Achilles Tang!!!

T

TriggerFreak1

New member
Hello everyone, ive decided to give the beloved achilles tang a try! Ive had it for a week now and it still hasnt ate. I put in seaweed strips, soaked in garlic. tried mysis/brine combo soaked in garlic and some generic pellets. it seems very active! it picks at the rocks and everything, i have it in a 40 gal breeder QT Tank rite now, no signs of ick(yet!! knock on wood) Its the only one in the tank at the moment. Ive been feeding three times a day, but have cut it back to twice now.

So my Question is, any other tips or tricks to get it to feed? Maybe another fish for competition will give the extra step to compete for food? Any Comments/help is greatly appreciated
thanks,
Tyler
 
Is your QT in an isolated environment or is it right out in the middle of a room?

I found my achilles needed a quiet area at first, once it got used to people then it really started eating well.

If you got it from a LFS where it already had weeks of exposure to people or some situation like that, then it isnt a big deal, but if you received it direct from a diver or a wholesaler, you might still be dealing with that initial hurdle.

At least it's picking on rocks.

Take a small piece of live rock and rubber band (I use my wife's hair bands, PLEASE DONT TELL HER) a piece of nori to the rock so it stays down real close to the rock waving around and looking natural, at least some picky fish start eating that before they will eat free floating seaweed.
 
Recty said:
Is your QT in an isolated environment or is it right out in the middle of a room?

I found my achilles needed a quiet area at first, once it got used to people then it really started eating well.

If you got it from a LFS where it already had weeks of exposure to people or some situation like that, then it isnt a big deal, but if you received it direct from a diver or a wholesaler, you might still be dealing with that initial hurdle.

At least it's picking on rocks.

Take a small piece of live rock and rubber band (I use my wife's hair bands, PLEASE DONT TELL HER) a piece of nori to the rock so it stays down real close to the rock waving around and looking natural, at least some picky fish start eating that before they will eat free floating seaweed.
Click to expand...

Yea i got it from a wholesaler. it doesnt seem mind though if someone is in front of the tank, it swims in front of you, if your stitting watching the tank! has anyone tried artic pods from reef nutriution, or live black worms? or blood worms ive been thinking of trying formula 1 & 2 pellets. Any more thoughts are greatly welcomed!!
 
Try break up the nori into tiny bits underwater with your fingers, it worked for me when I had an Achilles.
 
IMO...Achilles should only be purchased after seeing them eating and doing well in a tank...but even then, there is no guarantee of success.
Good Luck, I hope he makes it.
 
When everything else failed with a fish that wasnt eating, bloodworms saved the day !

Hope your fish makes it
 
How big is it? The bigger the harder, and these are not easy fish. Put in a bunch of live rock with algae. Also try some good flake food like Omega one. I have a couple of Juvie's and they prefer to eat algae off the rocks or small pieces of flake floating in the water column (with very good flow.) At first they would eat frozen brine and bloodworms, but then when I tried flakes they went nuts for it. They seem to prefer flakes that are red and no bigger than their mouths. Lot's of small feedings.

Don't be surprised if it won't eat and dies. These guys are not easy.
 
Ok, So this is the list of foods i now have Live Black worms, Rods food (herb), blood worms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, seaweed, form. 1 & 2 flake, Form. 1 & 2 pellet, and some generic pellets.

is there anything else anyone can think of? lmk
thanks
tyler
 
Haven't had an Achilles tang but I have heard nutramar(?) ova is almost irresistible. Again no hands on experience but I have heard it usually gets a feeding response.
 
Live brine shrimp gutpacked or find some macroalgae that is native to where it came to get him to eat.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
I've had an adult male achilles for over a year now and has eaten nori every day since day one, If yours hasn't started to eat yet, I would recommend some Rod's Food .I've never had any of my fish refuse that no matter what.
 
Nori seems to be one thing that is in common with all achillies. Try what was suggested above, rubberband a small amount on a piece of live rock. I'd also try a few different type of algae at the same time. I bet it will be the first food it'll take.

Once you get her on nori, I would suggest soaking with selcon and vitamin. You'll need to sustain it before worrying about training her on frozen. Definitely against adding another fish, it'll add to your bioload and may also trigger him to waste more energy trying to defend its territories. And if you happened to introduce anything to the tank, it'll force you to medicate your tank and further affect its feeding. Good luck with your fish, it is definitely one of the most challenging fish I've ever had.

If anything I would suggest, it would be more frequent water changes to keep your water quality well. At the cost of that fish, I will not cheap out on the salt and would make sure the water is pristine and feed lots. Mine ate frozen from the get go but only picked on certain size food. It would not touch anything that is too big or too small. Afraid of fouling the water, I did not feed too much and my fish lost a good 15% to 20% of body weight during the 8 weeks of QT. Good thing it has gained it back after it went into my DT. Good luck!
 
Last edited:
well i put some macro algae in no signs of eating it this morning, put a mixture of rods, bloodworms, mysis and brine in this morning also and form. 1&2 flakes and it didnt look like it was going for it.
 
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