Fathead or Sunburst Anthias

[Anonymous]

I'm curious to know people's experiences with the Sunburst Anthias, Serranocirrhitus latus. There is much more info about this fish here if you are unfamiliar with it:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... 2/Fish.htm

In particular, what type of lighting do you have it under? How quickly did it acclimate? How soon did it begin feeding? How much does it stay hidden? What tankmates does it have?

 

[Anonymous]

i tries twoand lost them both fairly quickly.

they seldom came out from rock work.

i used 10k MH lighting and fed at least twice dialy.

i prolly won't try them again although i love the looks of them and really am an anthias fan in general.

 

[Anonymous]

First one I had was very thin and hid a lot when I had him in my 29. I moved him to my 220 and he lasted maybe another 6 months then died suddenly. I spent a lot of time spot feeding him but he just pecked at food. The one I have now was eating robustly at the store and is fairly outgoing in my tank - he's always out on the oleft side hanging out under my wavemaker. Trying to feed him at least twice a day as he's still a little thin but much better than the prior one.

 

[leftovers]

Only get 1 they tend to be solitary, adding more tends to result in the eventual deaths of the others by the alpha fish. They are low light lovers and like meaty foods. Once they are acclimated to meaty foods will take to flake. My fat head had been in the tank for over a year till i ph nuked the tank and took him out.

So be sure you have lots of caves and feed meaty foods daily till they are acclimated. Add with either lights off or just blue lights on if you have them.

 

[Anonymous]

i tries twoand lost them both fairly quickly.

they seldom came out from rock work.

i used 10k MH lighting and fed at least twice dialy.

i prolly won't try them again although i love the looks of them and really am an anthias fan in general.

I had almost the exact same experience, except I only had one of them.

A beautiful fish, but I'd avoid them.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

i tries twoand lost them both fairly quickly.

quote]

i can't believe i said that :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Well I've had one for two days now. My experience with it (so far) seems to be uncommon.

It has been out and about ever since I put it in the tank. I haven't seen it try to hide since I put it in, except when another fish made a brief "who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my tank?!?!" aggressive display at it. Otherwise it has been in full view, even when the lights are off. It began eating small pieces of frozen mysis after about two hours. It is pretty finicky which piece it chooses, but the fact that it's eating frozen already is very encouraging. Hope I have some good news in the future with this particular one.

FWIW, 12 gallon cube (connected to 25 gallons of other tanks) with a 96W PC light. It shares the tank with a Candy basslet and Perchlet or "Geometric hawk". The Perchlet is the one that made the aggressive move initially, but now they eat side by side with no problems.

<fingers crossed>

 

[Anonymous]

was it full grown or a juvey?

 

[Anonymous]

It's about 2" from head to end of tail.

 

[Anonymous]

My mother had one, it seemed to be a well adjusted fish, it even ate flake food eventually. (I got an excited email about that!) It was kept under low light, probably NO bulbs, in a 30 gal or so tank. I don't remember the particular tankmates but she just keeps peaceful fish like cardinals or gobies for the most part. It was in a busy room and would hide if you walked right past the tank but then come right out if you sat in a chair and watched.

She had it for a few years, it was fat and happy, but one day just dropped dead.

 

[Anonymous]

Mine lived for 3 years (I'm sure it died of old age, it was huge when I got it) in a 29g loaded with PC's, and a 150 HQI. It ate pretty much the first day, lived on flake and was almost always visiable.

Your making me want another, and I happen to have a very healthy one at work

 

[Anonymous]

It's a great looking fish too!