Lyretail Anthias

[edit] Overview

An icon of the coral reef, this anthias is ubiquitous in the Indo-Pacific, often forming large feeding shoals that hang as a ­brilliant curtain over current-prone reefs. It is one of the easier anthias to feed and keep in the home aquarium.

[edit] Feeding

Carnivore; zooplankon eater. Feed meaty foods such as frozen mysid shrimp at least three times a day.

[edit] Aquarium Compatibility

While a shoal makes a lovely addition to a spacious reef aquarium, care must be taken in creating this assemblage. Add a single male and a half dozen or more females, introducing them simultaneously. (Males have a purple cast and an elongated ray streaming from their dorsal fin; females are orange.) Once acclimated, this species can be quite aggressive toward other zooplankton-feeders (e.g., dart gobies, fairy and flasher ­wrasses).

[edit] Breeding/Propagation

Egg scatterers that produce pelagic eggs, often in midwater mating rituals. Both eggs and larvae that drift with plankton in the water column and settle back onto a reef at about the time of metamorphosis. These are among the most challenging types of marine fishes to propagate in captivity.

[edit] Notes

In smaller aquariums, it will fight with other anthias (it is one of the more aggressive members of the anthias clan). Keep singly unless you have a large tank—100 gal. (380 L) or more. If kept in groups, the male will dart through his harem and occasionally chase females. In a large tank, if there are lots of females, one of them may change sex and begin competing with the resident male.

Category: Species