guy]

I have also schooled lyretail anthias. I bought 1 male and 2 females. I bought them not as a trio but bought all 3 at the same time (all 3 anthias were in different tanks). They schooled right away. I was told though if you do not buy them as a trio or group but buy them individually, you MUST buy all of the ones you want to school at the same time or they have a very small chance of schooling.

 

[meschaefer]

Bartlett will be my first choice. They are colorful, active, and very easy to feed and keep.

I had 7 in my 175G bowfront tank for 6 months, 2 of them were males at the beginning, but 3 of them disappeared or jumped out of the tank, and only left 4. I guess some fighting between 2 males causing the problems. I think 4 is a good number for 150G tank.

Have 3 in my other 215G tank, but the male seems not as colorful as the male who has 3 wives in the 175G tank.

James

Bartlett's are hard to keep in a group do to intra species aggression.

 

[Bob 1000]

I have 10 anthias.. 2 males deep sea, and 7 females... I also have 1 non deep sea that is more yellow than purple that have been getting along well in the last couple of months.. I think it depends on the size of the tank they are kept in...

 

[Tangs Rule]

I think I am going to try lyretail, they have amazing coloring.

 

[knockout]

Hey what did you ended up doing... I am going thru the same process... what to do!!!!:splitspin

 

[pmoneyt]

i have 3 bartletts and 4 bicolor that i just added, the 3 bartletts pretty much school and the bicolors are starting to school with them.

i will keep u post on the schooling thing, and i have all seven in a 120 reef.

 

[Tangs Rule]

I went with the lyretail anthias, bought 1 male and 3 female. They really didn't school.

 

[Tito]

I went with the lyretail anthias, bought 1 male and 3 female. They really didn't school.

Sorry to chime in so late but for what it's worth - I have 1 male and 4 female Lyretails - they don't school.

In fact most wont school unless you put in a Grouper - schooling is for protection.

Maybe Green Chromis but not Anthias.

If you are disapointed and want to move them - give me a holla.