Achilles Tang Primer

[ruckusman]

Ghost...

Sounds to me like u have a nice setup comjng for an at. I think flow is more important than space though many will disagree. To that point just think how hard swimming up stream in a river is versus all day in a lap pool and tell me which u pick. I would say it seems you will effectively have a well aged tank early on with your strategy. I would be worried adding an at early that you could have issues adding fish later. What i like to call clownfiah syndrome from back in the cycling tanks with fish days when the clownfish went in early and then think they own the tank no mattr the size.

 

[ruckusman]

Ghost...

Sounds to me like u have a nice setup comjng for an at. I think flow is more important than space though many will disagree. To that point just think how hard swimming up stream in a river is versus all day in a lap pool and tell me which u pick. I would say it seems you will effectively have a well aged tank early on with your strategy. I would be worried adding an at early that you could have issues adding fish later. What i like to call clownfiah syndrome from back in the cycling tanks with fish days when the clownfish went in early and then think they own the tank no mattr the size.

 

[ReefPharmer]

As an update for my tang,
I moved him and his tank mates into a new 180. The rock work was obviously redone and I put all of the tangs in there together. Here is a pic of the achilles and a pic of the tank as a whole.

As so many of us are, I am worried about ich and aggression. So far there is no real aggression in the tank and all fish eat. Achilles doesnt eat anything but nori but he does eat nori like a champ. I soak it in selcon every other day so he gets his vitamins. At some point I will grow macro algae in the sump and dump it into DT but for now its a half sheet of nori daily and flakes or pellets in the evening.

His tank mates are
1. small yellow
2. small chevron
3. medium powder blue
4. medium desjardini
5. medium blonde naso

if/when the naso gets too large for comfort, I will move him to a 450 gallon tank of my friend.

I dont plan on adding any other large fish or more tangs. My plan is to move 2 black/white clowns, potters angel and a flame angel into this tank and possibly a couple of anthias. These fish will be added slowly as the system matures.

I wouldnt call my achilles tang a success yet but he certainly is holding his own, eats nori like a nut and doesnt let others bully him. In my opinion, hiding spots as well as water flow is very important to success.

The other thing that lowers aggression in my opinion is oxygen content (goes along with flow i guess). A while ago my skimmer "died" and I didnt know it. I noticed all of the tangs "getting chippy" with eachother. They were not moving a lot except to chase eachother out of their spots. After I realized what the issue was with the skimmer, I ran an air hose into the return pump's grill, and its propeller broke up the air into a million little bubbles. Obviously it looked crazy like a lagoon (tank was a FOWLR at the time) but within 15 mins, achilles came out and seemed to enjoy the bubbles. Aggression subsided as fish started to gain energy back. The only thing that i changed was to fill the tank with bubbles. Go figure.

 

[geaux xman]

@ReefPharmer

Fish is looking good and healthy. If you want to feed a more diverse diet, you could try PE mysis. Both of my achilles loves it. 1 of my achilles will only eat nori(wont touch other dry food). I have another angelfish that wont touch dry food too, so i make sure I feed PE mysis 2-3x/day along with all my dry food feedings.

 

[bullitr]

Looks good David
I am planning to have another one in my FO 180

 

[ReefPharmer]

Looks good David
I am planning to have another one in my FO 180

Thanks buddy, I still haven't seen your tank yet. .....

 

[Mr.Ghostly]

Ghost...

Sounds to me like u have a nice setup comjng for an at. I think flow is more important than space though many will disagree. To that point just think how hard swimming up stream in a river is versus all day in a lap pool and tell me which u pick. I would say it seems you will effectively have a well aged tank early on with your strategy. I would be worried adding an at early that you could have issues adding fish later. What i like to call clownfiah syndrome from back in the cycling tanks with fish days when the clownfish went in early and then think they own the tank no mattr the size.

I agree a lap pool would be not as good. But for a 150 what would I use for flow? Few Mp40's, Mp60 and Mp40's I don't know lol it going to be a sps dominated tank though. Also do I really have to make it really open?

 

[bullitr]

Well after the bleach leaching in the tank
I lose a acropora colony but the Achilles is great and spotless
The tank today

 

[Gogandantess]

Just got one recently. He's in a 40g 4ft quarantine along with a Coral Beauty and Cleaner wrasse. This will be my 2nd attempt. The first one died in quarantine. It developed odd white batches on its body and never made it back. This one currently is a Beast already. It eats everything from flakes, pellets, frozen, and nori. Will be in QT(cupramine treatment) for another 3 weeks or so before going into display.

 

[RJT]

Did you get him from online store or lfs?

 

[Gogandantess]

Did you get him from online store or lfs?

I got him from the LFS. Great price too at $140 for a nice 4"+ size.

 

[Seagars]

that is one of the prettiest Achilles i have ever seen. new to the hobby in the last year but that is my favorite fish.

 

[ReefTeacher]

joining the club!

joining the club!

So my beauty is finally out of quarentine into the DT with clear fins eyes and a healthy appetite. :bounce3: He certainly appreciates the room of the 180 gal. There is one wierd thing I noticed: he reguarly seems to eat sand. The QT was barebottom so he had none there. He may, of course, be eating off the sand....but my sand is pretty clean in most places and his nibbling is pretty regular. Anyone else see this?

 

[Bladez]

Over the past 10+ years I've attempted to keep this fish around 4 times all of them have failed within the first days or weeks due to the fish not eating, stress and finally ich....

This guy is eating (like a pig), no ich and he seems very happy.

Purchased him from a fellow reefer who had him in his tank for around 45 days and had to downsize his tank.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HtbdWTS-2uo?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Bladez]

btw:
FOOD: he is eating pellet food like crazy
TANK: have him in an established oceanic 200 gallon tank
TANK MATES: a black tang, 2 yellow tangs and other various non-aggressive fish

Over the past 10+ years I've attempted to keep this fish around 4 times all of them have failed within the first days or weeks due to the fish not eating, stress and finally ich....

This guy is eating (like a pig), no ich and he seems very happy.

Purchased him from a fellow reefer who had him in his tank for around 45 days and had to downsize his tank.

 

[geaux xman]

@ Blazed Nice collection of fish! Thanks for sharing the vid.



Shot this vid last week. Achilles #1 been in the tank since ~Feb 2012. Achilles #2 ~May 2012. PBT ~Oct 2011. All fish QT 0.5ppm cupramine 3-4 weeks.

Click for "HD"
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T7a19h1S5Bk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[glaukos]

wow!!!
very nice!
2 questions my friend...
1.how do you keep the bottom of the tank so absolutely clean and coralline free
2.the achilles look they don't bother each other at all!
there is no agression?

 

[Bladez]

Thanks - nice to see a tank with two Achilles doing well. They look fat and happy!!

@ Blazed Nice collection of fish! Thanks for sharing the vid.

 

[Katis]

You guys are sooo lucky to be able to keep such nice fish alive and well.

 

[SDguy]

I'm excited to see the "show size" adult listed on LADD's sneak peek email...