You know what I love the most of your fishes ? The bandit angel....is simply beautiful !
How is he been doing ? Does he eat fine ? Frozen food ?
Congratulations !
Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
You know what I love the most of your fishes ? The bandit angel....is simply beautiful !
How is he been doing ? Does he eat fine ? Frozen food ?
Congratulations !
ironwill723
Well-known member
Reefslugs...How does that rock beauty do with your corals?
reefslugs
Active member
I'm glad you asked. I just got him out of the tank tonight. My zoe's started to disappear and my acans started to resead. I wasn't sure who was doing the damage and I had my fingers crossed that it was not my black bandit angel. I turnd the room lights off and sat back away from the tank so the fish won't see me. Sure enough it was the rock beauty. I sucks because he is such a beautyful fish and alot of people have a hard time keeping them alive. I guess if you didn't have a mixed reef and just had sps you'd probable be alright.
My two Achillies are still doing go!
bigdaddy76
Member
Wow how big is ur tank reefslugs? I can definitely see more then one
Achilles could house in a same tank. I can't remember it was mirage
or Cascar palace hotel in Vegas, they had a huge tank behind the reception desk
and I saw at least 7 PBT. Good luck.
Achilles could house in a same tank. I can't remember it was mirage
or Cascar palace hotel in Vegas, they had a huge tank behind the reception desk
and I saw at least 7 PBT. Good luck.
Flower1459
New member
No pics to post yet...
I picked him up a week ago yesterday. He finally started eating aggressively on Monday. Wouldn't touch the nori, pellets, flake food, etc. I know it's not the best, but when we got him to eat anything, it was Brine. I'd rather him eat something non-nutritional than nothing at all I suppose. Last night he started going after my homemade stuff too so that's good. He has a slight touch of ick, only a few spots but I'm not too concerned. I'm loading food with vitamins and fresh garlic, he's eating aggressively which means I have a strong chance of keeping him healthy and more able to fight it off. I feel more comfortable now that he's eating my homemade stuff too and I know it's packed with good stuff. Also, my LFS owner gave me the cleaner wrasse that was in his holding tank with him for free, and that cleaner loves to follow him around, it's fun to watch. With those odds on my side I'm betting he'll be ok. Fingers crossed. He's a nice size between 4-5 inches, beautiful markings. So excited he's here finally!! :bounce3:
I picked him up a week ago yesterday. He finally started eating aggressively on Monday. Wouldn't touch the nori, pellets, flake food, etc. I know it's not the best, but when we got him to eat anything, it was Brine. I'd rather him eat something non-nutritional than nothing at all I suppose. Last night he started going after my homemade stuff too so that's good. He has a slight touch of ick, only a few spots but I'm not too concerned. I'm loading food with vitamins and fresh garlic, he's eating aggressively which means I have a strong chance of keeping him healthy and more able to fight it off. I feel more comfortable now that he's eating my homemade stuff too and I know it's packed with good stuff. Also, my LFS owner gave me the cleaner wrasse that was in his holding tank with him for free, and that cleaner loves to follow him around, it's fun to watch. With those odds on my side I'm betting he'll be ok. Fingers crossed. He's a nice size between 4-5 inches, beautiful markings. So excited he's here finally!! :bounce3:
question : for those of you who just purchased and QT'd an achilles (I got a 3incher in a 29 gal) i'd like to know how long it took for him to get eating.
Mine just paces around avoiding me, and I see some ich like stuff on the pectoral fins but no scratching so far.
I've attached a piece of garlic soaked nori in the corner, which he pays no attention to.
Mine just paces around avoiding me, and I see some ich like stuff on the pectoral fins but no scratching so far.
I've attached a piece of garlic soaked nori in the corner, which he pays no attention to.
Mike de Leon
New member
I will never Qt an Achilles ever again...
ryshark
Active member
I think it would feel less stressed if it was not in a small 20"-24" tank and would have better chance of eating. Is it pacing back and forth? When I get an Achilles I am going to put it straight into the main tank. IMO the only chance your Achilles has at this point is to give it a perfectly executed freshwater dip and then acclimate it to the main tank which should be a good 72" long or longer and have lots of flow and pristine water conditions. Also no other fish in there to bully it. But then again, I have never owned an Achilles yet, but from my research, that is what I would do.
Znut Reefer
Premium Member
When I got my Achilles I put him straight into the display. He started eating nori the first day. It took him close to a month to start eating mysis.
