Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
geaux xman
New member
no signs of ich at all, but i'm still going to do hypo for 4 full weeks. i have a swallowtail and bicolor angelfish in the same QT so i'm going to do it all together. i plan to hypo or copper every single fish i get.
padova335i
Member
cool good idea... I was goin to do that as well.. But if you get a new fish and has no ich, they are prob ich free no?
geaux xman
New member
someone else can probably explain better, but...
even though theres no ich visibly apparent on the skin, it could still be underneath in the gills. thats why it is important to QT all fish. i'd like to take it a step further and hypo/copper treat all incoming fish.
trying to get the achilles to eat other types of food is wearing me out. throwing all sorts of food in the tank and spending countless minutes/hrs observing to see if it eats it or not.
mine will only eat nori consistently. the pellets, when it feels like it, i'll occasionally eat one off the bottom. i saw it bite into a few mysis shrimps today only to spit it out.
it'll occasionally eat a flake too. i've tried an absurd amounts of different flakes/pellets too. just bought a few more different kinds the other day.
even though theres no ich visibly apparent on the skin, it could still be underneath in the gills. thats why it is important to QT all fish. i'd like to take it a step further and hypo/copper treat all incoming fish.
trying to get the achilles to eat other types of food is wearing me out. throwing all sorts of food in the tank and spending countless minutes/hrs observing to see if it eats it or not.
mine will only eat nori consistently. the pellets, when it feels like it, i'll occasionally eat one off the bottom. i saw it bite into a few mysis shrimps today only to spit it out.
it'll occasionally eat a flake too. i've tried an absurd amounts of different flakes/pellets too. just bought a few more different kinds the other day.
padova335i
Member
same here, as far as food goes.. im sure that they will eat more foods as soon as they are in the DT. (and when the achilles sees the other fishies eat)
geaux xman
New member
any updates from achilles owners?
i've had my achilles since the 1/15/11.
no white spots, but i started full hypo 1.008-.009 Monday. It has been eating pellets with nori now. i intend on doing hypo for a full 4-5 weeks.
i've had my achilles since the 1/15/11.
no white spots, but i started full hypo 1.008-.009 Monday. It has been eating pellets with nori now. i intend on doing hypo for a full 4-5 weeks.
padova335i
Member
mine is doing well, very active and no more spots in hypo... I plan on doing hypo until at least mid feb... i cant wait to get him in the dt.. I just picked up two purples they are in reg reef salinty and doing well for almost a wee.. I;ll leave them in for another week or two and add them in the dt..
my achilles is now eating spirulina soaked in garlic...i think the trick is to always start off tangs w nori that are not eating, then u can try other things.. I really hope all goes well with this tang, he has some amazing colors
my achilles is now eating spirulina soaked in garlic...i think the trick is to always start off tangs w nori that are not eating, then u can try other things.. I really hope all goes well with this tang, he has some amazing colors
Jacob D
New member
Some of you have posted here about your Achilles changing colors (there are some great photos on the first page)... how many of you have seen the "blue eyes" look, and what do you take it to mean?
Response to threat was mentioned on the first page. I have considered that as well as an excited response in anticipation of food. Just curious what anyone else has to say.
Response to threat was mentioned on the first page. I have considered that as well as an excited response in anticipation of food. Just curious what anyone else has to say.
geaux xman
New member
my achilles with 2 other fish i had in QT bit the dust. i dont know what happened, but i think it is contaminated water. my achilles didnt eat and was inactive on wed(mon/tues ate fine), laid on his side all day on thursday and died on fri. my bicolor had a sudden death at the same time and my swallowtail looks like its about to go too. no signs of ich.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
blue eyes= excited be it for food, threat, or otherwise
Mine turns blue when he is cleaned by the cleaner shrimp or cleaner wrasse. I should have photo's of it somewere, i'll go and search for them.
Jacob D
New member
Here are a few quick pics of mine finally. Just added him to the display after 5 weeks in the QT. Photos are just under sunlight, lots of glare.
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/686/2011-01_8535++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/688/2011-01_8538++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/690/2011-01_8540++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<br>
(the spots on the right cheek are a couple of small scratches)
For whatever reason he decided to stop eating spirulina brine and eats flake now... fine with me! Black worms are still the preferred food.
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/686/2011-01_8535++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/688/2011-01_8538++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<img src="http://familiadinardi.net/photos/d/690/2011-01_8540++570x800.JPG" style="border: 4px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<br>
(the spots on the right cheek are a couple of small scratches)
For whatever reason he decided to stop eating spirulina brine and eats flake now... fine with me! Black worms are still the preferred food.
Mine does this when he gets cleaned or wants to be cleaned. He has stopped that since the white spots was gone though, but it happend many times a day that he just hooverd in the water flashing white/black with neon blue eyes for the cleaner wrasse and shrimps to go at him.
Mine was in bad condition when I got him, but ever since he came into my tank he's grown more and more fat. Now he eats everything and is in really good shape.
