Achilles Tang Primer

[docsky]

Fold some pellets inside your nori like a little pouch. When he eats the nori he might accidentally eat some pellets and be like yum that was good! Worked for me. Good luck
You could also try soaking the pellets in a cup with the PE while they thaw out with very little water to help pick up their scent.

 

[Allmost]

ok thanks, that actually sounds okay, gonna give it a try ...

 

[piusma]

Fold some pellets inside your nori like a little pouch. When he eats the nori he might accidentally eat some pellets and be like yum that was good! Worked for me. Good luck
You could also try soaking the pellets in a cup with the PE while they thaw out with very little water to help pick up their scent.

^^^^^ +1 to that, it is exactly how I got mine eating pellets now.

Just added my AT to the display tank after 6 weeks of QT. It went through 2 weeks of copper and 2 treatments of prazipro and 2 treatments of Maracyn II. The only other tang in the display was my regal tang that is about the same size as my AT.

Added the AT into the display after lights went off and all fish went to sleep, it explored the tank and seemed to have stayed up all night (I run very dim moonlight 24/7) When the lights come on next day, every fish was somewhat excited with a new tankmate but the Achillies didn't seem to care.

My regal tang which had been the king of the tank challenged the AT a few times but the AT ignored it. Came back few hours later and there is a new cut on my regal tang's face! It appears the AT would normally do its own thing until it gets bothered and it fights back. It only took one day for my AT to claim the title of being the king of the tank.

It's currently eating nori and mysis well and I just got him on pellets yesterday. So far things are looking good but it's still too early to tell. I hope this fish will do well.

For those experience owners, does your AT sleep in the rocks? This is the only fish that I have that doesn't hide in the rocks at all and just swim around all night long...

 

[docsky]

My Achilles and a Moorish Idol are the two fish in my reef that stay out in the open at night just slowly swimming back and forth.

 

[Recty]

guys, how do I get my anchilles to take pellets :spin2: lol

it is eating algae off of rocks, Nori all day, and frozen PE mysis and brine shrimp once just before lights go out.

but I want to get him to eat pellets, as I feed the tank pellets 6 times a day !

I just dont have the ...... to stop giving him PE mysis till he takes pellets, dont want to stress or weaken him ....
have had him for 2 months now fat, and swimming around.


I Want to get some of the Vit D in NLS pellets in him !!! lol

I've been able to get all of my fish, including an achilles I got straight out of Hawaii, onto eating pellets with pretty minimal effort, especially if they are already eating other foods like mysis out of the water column.

Thaw a cube of mysis into a shot glass and once it's not frozen anymore, drop some pellets into the shot glass and mix it up then let it sit for 5 minutes or so. In that 5 minutes, the pellets with soak up the mysis juice and when you dump it in, most likely the fish will either accidentally ingest or purposefully ingest the pellets. Within a couple days, you can stop adding more and more pellets to the mix until pretty soon the fish will eat just plain pellets.

This method hasnt failed me yet, except for with a puffer and it was large and basically had to eat mysis cubes whole to even be interested in them.

 

[Allmost]

I've been able to get all of my fish, including an achilles I got straight out of Hawaii, onto eating pellets with pretty minimal effort, especially if they are already eating other foods like mysis out of the water column.

Thaw a cube of mysis into a shot glass and once it's not frozen anymore, drop some pellets into the shot glass and mix it up then let it sit for 5 minutes or so. In that 5 minutes, the pellets with soak up the mysis juice and when you dump it in, most likely the fish will either accidentally ingest or purposefully ingest the pellets. Within a couple days, you can stop adding more and more pellets to the mix until pretty soon the fish will eat just plain pellets.

This method hasnt failed me yet, except for with a puffer and it was large and basically had to eat mysis cubes whole to even be interested in them.

that is a good Idea, and that is how I used to get fish to switch form Brine to mysis., BUT, one Issue with that is, if you do not observe the fish closely, it could pick the brine out of all the mysis, and as you lower the amount of brine, the fish eats less and less, till it is too late !

but I sure will give this a try as well. thank you for posting it. I could even soak th pellets in mysis juice and pick out the pellets and drop them in alone ... see if th scent would get him going.

he is getting closer to it though ... everytime I go to feed the tank, he is th first one in place, but when he sees pellets, he swims away ... so I am hopefull the mysis juice method would make him think twice

thanks.

