Opinions on stocking Anthias and other fish

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by doch

Up until we moved, I had a Bartletts and a Sunset/Fathead Anthias in my 55. Unfortunately, we lost the two of them and our flame angel in the move. Oddly, they were in the same bucket, so maybe one of the coarals released something???

Anyways, I had no troubles with the 2 of them at all. They both accepted all kinds of frozen and pellet food (NLS). They kind of interacted, but not really, so I wouldn't count on the Bartletts teaching the Sunset anything. Neither fish was aggressive towards any others... especially not each other. I really liked both of them, and want to try them again. I also want a pair of Barbonus/Blotchy (I prefer to call them Punk Rock) Anthias. They're kind of hard to find though.

Since, I've tried a group of Lyretails. 1 M, 4 F. The male is the only survivor, and he's kind of a jerk... I wish I didn't buy them. I suspect that Dispar may end up the same kind of results, but I have no experience with them personally.

My vote, should you choose to accept it, is for 1-2 Sunset (just make sure that they're eating before you buy them - I didn't do this, maybe got lucky?) and 1-2 Bartletts. The Bartletts tend to swim around a lot, where as the Sunset seemed to stay put. IME at least.

When I say teach I mean teaching by showing that the food is safe to eat. Usually when a picky eater sees a dither fish going for prepared foods they're a bit more brave to go for it. My Midas blenny was awesome for this.

You had the fathead, ya? My understanding is that they are a deepwater species that like to hang out at the bottom or in caves. The Sunsets I am referring to are similar in behavior to the Bartletts but a little more timid.

You had one of each species? They got along alright?

[doch]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

When I say teach I mean teaching by showing that the food is safe to eat. Usually when a picky eater sees a dither fish going for prepared foods they're a bit more brave to go for it. My Midas blenny was awesome for this.

You had the fathead, ya? My understanding is that they are a deepwater species that like to hang out at the bottom or in caves. The Sunsets I am referring to are similar in behavior to the Bartletts but a little more timid.

You had one of each species? They got along alright?

Oops... my bad. Turns out I had the SunBURST/Fathead's name wrong the whole time. I thought it was a Sunset. Oops.

I knew what you meant by 'teaching'... since I had the wrong fish though, their interactions will likely be totally different.

Yes, I had 1 fathead, and 1 Bartlett's and aside from the Fathead deciding that he liked the Bartletts side of the tank, and the Bartletts relocation... no problems.

[Proteus]

I housed two bartletts ,two stocky pinks and two lyretails in my last tank all were readily eating though the bartletts squabbled quite abit. They got along ok. I lost the bartletts in a move.

Now I house two stocky pinks the lyretails and 6 Carberryi. The Carberryi get along great with the stocky pinks but tend to leave the lyretails out. They took to Cyclopes and mysis within a day of having them and now are the first fish in
Line to eat. How long they will live I'm not sure but I feed them three time daily and all seems well