Achilles love high flow and lots of room. I'm sure yours is stressed in such a small tank. I would go ahead and put him in the display tank and feed him some garlic in his food. You can put the drops of garlic on the nori, let it dry for about 15 mins before feeding.
If you decide to keep him in the 29 gal tank. We'll wish you luck.
Achilles love high flow and lots of room. I'm sure yours is stressed in such a small tank. I would go ahead and put him in the display tank and feed him some garlic in his food. You can put the drops of garlic on the nori, let it dry for about 15 mins before feeding.
If you decide to keep him in the 29 gal tank. We'll wish you luck.
Hmm im' weighing the odds of getting a larger QT (used should be easy to find) but its the move that i'm wondering about (will it stress him further).
Obviously I'd rather lose one fish than to infect the rest of my DT with ich... so it does sound like you guys got healthy specimens on the get-go (eating on the first day).
znut : has your specimen shown any sign of infection of ich/parasites ? Or is it just expected that he'll have it and that your husbandry should be good enough so that the fish never succumb fully to the parasites ?
ryshark: if your achilles is your first fish.. wouldn't it be highly aggressive towards any new additions (ie typical tang behaviour) ??
Obviously I'd rather lose one fish than to infect the rest of my DT with ich... so it does sound like you guys got healthy specimens on the get-go (eating on the first day).
znut : has your specimen shown any sign of infection of ich/parasites ? Or is it just expected that he'll have it and that your husbandry should be good enough so that the fish never succumb fully to the parasites ?
ryshark: if your achilles is your first fish.. wouldn't it be highly aggressive towards any new additions (ie typical tang behaviour) ??
FiReBReTHa
Master Blaster!
You need to read thru this thread. It sounds like you jumped the gun with this purchase prior to research.
There has been enough trial and error in this pages to show the best method of taking care of this fish.
There has been enough trial and error in this pages to show the best method of taking care of this fish.
Mike de Leon
New member
There are several components in being able to keep an Achilles successfully.
If your tang is not in great of a shape to begin with no matter what you do it will be doomed.
In my experience, It has always caught Ich in the DT. If the tang is robust it will fight it off.
When they first arrive from the LFS they have gone through a tremendous amount of stress and need to to be in a stable environment right away.
Tangs love to swim a lot and graze. Often this is not available in a QT but available in the DT.
I have gone through three of them and quarantined two with hypo in a 55 gallon tank with some LR and sand. I set up the system before i got the fish. Both of them died eventually.
My last one went into the DT immediately after being dripped for three hours. I made sure he went in when it was pitch dark to avoid being attacked by the YT and the Blueface. I also set up a mirror to distract them.
He is now one happy camper. Strongest one in the tank.
Don't ever do a freshwater dip. Not on an Achilles. Good luck!
PICS PLEASE!
<a href="http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/mookerji/?action=view¤t=002-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i21/mookerji/002-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
ryshark
Active member
The only reason I said fw dip was because his achilles already has ich on it, and I would have a hard time putting a fish which visually has ich on it, into the display with healthy fish. All of my fish had very careful fw dips and they are all doing great. The only fish which died on me after my rebuild was the only fish I did not dip. But that was a copperband and they are also tough to keep. With that said I will not dip or qt the achilles when I get it... The less stress the better.
actually i was contemplating about putting in another fish to "teach" the achilles to eat .. but I decided against the added stress. I decided agaisnt LR not only for the copper absorbing properties, but the unnecessary ammonia spike that would occur, as I put in large PVC pipes instead for shelter. Filtration is basically bioballs from my DT put into a hangon aquafilter and quickfilter addon to the powerhead.
Food wise i just have a piece of garlic soaked nori, which i've changed daily.. I dont believe he has even tried to sample it in the last 3 days....
Last edited:
Mike de Leon
New member
Putting the yellow tang in is a good idea. That's how they learn to eat. If you look at my picture even the wrasse eats nori.
Ryshar: I am with you bro..
Znut Reefer
Premium Member
znut : has your specimen shown any sign of infection of ich/parasites ? Or is it just expected that he'll have it and that your husbandry should be good enough so that the fish never succumb fully to the parasites ?
I got mine from DD. He arrived very fat and healthy from the start. After a few days in the DT. He did have a few spots of ick. I fed him garlic soaked nori and the ick went away after a couple weeks. No other fish was infected.
HTH.
I got mine from DD. He arrived very fat and healthy from the start. After a few days in the DT. He did have a few spots of ick. I fed him garlic soaked nori and the ick went away after a couple weeks. No other fish was infected.
HTH.
