Anthias help!!

[oceanjunkie]

I have my anthias for about a month now everything has been fine until I added a fire shrimp. He has been active now he just hides behind the rocks. Just did a water change hopefully he will be better. Test water everything was fine before water change. Please help thanks

 

[fort384]

What kind of anthias?

What size tank?

How often are you feeding?

What are the other tank mates?

 

[oceanjunkie]

Not quite sure here's a picture. It's a 75 gal feed once a day and I have two damsels, blue headed wrasse, yellow tang, fire shrimp and two blennies. And some snails and hermit crabs.

 

[fort384]

I can't tell for sure from the pic, but most anthias species prefer to be kept in at least small groups. You could have an issue being that you have some aggressive fish in with it and only 1 anthias.

 

[oceanjunkie]

Thank you I want to get rid of the damsels. I want a reef and fish tank. The damsels were given to me with the tank.

 

[carey]

I agree, he might not feel safe without the safety of numbers. How long has the tang and damsels been in the tank? Those guys can be on the mean side, specially the damsels. I know my yellow tang harasses most fish i add for a while so he could be making the anthias uncomfortable as well.

Maybe changing some liverock around would help? And keeping the whites off for a bit maybe? thats what i did with my squareback anthias, he was super scared and all he did was hide behind the rocks. I kept the lights on blues for a longer period of time each day and after a week or so he started coming out more.

 

[oceanjunkie]

Thank you. He was fine for three weeks he was the last fish I added. I added a fire shrimp and he did a 180 now he just hides now. I want to get rid of the damsels.

 

[carey]

I bet if you got rid of the damsels you'd see some differences in the fish you have. Those damsels can just terrorize a tank and fish. lol I've been lucky, I have never owned one damsel lol.

There has to be something that spooked the anthias since he was ok for a few weeks. Could have been a run in with the damsels or the tang. Kinda hard to tell. I'm almost 100% sure that the shrimp being added isnt the reason he took to the rocks. lol

 

[oceanjunkie]

Oh thank you some much. I am going to work on getting them out today. I don't like seeing my anthias hide.

 

[carey]

My two anthias are probably more active than my tangs in reality, and they make the tank look awesome with how much they swim around.

Not sure what kind of anthias you have but I know mine need to be fed at least twice a day. I feed 2-3 times a day a small amount of food each time. Thats another question, what is yours eating? My female anthias will only eat frozen while the male will eat anything. lol Might be getting low on the energy meter as well, just another thought to throw out there.

 

[oceanjunkie]

Ok thanks I feed once a day I will try feeding twice a day just divide the feeding sizes. Yes he was very active and looked good swimming around.

 

[oceanjunkie]

My anthias is not very active tried feeding him and he won't eat. Don't know what else to do. Please help he has no energy. Trying to catch him right now.

 

[fort384]

Any other signs of distress? Does his eyes look cloudy or his fins raveled? Any signs of infection? Do the gills look normal?

I really think this is a result of tank mates unfortunately.

 

[oceanjunkie]

He just stays hidden now won't come out and eat. His eyes look ok along with the rest of his body. Nothing has changed much since we added him just a fire shrimp. It sucks you can't just pick them up and help them out.

 

[AquaRick]

Any luck getting those Damsels out? I swear they're little demon fish.

 

[oceanjunkie]

Yes they are, no luck removing them yet will be my mission today. They will be leaving my tank one way or another. Found my anthias at the bottom of my tank this morning.

 

[oceanjunkie]

Yes they are demon fish but the DIY fish box they are now gone! No more aggressive fish in this tank!

 

[AquaRick]

Congrats!