NEWS106
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Serranocirrhitus latus
isanothergorgeousanthias species.Thesefishesgrow toaround10cm long.
are predators, the anthias are specialized
planktonfeeders.Plankton isthetermusedfor
allorganismsthat live intheopensea.The lar-
gestplanktonicanimal isthustheBlueWhale,
which issimultaneouslythe largestanimalon
Earth.Butthetermplankton isn’tusedsopre-
cisely incommonparlanceandchieflydeno-
tessmallorganisms.
Thusanthias snapupeverything that floats
free in thewater and fits into theirmouths.
The acclimatizationof delicate species so-
metimes requires live food,especially if the
fishes are very timid. They will then be so
afraidof theirowner that frozenordry food
willhave longsincedisappearedbeforethey
have calmed down again. But once they
havesettled in,almostallanthiaswillaccept
“dead foods”such as the above-mentioned
frozenordry foodwithoutproblem.
Evensomanyaquaristsregardanthiasasdif-
ficult to keep.Why so?These fishes require
foodseveral timesperday inordertoremain
healthy,astheyaren’tableeat foodtocreate
reserves.Butwho can feed fishes 5-7 times
daily?The answer is very simple– an auto-
mated feeder.Onceyouranthiaswilleatdry
food,thenyoucanuseanautomated feeder
toprovide theseplankton-feederswith the
typeof feeding they require.
Unfortunately a lot of mistakes are made
with automated feeders anddry food.Dry
foods,be they flakeor granulate, areperis-
hable foods thatneed tobestored inanair-
tight container in a cool,darkplace.Other-
wisethevaluableunsaturated fattyacidsbe-
come oxidized, vitamins are destroyed by
light andheat, andbacteria and fungus at-
tack thecarbohydratesandproteins.Hence
such foods arebest kept in the refrigerator,
and ideally theautomated feedershouldbe
refilleddaily.
Onceopenedapot of food shouldbeused
within fourweeksat the latest.Anyonewho
buys largecontainersshould freezethebulk.
If inadditionyoualso feed themmorningand
eveningwith frozen food,thenanthiasarenot
onlygorgeous,butalsofairlyproblem-free,and
willrepeatedlyenchantyouwiththeirsplendid
colorationandtheir interestingsocialbehavior.
