# anthias fish????



## walkytalky (Sep 24, 2008)

I have a 30 gallon salt water tank. In it I have
crushed coral
30lb live rock
skimmer, ac 300
2 power heads.
AS for fish I have 
ocellaris clown (small)
yellow watchman gobie
stary blennie
I would like to get some soft coral.
I did have a blue damsel which i returned today too aggressive but helped cycle my tank.
Now I went and got 2 anthias fish. Did I do the right thing? 
I asked the lfs about them, I wasn't 100% sure what they were (neither did the guy who was helping me and said he has 4 sw tanks) To make a long story short, after about 15 min waiting and 5 guys coming to look at them told me that they would be a nice community fish and would do well in a 30 gal tank and do better in pairs.
When I got home and looked them up on the internet I was surprised to find out that they are better in a 50 gal tank. Did I get suckered again into buying something that I shouldn't have?


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Anthias are a good fish for your size aquarium, and it is true they do best in pairs. The only problem I see is that they are a difficult fish to keep, requiring a mature system. I would personally never put Anthias in an aquarium which has been set up for less than 5 or 6 months.

The lesson here is to never buy fish on impulse. A sure way to be unsuccesful in saltwater is to make decisions on the fly, without the knowledge or research necessary to succeed.


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## walkytalky (Sep 24, 2008)

thanks for the input. I feel better.:-D I am glad I can keep them. So far they are doing very well. Except they don't want to eat. Which I am not worried as yet. I feed the others on a routine basis so there will be food if they get hungry.
I wasn't really buying on impulse, I returned the blue damsel to a store that takes them back (which I don't often go to)and thought I would get ocellaris clown. But they didn't have any. And my husband (who knows nothing about fish or tanks) spotted these ones and I looked around first before I asked this guy.(which I will probably never do again).;-)
LESSON LEARNT


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## okiemavis (Nov 10, 2007)

Pasfur's right, and keep a very close eye on your parameters. How long the aquarium takes to become well established can really vary depending on the quality of your live rock.


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## Kellsindell (Sep 15, 2008)

one more thing, i'm pretty sure it's anthias that need to be fed at least 2 times a day. it's one of the only fish that's like this.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Kellsindell said:


> one more thing, i'm pretty sure it's anthias that need to be fed at least 2 times a day. it's one of the only fish that's like this.


Agreed, that Anthias require multiple feedings daily. I would also suggest that most non-predatory fish would benefit greatly from several daily feedings. This would apply to any fish that feed on copepods / amphipods and fish that graze on algae.


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