Yellowback Anthias

Yellowback Anthias

The Yellowback Anthias (Pseudanthias evansi), also called Evans' anthias, is a brilliantly coloured schooling reef fish — a vivid magenta-violet body topped by a broad lemon-yellow band running from the head along the back into the tail. Active, peaceful and dazzling in a group, anthias bring shimmering, constant movement to the open water of a reef aquarium. Like all anthias, it is fully reef-safe, but it has two key needs: frequent feeding and the company of its own kind.

A small shoal of these fish drifting and feeding above the rock is one of the most beautiful sights in the reef hobby.

Natural Habitat & Origin

Pseudanthias evansi is found in the Indian Ocean, where it lives in aggregations over current-swept reef slopes, hovering in open water to feed on zooplankton. Anthias live in harems — a dominant male with several females — and a female can change sex to male if the male is lost.

In the aquarium it wants open swimming space above the rock, good flow, and the security of a group.

Care Requirements

Maintain stable marine conditions: salinity around 1.024–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, and a temperature of about 24–26°C (75–79°F), with good flow. Reaching about 12 cm (5 inches) and best kept in a small group, it suits a tank of around 280 litres (about 75 US gallons) or more with open water to school. A secure lid is sensible. It is moderately hardy, with feeding and group dynamics being the keys to success.

Diet & Feeding

The Yellowback Anthias is a planktivorous carnivore, feeding on zooplankton in the wild. This drives its main husbandry need: it has a fast metabolism and must be fed small meals several times a day — frozen mysis and enriched brine shrimp, finely chopped seafood and quality small marine pellets. A poorly or infrequently fed anthias quickly loses condition, so frequent feeding (ideally with help from an automatic feeder) is essential.

Behavior & Temperament

This is a peaceful, active schooling fish. It is best kept in a group, where natural harem behaviour emerges; in too small a group or alone it can be stressed. There may be some chasing as a hierarchy forms, but it poses no real threat to other tankmates. It hovers and feeds in open water by day.

Tank Mates

Good companions are other peaceful reef fish — clownfish, gobies, smaller wrasses, fairy wrasses, cardinalfish and similar. Avoid aggressive or boisterous species that will intimidate it or monopolise food. It is fully reef-safe, leaving corals and ornamental invertebrates alone, making a shoal a spectacular, peaceful addition to a community reef.

Breeding

Pseudanthias evansi is a pelagic spawner; harem spawning may occur in a well-kept group, but rearing the tiny larvae is very difficult and rarely achieved at home, so trade specimens are wild-collected.

Common Health Issues

The main practical challenges with this species are starvation from infrequent feeding and stress from being kept singly — address both with frequent meals and a proper group. Like all marine fish it can also be affected by marine ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) and marine velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum), particularly when stressed. Quarantine new arrivals, keep water quality stable, feed often, and keep it in a group — do that, and a shoal of Yellowback Anthias is a breathtaking, reef-safe centrepiece.