Anthias Diet

Despite their diminutive stature and bright colors, anthias actually belong to the grouper and sea bass family. The big challenge with keeping anthias in captivity is preventing their bright hues from fading. Good nutrition can help your anthias keep their brilliant coloration.

  1. In the Wild

    • Int he wild, anthias tend to school near a coral head in a harem and pick food out of the water column. Despite living on a reef, they rarely eat food from the sea floor or the reef structure. Mostly, anthias live on tiny zooplankton, animals that swim in the open water. This often includes tiny swimming crustaceans, like copepods and tiny shrimp. Reproducing this diet in captivity is the key to getting these fish to thrive.

    Foods in Captivity

    • In captivity, different species of anthias have slightly different favorites but eat essentially the same foods. All favor meaty foods, since these fish have a primarily carnivorous diet. In captivity, most anthias will learn to take dry and frozen aquarium foods. Include lots of meat-based foods, like finely chopped seafood and prepared foods designed for carnivorous saltwater fish. Some individual anthias stubbornly refuse to eat any foods other than live fare. You can feed them live foods like mysis and brine shrimp. You can pick these up at most high-end pet shops.

    How Often to Feed

    • In the wild, anthias typically eat small amounts of food throughout the day. Unlike most aquarium fish, you want to feed anthias many small meals throughout the day instead of one or two large meals. Anthias naturally adapted this snacking method of feeding, so they have trouble surviving on one or two meals daily. Never feed more than your fish can eat in a few minutes.

    Preventing Fading

    • The biggest problem hobbyists face with anthias is fading. These fish have brilliant colors and need a varied diet to maintain them. In particular, anthias need a diet rich in carotenoids -- a group of red, orange and yellow pigments -- in order to maintain their coloration. In the wild, anthias usually get these from the crustaceans they eat. However, in captivity you can provide these with salmon and herring meat, as well as crab and shrimp. If you use grocery store seafood to feed your anthias, dice it finely for the fish. You can also supplement other foods by soaking them in liquid supplements. You can find these supplements online or at high-end pet shops.