Red Belted Anthias

The Red Belted Anthias is a beautifully colored anthias with a bold personality. This hardy beauty animates the reef aquarium with its eye-catching medley of warm pink, orange and red coloration. True to its namesake, the Red Belted Anthias is easily distinguished by a vertical belt or band of red coloration that nearly perfectly bisects the posterior and anterior halves. Though hardy and gorgeously colored, the Red Belted Anthias displays aggression towards conspecifics and other anthias and must be housed appropriately to ensure aquarium harmony.

As with many Anthias species, the Red Belted Anthias can be kept singly or in small shoals comprised of several females with one male per group. In its natural habitat, the Red Belted Anthias is found in aggregations around isolated coral heads and rubble patches at depths between 65 to 436 feet.

To recreate habitat for the Red Belted Anthias, aquascape your aquarium liberally with live rock, creating a steep reef profile with numerous caves and other hiding places. Be sure to maintain open areas and plenty of surface area for proper water oxygenation. Members of the Anthias group all share the trait of being hermaphroditic. If a dominant male perishes, the largest female of the group can morph into a fully functioning male to take its place.

Once acclimated to a new aquarium, Anthias do best when fed a varied diet of frozen mysis shrimp, enriched frozen brine shrimp, and over time may eat high-quality flake foods offered in small quantities throughout the day. An attached refugium cultivating copepods and amphipods provides a steady supply of nutritious live food sure to keep this active planktivore content.