Achilles Tang

T

toledoreefer

New member
Hello i was wondering if anyone could help me out with a fish choosing delema. I have a 150g tank with just a percula and a powder blue tang. I am new to the saltwater game but have doing fresh for over 10 years, and i have a friend that has been doing salt for about 5 years. So thats how I've gotten some of my info, that and reading some books and Internet stuff. I would really like to have an achilles tang but I dont know if he will mesh well with the powder blue. Any help would be great. A Blonde Naso is another fish that I would like to had to my tank. thanks
 
I have had some limited success with the achilles and here is my take. Believe what you hear, these fish are very touchy. They need a lot of room, probably more than 150 unless they are the undisputed alpha fish of the system. They need a lot of flow as well and excellent water conditions. My guess is that an achilles would fight constantly with a powder blue. I would forget the naso, they get huge and really need a system measured in several hundreds of gallons. There are many tangs you could successfully do in your 150 but finding one that will coexist with that PBT will be the trick IMO.
 
I have to agree, I had a Achilles in my 135 and I had not lost a fish in over a year and a half, but I lost it after two months of ever precautionary measure I could think of.

It did need a bigger tank I think, very strong swimmer and the most beautiful fish I have ever seen, it really bothered me to lose it.
 
It will be either the Blue or the Achilles, not only because of tank space but basically they will not get along.
 
They can get along IME. I think in a 150 there might not be enough room for them to do so. I have both in my 280 and they went at it for two days then settle their differences. Now they just leave each other be. My tank is just big enough where they can avoid each other for the most part. I would advise against it but i won't say it can't work.

A Naso needs a much bigger tank though.
 
IMO they can defnitely get along but not in that kind of a tank. I dont think there will be enough room for them to co-exists with each other.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12340571#post12340571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
It will be either the Blue or the Achilles, not only because of tank space but basically they will not get along.
Click to expand...


For most this is true..hehe ;) But if the right steps are taken it is doable :) But I agree with the other posters....your tank would need to be larger to have both.

This is a shot of mine while in a temp QT.

117984K-med.JPG
 
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I have been able to keep an Achilles and White Cheek. The Achilles gave the White Cheek a tough time for about 1 week. After that, they have settled in and sometimes I think they even like each other!

I assume that the behaviour toward a White Cheek would be very similar to the behaviour toward a Powder Blue. (cospecific Acanthurus)

However...my tank is 400 gallons. That is key to the successful keeping of the Achilles, and it is also likely the key to the relationship between the Achilles and the White Cheek. There's no doubt that the Achilles is an extremely active and intolerant of cospecifics.
 
Thanks for all of the responses they are very helpful and it gives me a lot of food for thought! Looks like I need to find a big tank. Anyone know of any for sale in the midwest. Toledo Ohio. thanks again fellow reefers.
 
I'll put my two cents into this month old thread.

I'm pretty darn ambitious about putting tangs together...I have 7 in a 360g..., but have to say the Achilles/Powder Blue combo is the worst possible. Ok, maybe a Clown Tang/Sohal combo...that would top it. ;) I tried an Achilles/Powder Blue combo in a 200g and a 360g, and they simply hated one another. The PBT is much more aggressive by nature, and cut the Achilles up pretty darn bad, but he recovered, thank goodness...after I removed him, that is! Much worse than a Purple/Yellow tang combo...another "must do" for some people that turns into a disaster.

People who claim "success" at keeping a PBT/Achilles together, should be prepared to mention:

How big the tank is.
How long they've had them together.
How large each fish is, respectively.
How many incidents of harassment have they witnessed between them, and is it escalating?

Seriously, they may get along for awhile...heck...maybe a year or more. Then one morning you're bound to find one of them cut to ribbons and looking like confetti paper. It's just how it is, sorry to say. :(
 
I agree with above statement. I mean from doing research for a long time on tangs and other fish. I have some across many of these questions. But i have seen it done before. It needs to have a BIG tank like 200 plus easy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12536055#post12536055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jacksandgo
I'll put my two cents into this month old thread.

I'm pretty darn ambitious about putting tangs together...I have 7 in a 360g..., but have to say the Achilles/Powder Blue combo is the worst possible. Ok, maybe a Clown Tang/Sohal combo...that would top it. ;) I tried an Achilles/Powder Blue combo in a 200g and a 360g, and they simply hated one another. The PBT is much more aggressive by nature, and cut the Achilles up pretty darn bad, but he recovered, thank goodness...after I removed him, that is! Much worse than a Purple/Yellow tang combo...another "must do" for some people that turns into a disaster.

People who claim "success" at keeping a PBT/Achilles together, should be prepared to mention:

How big the tank is.
How long they've had them together.
How large each fish is, respectively.
How many incidents of harassment have they witnessed between them, and is it escalating?

Seriously, they may get along for awhile...heck...maybe a year or more. Then one morning you're bound to find one of them cut to ribbons and looking like confetti paper. It's just how it is, sorry to say. :(
Click to expand...

How big the tank is : 140 gal
How long they've had them together : 3,5 years
How large each fish is, respectively: both small, about 4/5 inches
How many incidents of harassment have they witnessed between them, and is it escalating?: very tough period for the achilles after introduction in the tank, for a couple of months !! But nothing significant since then...

Just for info, they both get along in my tank with a purple tang (8 years in thetank), a hippo (6 years) and a sohal (more than 5 years).

Anyway, I may be lucky and won't recommend to do it unless you have a big tank and take them very small.
 
Not just five tangs, 5 which get relatively large. Based on the amount of years they were kept in the tank, they would be fairly large enough to have outgrown the tank. (except maybe the purple because they tend to grow slowly.)

As for the Achilles & PBT, I would recommend keeping either or, not both. As for the Achilles, keep it in a 180 + for it to have enough swim room, and as mentioned above keep it happy with random, intense flow and heavily oxygenated.
 
No, until now they didn't outgrew the tank. Hippo and Sohal are the biggests with around 5 to 6 inches.

Even if this is not "natural", I notice that fish size adapts to tank size.
I always get fishes that are really small juvs. They were all of them not more than 2,5/3 inches when I purchased them.
 
i was planning on putting

- powder blue
- achilles
- orange shoulder
- blue hippo
- and a purple (added last probably)

all together in a 225. i thought that would be enough room to accomodate 5 tangs if i had 300lbs of LR.

my question was going to be if i could have 3 angels with them! (emperor, blueface, majestic)
 
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