Squarespot Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia)
Squarespot Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia) known to tropical fish keeping enthusiasts as the Pink Square Anthias, Mirror Basslet or Squarespot Fairy Basslet is found throughout Indonesia, Micronesia and Samoa. Its range in the Pacific Ocean extends from Indonesia to Samoa, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to New Caledonia and the Rowley Shoals in the eastern Indian Ocean, and Christmas Island.
Squarespot Anthias are normally found in large schools and harems of one male with many females over the deep water current swept coral colonies, drop offs, and outer reef slopes of their range at depths from 30 to almost 600 feet. Divers frenquently encounter large shoals a few meters above the edges of current swept drop offs feeding on microscopic organisms drifting in the currents.
Squarespot Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia)
Squarespot Anthias are sexually dimorphic. Adult males have a vivid pinkish purple body color with a prominent square shaped violet patch on their flanks and caudal fins with long filamented streamers. Squarespot Anthias body and patch colors are highly variable, as is the size of the patch which can be absent, or up to half the size of the body.
Adult females have a bright yellow orange body color with two rather thin iridescent blue stripes running from the eye across the gill plates and generally no streamers on their caudal fins.
Males are slightly larger and longer than females. Juvenile Pseudanthias pleurotaenia are solitary, less colorful, and usually remain close to shelter.
A single Squarespot Anthias can be housed in a mature reef or FOWLR aquarium of at least 130 gallon capacity with a coralline substrate, large amounts of live rock arranged into caves, crevaces, ledges and overhangs for them to hide among, and plenty of free swimming space.
A small harem of one male and several females or a group of females are best kept in at least a 180 gallon tank with the same decor.
To replicate their natural deep water reef slope environment, multiple wavemakers are needed to provide strong, continuous water movement and proper oxygenation necessary for them to thrive.
Because they require constant small feedings; heavy filtration, aggressive protein skimming, regular water changes, and media reactors are required to keep nitrates and phosphates at zero.
An aquarium chiller should be considered to maintain water temperatures at their recommended range, and because they are excellent jumpers; a tight fitting mesh lid or glass cover is recommended to keep them in the tank.
Mirror Basslets are completely reef safe and will generally ignore corals and invertebrates. They prefer lower light levels and need plenty of shaded areas in the tank to retreat to. A lighting system that provides a gradual dawn to dusk lighting cycle can greatlly benefit this species if your reef system is brightly lit for corals.
Although Squarespot Anthias can be kept singly, as a mated pair, or in small groups of females; they are best kept in a harem of one male with 4 to 6 females. If you cannot find a male, purchase a group of juvenile females and within a few weeks, the largest, most dominant female will naturally transition into a colorful male. Never introduce multiple males into the same tank, as they will fight to the death.
Because Pseudanthias pleurotaenia are timid, easily stressed, and slow to feed; they should be housed with peaceful, slow-moving, non-aggressive tank mates that will not intimidate them or outcompete them for food
Compatible tank mates include Foxfaces, Tangs, Midas Blennies, Watchman Gobies, Fairy Wrasses, Firefish and Dartfish, Mandarinfish, and Invertebrates.
Avoid conspecific males, large angels, large wrasses, aggressive tangs, surgeonfish, dottybacks, damsels, and predatory Groupers, Lionfish, or Eels.
Breeding Squarespot Anthias in a home aquarium is virtually impossible. Healthy harems will display spawning behavior and even release eggs in an aquarium environment but raising the larvae to adulthood is impossible without specialized kreisel tanks.
Squarespot Anthias are pelagic broadcast spawners. During the evening, the male and female will swim upward in the water column and simultaneously release their eggs and sperm. The tiny floating eggs are usually sucked into the filtration system, protein skimmer, or eaten by other fish in the tank before they can be captured.
The microscopic larvae need microscopic copepods like Parvocalanus crassirostris of a spceific micron size to survive. The primitive larvae lack eyes or mouths, and are unable to eat rotifers or baby brirne shrimp. The larval fry have to drift as plankton in a specialized, perfectly circular flow tank for about a month before they lmetamorphose into recognizable juveniles.
The Oceanic Institute & Georgia Aquarium and aquaculture companies like Biota have successfully cultured and captive bred Squarespot Anthias for sale to tropical fish keeping enthusiasts on a limited basis, but most offered for sale are wild caught.
Squarespot Anthias are planktivores that in the wild gather in large shoals just above the steep drop offs and outer reef slopes where the ocean currents deliver a continuous suply of copepods, crustacean larvae, pelagic fish eggs, tunicates and rotifers. They to not graze on the substrate or corals.
In an aquarium environment they need to be fed small amounts of zooplankton 3 to 4 times a day. Mysis shrimp, vitamin enriched brine shrimp, cyclops, calanus, finely chopped clams or shrimp, and over time high quality protein rich marine pellets or flakes should be broadcast into the water current to mimic zooplankton. They will ignore food that falls to the bottom of the tank.
An established, oversized refugium connected to your main tank is strongly recommended to provide a continuous, natural supply of live copepods into the water column between regular feedings.
Squarespot Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia) are occasionally available to tropical fish keeping enthusiasts from Indonesia and the Philippines as wild caught specimens from a number of online wholesalers, trans shippers and retailers, usually by special order at approximate purchase sizes: S: 1″-2″, S/M: 2″-3″, M: 3″-4″, M/L: 4″-5″, L: 5″-6″.
Prices vary by size and area of collection but start around $118.99 to $176.99 for medium size males collected from the Philipines, to $87.99 for the same size female specimen.
Squarespot Anthias (Pseudanthias pleurotaenia)
Minimum Tank Size: 130 gallons
Aquarium Type: Reef or FOLR
Care Level: Moderate
Temperament: Semi Aggressive
Aquarium Hardiness: Hardy
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8 to 12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.020-1.025
Max size: 7.75″
Color Form: Orange, Red, Purple
Diet: Carnivore
Compatibility: Reef
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Serranidae
Lifespan: 5 – 7 years
Aquarist Experience Level: Intermediate/Advanced