 

[sanchoy]

QT is a must for this species IMO.

Phase 1:Have a LFS order the fish.. Most will require a deposit. (Don't ever pay in full beforehand, most stores are reasonable, and if they arent move on to others).

Phase 2:Have them QT the fish for you.. (watch it eat) (look for signs of diseases), If its healthy then proceed.

Phase 3:After watching this animal for a minimum of 2 weeks at the LFS. purchase it in full and take it home to YOUR QT setup.

Phase 4: Watch for signs of ick/diseases (for at least 2 weeks). By now you should have already seen the animal eat at the LFS, so feeding it will be less of a pain.

Phase 5: Now the animal has been QT for at least a month (LFS/house).. If he looks healthy introduce him into your setup.

-Alot of times people will rush putting the fish into their display right away. More often then not, the fish will get stressed out and refuse to eat By both the new tank parameters/possible diseases/ and being stressed by other fish. It is easier to fix a solution in a QT tank then in the display.

Good luck.. this is one of the most beautiful fishes.

 

[Achilles18]

I've got achilles in my 110g, just only tang in my system along with female swallowtail angel. Buggs been my tank almost 2 months this comming week, so far so good he's doing ok a bit see some white spot i wouldn't worry about it because he's house with 4 cleaner shrimp & 2 bloodshrimp as well pair of neon goby along with cleaner wrasse. he ate like a pig & his favorite meal is nori nori as well mysis. first time i'd try to have this kind of fish been in a hobby since 2003, i always have a powderblue tang which is i had successful keeping a tang like powderblue of what they say its almost same as the achilles. Oh well this fish is very amazing aggresive but its peacefull towards other his tank mate other than that he likes to chase my dragon pipe fish because he think the tail of pipefish is a nori nori =)

 

[hammerfrog]

I plan to add a juvenile Achilles tang to my 240 gallon set up in about 6 months or so.
I have read the primer and I am going to qt him/her.
I spoke to my LFS and they told me they could order me one but as soon as it comes in I have to pick it up at the fish store immediately. They will not hold him for me because they do not have enough flow in their tanks.
I appreciate them being honest and truly caring for the animal but would it be wise for me to order it with out ever seeing it?
I have a 20 gallon tall qt. I read on the thread that it might be a good idea to have a surge device to keep the water highly oxygenated and to keep the water moving strong enough. I was thinking of adding a surge device to my qt.
My display has 2 mp40w ES and a closed loop run by a reeflo dart.
Do u think the surge in the qt would be a good idea since their is no surge in he main display?
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time.

 

[selje]

I recently purchased an Acanthurus Achilles. I have it in a 150 gallon system. I also have a Powder Blue. They get along great. They have one corner each. The powder blue is the current leader, but I think that will change in a couple of weeks. The Achilles is doing great. No ich and it eats Nori and frozen food (mysid shrimp and brineshrimp). I've had it for 6 days. But it still won't take flake and pellets (ocean nutrition). I've tried to soak the flake food in a brineshrimp "soup". But it still ignores the flake. It have tried one flake but spit it out again. Really frustrating. Does some of you have any tips?

I'm planning a new build next year. So don't complain about my tank size please The Achilles is around 10cm (4 inches).

 

[R-nel]

when I found mine it was only eating nori and flakes at the lfs. The whole time it was in the QT I've tried to get him to eat pellets and tried all the above post and none worked for me. I was hopping it would start doing so when I introduce him to the DT when it see's the other fish eating pellets. But up to now wouldn't touch it, I'm sure in time it will.

 

[nonimmigrant]

R-nel: it took my big AT 5 years before it would take pellets - so just be patient. In fact, it would only take nori soaked in Selcon for two years and then one day, BAM, it started eating everything. If you've read thru the entire 43 pages of this post then you know patience is something you must have with AT. I've 5 in my 400G and I think I have more patience with them than I do my toddler!! Good luck.

 

[roni]

i disagree 100%, i QT'd mine for 17 weeks in a 24x24x14" without a problem. QT is essential for this fish as with all others, just know what your doing with a QT not just chuck something together when the fish arrives.

