NEWS106
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Male (above) and female (below) of theextre-
mely rarely imported
Sacura margaritacea
,
whichgrows to some15cm long.
Pseudanthiaspulcherrimus
;henameof thisaround8cm long species isveryapt:pulcherrimusmeans“mostbeautiful”.
Pseudanthias fasciatus
, length toaround20cm.
femalesasmalesaremuchmoreattractive
incolorationandhave larger fins.
But even if the dealer has onlymales, you
should still buy several specimens by pre-
ference,becausesocialanimalssuchasant-
hias will suffer psychologically if they are
maintainedwithoutconspecifics.Ifyoubuy
twomales then there isa risk thatone indi-
vidual will dominate the other and in the
medium term the subordinate specimen
will dieas a result of thepermanent nega-
tive stress. A group of at least five speci-
mens isalwaysbetter (ifaquariumsizeper-
mits), as theywill thendevelop a complex
social structure that ismost enjoyable to
watchandveryeducational.
Anthias don’t practice any brood care, but
simply release their eggs and sperm into
thewater,where the fertilizedeggsdevelop
among theplankton. Thisstrategy isappa-
rentlyverysuccessful,asanthiasareamong
thecommonest fisheson the reef.
Plankton feeders
Unliketheir largercousinsthegroupers,which
