A Most Noble and Notable Anthias

Regular readers in this space are used to us waxing nostalgic about all of the amazing Anthias that are available for aquarium enthusiasts. Most of us have either had or wanted Dispar or Lyretail Anthias at one time or another, and with good reason. There are very few other fish that tick all the boxes of colorful, gorgeous, schooling, active and aquarium appropriate size. What some of you haven't seen, is the most noble of this genus, Pseudanthias nobilis. These fish are vastly less common in Local Fish Stores than pretty much all the other Anthias species, but even more gorgeous. If you're the kind of aquarist that is looking for all the color and activity, but need something less common, the Noble Anthias is going to check these boxes is a big way.

If you're into the naming part of the fish geek world, “Pseudanthias” roughly translates from Greek as “false pickerel” (which we don't really see, I mean, what do Anthias and Pickerel have in common looks wise?) The nobilis part of the name doesn't take an ancient languages scholar to figure out. They are a gorgeous fish, a bit bigger than the Dispar, and more like the Bimaculatus or the Charlenae in shape, and the males will develop the long trailing dorsal fin of the Hutchi. Females are dominantly pink, while the males achieve a burnished gold color with pink fins and a bright fuchsia spot on their pectoral fins.

The Noble Anthias is a deep-water fish, rarely seen less than 150 feet deep. They're usually found hovering in current above deepwater reefs and rocky outcrops, primarily in Indo-Pacific waters. They're most often found in large mixed sex and specie groups, with a male to female ratio of five or so females to every male. When this distribution gets out of whack, the most dominant females will turn into males to compensate (it turns out that hermaphrodites are pretty common in the fish world.) We suggest keeping them in this same distribution; keep no less than five and one can be a male, five females are also fine, over time you may even get to watch one of them morph! If you have a very large aquarium, say 180 gallons plus, you may be able to get away with keeping more than one male, as long as you also increase the number of females in the group to maintain the harem numbers in the same distribution as they are found in the wild.

Nobles will get along with pretty much everything else that you're likely to keep in an aquarium with a few exceptions. Their flowing tails will become targets for notorious fin nippers like Pufferfish. On the other end of the spectrum, they are boisterous once acclimated and may scare very timid fish (like Firefish) into hiding. As planktivores (they eat little critters that are suspended in current), Nobles are very unlikely to bother corals and other inverts like snails and shrimp, unless they shrimp are very small like those in the Perclimines genus.

As mentioned above, Pseudanthias nobilis in the wild will spend their whole day eating zooplankton out of the water column. This takes a ton of energy as the currents in their wild home are very strong and as a result, they require a lot of feeding. Since most of us can't stay home and feed our fish tiny meals all day long, we suggest at least three feedings daily, and more would be better, if possible. Luckily, Noble Anthias segue over to captive foods well if kept in groups, and even finicky fish can be trained by feeding thawed foods like Gamma Foods including Copepods, Artemia, Chopped Prawn, Mysis, and their full suite of enhanced Brine Shrimp along with some live brine or mysis. We also strongly suggest getting a high-quality pellet into this feeding regimen, for two very good reasons. First, quality Pellets like Nutramar Complete will offer them a broad range of nutrients in a very protein dense package. Second, once the fish are used to pellets, you can utilize an automatic feeder for one or more of their daily feedings, making it much easier to get them as many meals a day as they need.

Pseudanthias nobilis is so rarely seen, that very few of us around here have seen them before, and pretty much all of us wanted them immediately. There is a catch though in that these fish aren't the best fit for inexperienced aquarists. In addition to the demanding feeding schedule, these fish also need a large, well-established tank that offers very stable water chemistry and clean water. The environment that Noble Anthias comes from has little to no fluctuation in temperature or pH that is also super clean! Specific gravity needs to be very solid at 1.025-1.026, pH should not be deviating more than .2 from day to night and never below 8. The temperature is similarly important and should be on the cool side for reef tanks; 70-75 would be ideal, and whatever you choose should not fluctuate at all.

Noble Anthias are going to get bigger than Lyretails or Dispar Anthias, and you should expect the males to get at least four and a half to five inches long and the females just a hair smaller. This size, and their need to be kept in groups correlates to keeping them in a fairly large display. A group of five or six should have a tank that is 120 gallons or bigger. They don't need a ton of footprint and will do well in “tall” format tanks. With Noble Anthias, more is always better; more fish, more room, more water, more stability. They'll be happiest in a ton of flow, at least 10x the tank volume in total (for a 120-gallon tank, this means 1200gph worth of pumps and powerheads.) They are quite used to very strong, consistent flow, and will relish this in the home aquarium. High flow, good overturn and low temps are all good for dissolved oxygen levels, which in turn is good for pretty much everything in an aquarium. Rockwork should offer plenty of cover, and places to hide, but the emphasis of your design should be open space with turbulent current to mimic the Noble's native home. Like any fish that is a strong swimmer, an Anthias can end up on the floor if it bolts in the wrong direction, so cover their display to protect your Uber-Anthias from an untimely demise, dried up on the floor.

If you and your tank are ready, the Noble Anthias is a fish that is worth being the cornerstone of your display. for your consideration. These fish are incredibly active, stunningly gorgeous and have a benefit that most other Anthias don't. Rarity. When your fish geek pals come over to ogle the tank, you'll know they've never seen these before. As good as these pictures look there is nothing like seeing these fish in person, no matter how good the photograph or video is, it just doesn't do this animal justice. You ready? Your Local Fish Store can get these for you from us today, but don't wait too long, who knows when the next time we'll see them is!