Pyronotanthias?!? A whole new genus of Anthias!

Anthias are some of the most beautiful fish available for our reef tanks. They've even been bred in captivity - but their care requirements are not always easy to meet. They often need specialized care, and if you can meet that then these amazing fish will provide endless activity and brilliant colors swimming in the open waters of your reef tank. But, in order to know how to care for those anthias, you need to know what they're called. It used to be that pretty much all our anthias were in the Pseudanthias genus, and we still see that today online and in a lot of local fish stores. But it's not accurate, and it hasn't been for a while now.
Skip around the video using these timecode:
0:00 Anthiadinae reclassification
2:35 Mirolabrichthys anthias
4:13 Nemanthias anthias
6:16 Pyronotanthias anthias
7:53 Anthias care tips
Mirolabrichthys now contains only three species - M. evansi (Evan's anthias, my favorite!), M. tuka, and M. pascalus.
Nemanthias, the thread fin anthias like N. carberryi (the Carberryi anthias) and N. barlettorum (Bartlett's anithas) have been expanded to include more fish like N. bicolor (Bicolor anthias), N. dispar (Dispar anthias), N. ignitus (Ignitus anthias), and N. regalis.
There's also a whole new genus named Pyronotanthias - characterized by red or orange blotches or streaks starting towards the second half of their body. You'll recognize species like P. lori (Queen or Tiger Queen anthias) and P. flavoguttatus (Red-Saddled anthias) but there are nine species in this genus. If the anthias you're looking at have red blotches or stripes near their tail, then it's in this new genus.
Pseudanthias does still exist, and it contains species like P. squamipinnis, the Lyretail anthias which are another very common species that we keep.
We also discuss a bit about the care requirements of anthias, and some tips on telling male anthias vs female anthias.
(now Mirolabrichthys tuka)
Pseudanthias_tuka by JennyHuang
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
(now Mirolabrichthys pascalus)
Pseudanthias pascalus by Kevin Lino at NOAA
www.flickr.com/photos/noaapho...
(now Nemanthias dispar)
Pseudanthias dispar by Rickard Zerpe
www.flickr.com/photos/krokodi...
We need to get those names updated! This would be a great time to make some edits on Wikipedia, as most of the articles on Anthias are outdated and need to be updated with the new data.
You can find the paper, which includes all the Figures that are called out in the video, at doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5092...
GILL, A. C. . (2022). Revised definitions of the anthiadine fish genera Mirolabrichthys Herre and Nemanthias Smith, with description of a new genus (Teleostei: Serranidae). Zootaxa, 5092(1), 41-66. doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5092...
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[@chrisrobertson3775]

Enjoyed this a lot. Nice to see someone who's really interested in properly identifying species. (BTW, it's AnTHIas, not Antheeas. Yes, I'm nitpicking :) )

[@anthonygill7877]

Nice job on reporting my paper. Thanks for that. Hope to have further works on the group out soon.

[@ReefMan]

It was a great one to read! I’m really glad that I found it, and look forward to your next!

[@anthonygill7877]

@@ReefMan Thanks. I really appreciate that you picked this up and took the time to explain it. I'm also interested in your comments on keeping anthias, as I'm a hobbyist as well as a scientist.

[@aletaquinn2075]

Great to see the hobby picking up on awesome taxonomic work!

[@ReefMan]

I wish more of the aquarium industry and hobby would take it more seriously. We’re stuck in our ways, but I’ll do what I can!

[@WickedEfie]

Nice, another great vid! :)

[@sunnygoold9449]

Viewers in Ukraine? Wow - yeah I hope they are safe. Great insight. I have found it's VERY difficult to get good information on keeping Anthias because the care requirements for each species seem different and undocumented. Wrasse are also really variable in their requirements but you can find great info on them.

[@jasoninmichigan6078]

E/V Nautilus starts a new expedition today!

[@lkapitan8232]

Interesting information, I've always wanted these, but the success rate is just too low.

[@ReefMan]

I had good success with some Evansi anthias years back, I hope that I can recreate that with these. They take frequent feeding, and with that you need to also maintain water quality, but so far I think all these fish are eating and that's the first hurdle! For sure very fragile fish though.

[@onlyfins7729]

you seem to have a love for theses fish i think you should try breed yours when a male appears from your group? btw this was a great video and i would love to watch more species talked in depth about .like damsel or tang or even something different like inverts if the papers are out there haha

[@ReefMan]

I would love to try!! Getting them to spawn probably wouldn’t be hard, but then collecting the eggs and culturing phyto and the live foods just takes more space than I’ve got. The paper linked in the other video lays it all out, it’s very doable for someone with the space. They used large circular tanks with special drains to skim the eggs off.

[@rogerthat6451]

Hi Reefman. Great video. I really like your shoal of Evansi anthias. Did you obtain them online? If so from where? That is a very difficult species IME. I’ve noticed that European reefers seem to have better luck with them. Maybe it has to do with distance between collector and hobbyists. I’d love to hear any pointers you might have for successfully keeping this species. What have you been feeding them? Are they taking pellets yet?

[@ReefMan]

I bought them from Ocean Devotion. They’re eating cyclops, mysis, and canulus. They’re starting to show some interest in pellets but nothing really eaten yet. I think the key is feeding them often, and so I’ve been feeding them every couple hours throughout the day. I hope they do well!

[@rogerthat6451]

@@ReefMan Good luck with them! Maybe do a follow up video in a month or two.

[@timjohnson3913]

Great video and thanks for the Ocean Devotion recommendation for purchasing Anthias. I’ve been refreshing websites daily to look for Anthias, but the stock variety is pretty sparse. Are there any other sites you can recommend for purchasing Anthias? I have a quarantine tank and am home all day so pre-quarantined is not necessary for me.

[@ReefMan]

I bought these from ocean devotion. I had to just ask them for them though, they were not originally listed on their site.

[@ReefMan]

I’ve bought anthias from Live Aquaria in the past as well

[@timjohnson3913]

@@ReefMan Well that happened fast. I reached out to Ocean Devotion for fish they did not have listed. He was able to acquire Sunset Anthias for me, and verify they were the type that I wanted (from the Maldives). They are in my QT now and they are gorgeous and voracious! I still in shock that I finally have these beautiful fish; thanks for info as I wouldn’t have these otherwise!

[@ReefMan]

I’m glad they hooked you up!! And they’re even eating! Good luck with the quarantine!

[@timjohnson3913]

@@ReefMan Thank you! I also got a Princess (Smithvanizi) from them and she was immediately eating Reef Nutrition’s R.O.E. & spirulina brine shrimp. I couldn’t believe how well it worked out as it was my first shipping experience. I’d highly recommend the ROE btw, as it was the only thing my Purple Queen would initially eat; a month later and the Purple Queen is now devouring the spirulina brine shrimp as well.

[@timjohnson3913]

Can you share your quarantine protocol for Anthias? I’ve lost two of 6 in quarantine to what I believe was internal uronema. I started with observational quarantine and then was convinced to try the current protocol on reef2reef but I wonder if something else is more optimal specifically for anthias.

[@ReefMan]

To be honest, knowing how sensitive these are, I paid Ocean Devotion in LA to quarantine them for me. I’ve had anthias through tank transfer in the past, but it’s key to get them eating before doing that since it’ll stress them.

[@jules2545]

Hi, how are you getting on with the Stratons, from a person who is about to buy one :-)

[@ReefMan]

I really like them! Acropora, Zosnthids, and LPS also all seems to do well.

[@jules2545]

@@ReefMan Thanks, do they have an app?

[@ReefMan]

They do not. And their website is usable on mobile, but best on a tablet or desktop with a mouse.