Anyone have experience with Anthias?

[FSU]

My Chromis are dying off very quickly. Not sure why since I have harder to keep fish in my tank and no other fish are having any problems. Anyway, I want a type of fish that schools. I know Anthias can be aggressive towards the females, but I was reading about Dispar Anthias and a couple others that are supposed to be more peaceful. Anyone have any experience with these or any advice?

[Europhyllia]

chromis are pretty hardy. if you find you can't keep chromis alive anthias may be even harder. I've had bartlett's and dispars and like them both. the abrtletts come from Hawaii and seem a little hardier.
Kristy wrote an article for the newsletter about them. Maybe check that one out?

[FSU]

Yes I realize Anthias are harder to keep. With that said, I have a Unicorn, Hippo, and Sailfin Tang, a Magnificent Foxface which aren't really hard to care for, but not as easy as chromis are supposed to be. Those fish and the rest of the fish in my tank, along with my inverts aren't having any problem at all. After talking with a group of different people, they all shared experiences with losing most or all of the chromis they had at one time or another. Also, my Bangaiis bred and the male is holding, which I may be wrong, but in my opinion shows there isn't anything wrong with my tank or anything I am doing wrong if they are comfortable enough to breed. Again, just my opinion!

[Europhyllia]

What size tank do you have?

http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?58151-March-Newsletter

above is Kristy's article

[FSU]

125g my tangs are 5 inches or so....;p

[FSU]

ty

[Europhyllia]

125 seems very small to me. I have a 215 and even in that it got too tight. The fish just don't read the same books and articles we do.
I had a school of Bartletts and a small group of Dispars and they all swarmed together. It went on like that for several months. Then out of the blue one of the female Bartletts transformed into a male and started fighting with the existing male. The shier Dispars started to hide most of the time and eventually disappeared? The new Bartlett male eventually also finished off the old Bartlett male.
I am not sure why one of the females transformed. Up until then they all seemed to do great. But that change really caused some upheaval in the group.
It's one of those things you have no control over.
Keep in mind though that the smaller the tank the more likely territorial aggression might be

[FSU]

According to Liveaquaria and a few other places, Dispars are peaceful and the Bartlets are semi-aggressive. That is why I was curious about the Dispar. Being peaceful, I was thinking maybe the male isn't so aggressive with the females and I could get away with 3-4 fish for my tank.

[Europhyllia]

I liked the Dispars. I didn't get them on purpose. I got one shipped as a Bartlett's (they are easy to confuse). Lorraine has Dispars. Maybe check with her?

[FSU]

Maybe...if I knew who she was ;p I've had Lyretails before. They were absolutely gorgeous! They always stayed in the front middle of the tank and from what I was told from some people, my male wasn't very aggressive with the females. I only had 3 females. They REALLY brighten the tank up though. I was looking at the Dispars, and the 3 listed below. I really like the Dispars and Ignitus the best though! And again, they are listed as peaceful so I was wanting to know if anyone had any that could give some info!

Ignitus http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+20+2703&pcatid=2703,

Resplendent http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+20+2264&pcatid=2264

Sunset http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+20+56&pcatid=56

[Europhyllia]

BSJF is her user name. :) Her's school with her chromis.

[FSU]

lol, at least someone can keep chromis :P ty

[Europhyllia]

maybe that's the trick? confuse them by throwing in anthias ;)