Bicolor anthias

Care at a glance

Overview

Considered one of the easier anthias to start with, but it still has a small stomach and needs several feedings a day to hold its weight and color. It can be territorial toward its own kind and other similarly built anthias, so give it room if keeping more than one male, but it leaves corals, clams, and ornamental shrimp completely alone and is a safe reef tankmate. Best kept singly or as one male with multiple females in a tank with enough open water for it to hold a loose territory.

In the wild

Found on coastal and outer reef slopes across a wide stretch of the Indo-Pacific, usually in small groups at 5–60 m where current is strong and zooplankton is abundant. It shelters among ledges and overhangs in the rockwork and rises into open water to feed. In the aquarium it wants a large footprint of open swimming room over a rockscape with plenty of caves and an overhang or two for shade, along with brisk water movement broken up by a few calmer pockets to rest in.

Good to know

A protogynous hermaphrodite that lives in small harems: every individual starts out female, and the largest female will convert to male if the group loses its male. Males are pale violet with a yellow back that extends onto the upper tail and an elongated first dorsal spine trimmed in purple, while females are lavender with a more subdued yellow back. It is the most widely distributed species in the genus Pseudanthias, found from the western Indian Ocean to the central Pacific.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Lyretail anthias

  Pseudanthias squamipinnis

  5.1 in (13 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  5.1 in (13 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Huchtii anthias

  Pseudanthias huchtii

  4.7 in (12 cm) · 90 gal (340 L)

  4.7 in (12 cm)90 gal (340 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Square anthias

  Pseudanthias pleurotaenia

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 100 gal (380 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)100 gal (380 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Evansi anthias

  Pseudanthias evansi

  4.7 in (12 cm) · 75 gal (285 L)

  4.7 in (12 cm)75 gal (285 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Purple queen anthias

  Pseudanthias tuka

  4.7 in (12 cm) · 75 gal (285 L)

  4.7 in (12 cm)75 gal (285 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Dispar anthias

  Pseudanthias dispar

  3.7 in (9.5 cm) · 70 gal (265 L)

  3.7 in (9.5 cm)70 gal (265 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)