Achilles Tang

garyw68

garyw68

New member
I got a pretty good deal on this tang...however, he is not eating. I have had him for about three days now and still nothing. He does graze along the rocks but turns away from nori, mysis and anything else I put in. is this normal? even though he was a good deal...i still spend a lot of money.

thanks.
 
Be patient. Keep offering different foods, and always keep nori available to him. Since he's grazing, he's technically eating and he'll find he other food.

Can you rubber band a piece of nori to a rock that he can graze on?

Is he in a QT?
 
use some garlic extreme. I hope he is in the QT without any fish harassing him or else he'll be stress.. Good luck
 
no...didnt have a QT tank available. other fish are not bothering him..he is just swimming around picking at the rocks. I only have five other fish in my 180. I would like to keep more nori out but as soon as i do...the other fish eat it. I will keep doing what I am doing and hopefully...he will start eating soon.
 
How much flow do you have? He could be stressed from low flow. Achilles tangs need TONS of flow. Much more than most fish.

Keep lots of nori available, even if the other fish eat it. He'll catch on soon. It took a few days for my Achilles to start eating nori and almost a week for him to eat meaty foods. But now he eats everything just fine. Once he does start eating make sure he eats lots of nori. And a good variety of frozen food will help. But nori should be the main part of his diet.

Also, if you didnt know already, Achilles Tangs are very, very hard to keep. So even though you got a good deal on him you should read as much as you can on keeping him alive. And starting with flow will be the most important. HTH
 
i have two Koralia 4's and two mJ1200 plus my return pump which is a Eheim 1262. I did start reading up on achilles tangs but have not read about the good flow. Do you think what I have is good enough or should I step it up a notch?
 
I have the same as you PLUS two more K4's in my 220g, and that's only 25x turnover..

I'd say you need a little more.

(k4 is 1200gph, eheim 1262 is 900gph, mj1200 is 295gph for those wanting to do the math)
 
Since he does graze thats a bit of good sign.

Like they said always have some nori rubberband to a LR for him. Also get some of those Formula 2 gel frozen food and rubberband that with the nori. Works for me.
 
he just ate some formula 2 flakes :D I had a extra k4 laying around so I went ahead and threw that in. I am thinking about running to my LFS and picking up another making four k4’s total in the tank.
 
Yeah I would bump up the flow a little bit. I have one in my 125g with about 55x turnover and he loves swimming around. It also took mine about a week to eat any prepared food but once it did it wouldnt stop. Good Luck.

My tank gets a sheet and a half of nori a day along with 1 feeding of frozen formula 2 and PE mysis.
 
Last edited:
thanks everyone...i am happy to say he is now picking at nori. tomorrow i plan to buy another koralia 4 making 4 total in my tank. shoule that be enough or shoule I leave my two MJ1200 in as well?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13266411#post13266411 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by garyw68
thanks everyone...i am happy to say he is now picking at nori. tomorrow i plan to buy another koralia 4 making 4 total in my tank. shoule that be enough or shoule I leave my two MJ1200 in as well?
Click to expand...

Just so you can compare, I have 2 tunze 6060's @ 1600gph ea, 2 modified maxi jets @ 2200gph each, a tunze wavebox and my return pump puts out another 1200gph in my 175g bowfront.
My achilles is the only fish that can eat the hair algae growing on the front of my powerheads :D
 
I want one bad but ill be moving in the near future so ill have to wait until my tanks are re established from the move and get some more korla#4's before i get the beauty..and then i think it will be WYSIWYG item ...
 
Just how difficult are these things?? I have wanted one since I saw the one at the aquarium in Gatlinburg TN but have heard they are difficult and have been real reluctant to pull the trigger if I find one. I only have about 2 years experience in the salt water hobby and don't have a real confident feeling that I could keep one successfully....what is the key???
 
get one thats eating/ fat/ healthy, provide a big tank( if you think your tank is big enough up grade twice then up grade 2 mor times) with massive flow..then more and more flow...then you have a 50/50 chance ( from what i have read as i have no personal experience YET)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13268460#post13268460 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rnhrtfan
OK well the large tank thing means my 90 is out of the question
Click to expand...

all the more reasons to upgrade to a 180 :D
 
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