fishguy597
Member
Sorry if this has been asked but its a lot of reading but, how many of you guys with a reef tankare running uv? Is it a necessity with these fish?
Achilles Tang Primer
- Thread starter BrianD
- Start date
marie
Member
I purchased my achilles 6 yrs ago when he was about 3" by year 4 he was 9"+.....Now he is just about as wide as he is long
geaux xman
New member
congratulations on the long term success with the achilles Marie.
any vids of the show size achilles?
any vids of the show size achilles?
geaux xman
New member
marie.
wow, that achilles looks awesome. the reef tank is equally impressive as well!
wow, that achilles looks awesome. the reef tank is equally impressive as well!
geaux xman
New member
nice tank RP.
what brand and how many watts UV are you using? how often are you changing out the bulbs?
1ucky
Member
I run a 120w Aqua UV in my 300g set-up (over-kill but that's how I like to run my tank as far as equipment goes). I change the bulbs out once a year. I lost my first Achilles after having it for a year and a few months due to my stupidity. I bought a second one in November 2011; I got it at my lfs that had it for 2 weeks and couldn't resist. It was really skinny when I bought but has since gotten fatter ; it currently eats pellets, flakes, nori, basically anything I feed him; it's about 6" or so in length and has grown about 3" since last year. He currently shares the tank with a Purple Tang, a pair of Black Foot Clowns, and a pair of Platinums.
1ucky
Member
I'm not trying to beat you up, but I'd also like to learn from your mistakes. Do you mind sharing what you did wrong?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
rpjaws74
New member
cool thanks man! I use the Emperoraquatics 65w UV. With a mag12. I change the bulb about every two years. The reason I do this is because I dont run my UV all the time. In a month period I probably turn it off for 10 days cause UV also kills beneficial bacteria that my bio-load needs.
1ucky
Member
I added about 3 different tangs in around a months period and got it stressed out. It stopped eating like it used to and sort of wasted away little by little.
Thank goodness for this thread! I picked up a 2.5 inch AT on Wednesday night after I saw it eat some mysis at my LFS. It went straight into my 160g DT after hours which already has a yellow tang and the purple tang, along with a juvenile majestic, and two clown fish. The first couple of days there was some tension between the two established tangs and the achilles, but yesterday they had suddenly become the best of friends.. it still didn't eat though. I had tried nori sheets, mysis, brine, and pellets. This morning I noticed that it was picking at the rocks for the first time so that gave me hope. It had not eaten all day, even though it was just as enthusiastic as the other fish at feeding time, so just now I tried some blood worms, which it totally ignored, and some ripped up nori, which it started chasing around the tank and consuming. Thanks everyone!
BTW, the AT is the largest fish in the tank, and I have a 250 gallon tank sitting in my living room waiting for my vacation time to kick in. All the fish should be in their new home by September.
BTW, the AT is the largest fish in the tank, and I have a 250 gallon tank sitting in my living room waiting for my vacation time to kick in. All the fish should be in their new home by September.
My Achilles Tang was purchased about 6 weeks ago from Liveaquaria. Yes I know Liveaquaria is on the expensive side but I'll tell you this......the fish was eating the same night (after acclimation), and no one else offers a 2 week live guarantee. He was housed in my 30 gal QT.. He was about 3" long....and ate mysis, brine immediately. I started throwing in some shredded, treated nori (garlic juice and vitamins) and then slowly added pellets and flake. There is little competition in the QT since it only housed the AT and a Loubouti wrasse I purchased at the same time. The Achilles had some extra growth on the dorsal fin. I sent pics to Liveaquaria and they gave me an additional 1 week live guarantee (3 weeks total guarantee) and a $50 credit. This extra growth has not decreased or increased and doesn't seem to effect him in the least, (just seems to be some extra tissue). Anyway, after 5 weeks in the QT and the fish eating aggressively I moved him into my 215 gal DT. I have approximately 330 gallons total water volume, (125 gal sump, 40 gal refugium and 20 gal frag tank on the same system). I know that there is ich in my DT because after moving my other tangs from my previous 85 gal DT to the new 215 DT my powder brown (the last fish added) came down with ich which spread to my pyramid butterflies and other tangs. All fish ate during the transition period and none were lost to ich. There were no traces of ich when I added the achilles (yet I know it still exists). I increased my water flow a little and have been watching the AT very closely. I was apprehensive about 2 main things: ICH and the POWDER BROWN. The powder brown (having the same body type as the AT) has always been the most aggressive of my tangs.....he really doesn't bother my Regal Tang because the Regal (about 7.5") is about 2.5" to 3" bigger but the PB (about 4.5") would harass my Sailfin Tang. The Sailfin has since grown much bigger while the PB kind of stayed the same size. So now the Sailfin chases the PB occassionally. Well, upon adding the AT the PB immediately went for him. Surprisingly the AT (although being about 2" smaller) held his own...even returning the chase. After about a day...the squabbles lessened considerably. Thankfully there are no current signs of ich on ANY of my fish. All fish are still eating aggressively and often (at least twice a day). Hopefully things continue to progress this way.....I feel that if no signs of ich shows up in 7 to 10 days.....I should be out of the woods. It's been about 4 or 5 days.....I continue to monitor the situation. As long they continue to eat and the aggression is less prevalent they should be good........
geaux xman
New member
i had a separate thread with my achilles, but i'll add the video here again since this is the primer thread.
my achilles and PBT really dont bother each other much. an occasional tangle, but nothing real notable.
I feed the achilles PE mysis 2-3x/day and nori about every other day now. Now it wont touch pellets or dry foods.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rM9GNflQs9E?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
my achilles and PBT really dont bother each other much. an occasional tangle, but nothing real notable.
I feed the achilles PE mysis 2-3x/day and nori about every other day now. Now it wont touch pellets or dry foods.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rM9GNflQs9E?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
