Sunburst Anthias - New Fish Help

shawnriv · Sep 17, 2018

Hello All -

I am in the process of beginning a brand new tank - my old Red Sea Reefer 350. I unfortunately experienced my first tank crash due to an alkalinity spike and high nutrients when I returned home from a two week vacation. Therefore, I am starting over with new sand/rock and the cycle. I currently have my five fish (Yellow Tang, Royal Gramma, two Clowns, and Chromis) in quarantine holding tanks while I get the new tank up and running.

I am looking to add a Sunburst Anthias to the group, but have had poor experience in the past. They've always been my favorite fish and I purchased one about three years ago, put him directly into quarantine...then found it dead the next morning. Since I've read these fish are sometimes very timid and shy, I want to introduce the Sunburst as the first fish in the new tank so it may select it's territory without any competition - cough, cough, Royal Gramma.

Since I was unsuccessful my first attempt, I am looking for help from anyone with Sunburst experience. Is the Sunburst the wrong fish to introduce to a newly cycled tank? Should I quarantine it in a smaller tank first or should I put him right into the new tank?

They are a pretty expensive fish to attain, so I want to make sure I do this correctly this time. For the sake of my wallet and more importantly, the life of the fish.

Thank you for the help in advanced!

suta42 · Sep 18, 2018

Nice choice, they’re a beautiful fish.

What about introducing it a few months after cycling? Maybe add some other quiet fish first? I would make sure the water quality is good and definitely no detectable nitrite, as this indicates you’re still cycling.

As far as keeping them goes, they’re medium difficulty for an anthias. Hardest part is when they’re new, they can be a bit shy feeding. That will depend on the size of the fish, whether there are bullies annoying it, and how recently it was collected. If there are other planktivores it will adjust more readily to captivity. JME.

Really, initial feeding and bullies are the main hurdles to overcome. Get these sorted and they’re easy to maintain.
Assuming you buy a fish that’s been well handled live adult brine gets them interested. Avoid very large or tiny specimens unless you want more work; 5-7cm is a good size. If its in quarantine remember they associate flow with food. So, to get them interested turn up the wavemaker and add the frozen brine, mysis etc... they’re fast learners. Finally, they’re quite capable of eating decent pieces of homemade food. This helps them maintain condition and grow rapidly, while only feeding two or three times a day.

Hope that helps and good luck!

shawnriv · Sep 18, 2018

suta42 said:
Nice choice, they’re a beautiful fish.

What about introducing it a few months after cycling? Maybe add some other quiet fish first? I would make sure the water quality is good and definitely no detectable nitrite, as this indicates you’re still cycling.

As far as keeping them goes, they’re medium difficulty for an anthias. Hardest part is when they’re new, they can be a bit shy feeding. That will depend on the size of the fish, whether there are bullies annoying it, and how recently it was collected. If there are other planktivores it will adjust more readily to captivity. JME.

Really, initial feeding and bullies are the main hurdles to overcome. Get these sorted and they’re easy to maintain.
Assuming you buy a fish that’s been well handled live adult brine gets them interested. Avoid very large or tiny specimens unless you want more work; 5-7cm is a good size. If its in quarantine remember they associate flow with food. So, to get them interested turn up the wavemaker and add the frozen brine, mysis etc... they’re fast learners. Finally, they’re quite capable of eating decent pieces of homemade food. This helps them maintain condition and grow rapidly, while only feeding two or three times a day.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Thank you very much for all the insight. I am thinking of adding my two percula clowns first then the sunburst. Since clowns are not typically aggressive and will usually stick together to a specific area of the tank, it should give the sunburst all the rooms it needs. Also clowns are pretty sociable so maybe it will help a sunburst be less shy. I am thinking of ordering from LiveAquaria since they offer a fish guarantee - my LFS does not. The tank I'm putting together will have plenty of flow since I'm going for SPS (acropora mainly) dominate. I'll probably go against my gut on this one and not quarantine a new sunburst. Mainly because I don't want to stress it out and also my DT will have more hiding areas for the sunburst to become more comfortable.