Ryanrid,

curious about your qt setup? I'm planning on getting an achilles soon and my plan was to do my standard qt in a 20l with feeding x 2 weeks, prazi, then feeding and fattening up for another 4 weeks with hyposalinity for ich. Did you add any extra oxygenation to the water since this is a high 02 content fish?

 

[R-nel]

R-nel: it took my big AT 5 years before it would take pellets - so just be patient. In fact, it would only take nori soaked in Selcon for two years and then one day, BAM, it started eating everything. If you've read thru the entire 43 pages of this post then you know patience is something you must have with AT. I've 5 in my 400G and I think I have more patience with them than I do my toddler!! Good luck.

Wow 5 years that's along time... Yeah I read the primer a few times this one eat just about anything I put in the water just not pellets yet. I'm sure eventually he will, as long as he's eating well and healthy I'm happy. Here's a few pictures, its kinda hard to take a good picture of him hes so dark.

 

[nonimmigrant]

Lookin good. IMO AT's tend to require more feedings than other tangs (my PBT included) especially when they get to be over 6-7". My big one is rapidly coming on about 9" (see below). The other AT's in my tank are between about 4-5".

 

[lhm nole]

Lookin good. IMO AT's tend to require more feedings than other tangs (my PBT included) especially when they get to be over 6-7". My big one is rapidly coming on about 9" (see below). The other AT's in my tank are between about 4-5".

Wow that is a monster is it just me or does he look bigger than your tank?

 

[ryanrid]

any one got any tips on how to get to eat pellets?
had mine since march and it eats all types of frozen and nori but wont touch pellets which i would like so when i go on holidays all i need it auto feeder.

thanks
Ryan

 

[piusma]

Mine absolutely loves the nls medium size pellets. When I first tried to get him onto pellets, I would soak them with the mysis and then air dry them and roll them into a sheet of nori. Once he ate a couple from eating the nori, it got hooked on them.

I think he actually likes the nls pellets more than the mysis now.

 

[blennielove]

Any updates on everyone's Achilles?
I have a little baby one on hold at the LFS right now. I was there just browsing for fishes to restock my tank and the shop owner always lets me feed his fish with pellets...long story short, I was completely surprised when I saw this tiny, off colored, what? an Achilles tang gobbling down the NL Spectrum pellets like a gold fish! I came home and read the 44 pages, went back to the store about three more times, checking him out and feeding him myself. After a week of watching, I called the LFS owner and have him placed on hold. They are treating with Cupramine, Prazipro currently and the owner agreed to hold him for a whole two weeks so that he can complete the whole treatment.
The little guy has consistently eaten the pellets without fail, his colors are coming back, still a little skinny but I've never seen an Achilles come up to eat like that.
I still have one week to go but I'm planning my QT and this is what I'm thinking:
Have LFS do a formaldehyde bath for 30 minutes before coming home. Bring him home, QT is a 20 Long "reef like" setting. Make sure he continues to eat for a couple of days, if all's well, start Prazipro x 1, then start lowering salinity slowly taking 1 week for a true hypo at 1.008 for 4 weeks, after which if all is well, treat with second Prazipro which will take another week. If all is well, do a second 30 minute formaldehyde bath, and into the HYPO DT!
What do you experts think?

My DT is a 72x24x30 with 7" Emperor, 5" Powder Blue Tang, pair of clowns, and a 4" Sleeper banded goby.
My Powder Blue is a darling, he had two other tang friends before they died (a 5" Kole tang and 9" Atlantic Blue Tang), he was never aggressive with any of them and in the beginning, he was the largest of the three so...I'm less worried about him as the Achilles is so much smaller.

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I am not sure you need another PraziPro treatment if it has had 2 weeks of PraziPro by the time you pick it up.

How many other fish are in the same system at the lfs and are they introducing any other fish into that system between the time they started treatment and when you will pick up your fish?

If the fish is in a limited system with no new additions, I would be tempted to ask them to extend the Cupramine treatment to 3 weeks and then put the fish in your QT and just observe it for a month. If other fish have been introduced, you would need to do the full Prazi and Cupramine or hypo treatments.

It sounds like you have a really good lfs.