I would like to introduce a sohal tang also, but I'm quite concerned it would lead to a warzone in my tank as this fish is the boss in my tank.
marius880
New member
hye guys. i read almost half of this whole thread. i know that people are buying these fish and keep them in 200+ gal tanks. i have a 125 gal with a 55 gal sump. i want to wait of course a good 1 or 2 years till i will buy the fish. just wanted to know if you think i will have a good chance on keeping one. i currently only have a yellow tang and all the opther fish are smaller. in this tank i want to keep 1 yellow, 1 hipo, and the achillis. would this work out?
my flow will be, 2000 gph from my return. 1 koralia 4 and i will add one more at the opposite side.
thank you for your response. my local store has one now that is 4" for 200$. i was like a kid in a candy store... just staring at it for like 20 min. oh and the tank is a 30 gal
but he looked good and fat. i wanted to "save him" but my wallet couldnt handle it. 
my flow will be, 2000 gph from my return. 1 koralia 4 and i will add one more at the opposite side.
thank you for your response. my local store has one now that is 4" for 200$. i was like a kid in a candy store... just staring at it for like 20 min. oh and the tank is a 30 gal
but he looked good and fat. i wanted to "save him" but my wallet couldnt handle it. 
Well, sadly I have had a huge ich breakout, and my Achilles was the first casualty, followed by my Emperor angel, Asfur angel, Majestic angel and mandarin. I am hoping that the tank has turned the corner. I removed all corals and inverts and treated with copper. From now on it will be a FOWLR tank, which will make it easier to keep species that are very susceptible to ich like the Achilles. Interestingly, the Moorish Idol is still doing great, though it looked a little dicey for a few days. Who would have thought that the Moorish Idol would be among the hardiest fish in the tank!
marius880
New member
Wow... im sorry to hear that... On my last tank i had that happen to me... And made me sell l the corals, and it stayed there is only until I sold it. this time I started again and I am keeping itwith corals, I hope i wont get ich. And if i do i will. atcu every fish and stick them in qt .
marius880
New member
wow... my spelling is horrible... :reading: that is what i get for using a phone... but still, i hope you got the point that im sorry for your loss...
R-nel
Member
So I'm almost at the end of my Hyposalinity treatment, all fish are doing great and eating well. "all" I mean all 10 of them including the Achilles.
I ended up treatment on all my fish after my Achilles got ich on the 4th day after being placed in the DT. the other soon followed (PT, Sailfin tang, Harlequin Tusk and the leopard) the Mystery wrasse didn't pick it up that I can see but I'm sure he may have gotten it if I didn't pull him out as well. So I moved them to the FOWLR which already housed a 7" Sohal, another HT, clown, and a blenny...then lowered the salinity. Its been 5 weeks and all is good the Sohal has left the Achilles alone but will give chase to the sailfin and purple tang each time they cross path.
Now my question is which tang do I keep together in the 150 with the Achilles? I will definitely be moving all the wrasse back in, Harlequin, Leopard, Mystery and the Melanarus wrasse which is in a separate QT now and maybe the blenny. but would like to know which other tang to move back in...any suggestion?
I ended up treatment on all my fish after my Achilles got ich on the 4th day after being placed in the DT. the other soon followed (PT, Sailfin tang, Harlequin Tusk and the leopard) the Mystery wrasse didn't pick it up that I can see but I'm sure he may have gotten it if I didn't pull him out as well. So I moved them to the FOWLR which already housed a 7" Sohal, another HT, clown, and a blenny...then lowered the salinity. Its been 5 weeks and all is good the Sohal has left the Achilles alone but will give chase to the sailfin and purple tang each time they cross path.
Now my question is which tang do I keep together in the 150 with the Achilles? I will definitely be moving all the wrasse back in, Harlequin, Leopard, Mystery and the Melanarus wrasse which is in a separate QT now and maybe the blenny. but would like to know which other tang to move back in...any suggestion?
Hi,
Ive had my achilles tang for about a week already and it was doing great! It was feeding the very first day i got it. It got a very mild outbreak of ich but it went away after 2 days. Just this morning when i put the nori clip soaked with zoe and selcon in the tank it didnt eat which is making me a bit worried since he isnt grazing on the rocks anymore either. This is totally weird because yesterday, he was still eating like a pig.
All the other tangs i have(HYT, blue tang) went bonkers over it as usual but the achilles just left the food alone. Hes still swimming about the rocks though.
What should i do? Do i just leave him be?
Ive had my achilles tang for about a week already and it was doing great! It was feeding the very first day i got it. It got a very mild outbreak of ich but it went away after 2 days. Just this morning when i put the nori clip soaked with zoe and selcon in the tank it didnt eat which is making me a bit worried since he isnt grazing on the rocks anymore either. This is totally weird because yesterday, he was still eating like a pig.
All the other tangs i have(HYT, blue tang) went bonkers over it as usual but the achilles just left the food alone. Hes still swimming about the rocks though.
What should i do? Do i just leave him be?
