anthias fish????

walkytalky

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?

Pasfur

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.

walkytalky

thanks for the input. I feel better. 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

okiemavis

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.

Kellsindell

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.

Pasfur

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.