adding a achilles

[emperior911]

I have a 210 gallon reef with 4 tangs

10-12" Blonde Naso male
5-6" puple tang
4-5" red sea sail fin tang
5-6" blue tang


i love my tangs. My all time favorite, i don't have. Achilles would complete my tank. I'd like to know your experences adding a new tang with exsisting tangs. my purple is the most aggressive. I know i'll have problems with the purple. i was thinking of adding a eggcreate to one side of the tank to allow the fish to get used to the new tang. any idea's where to buy a healty achilles? i know this sounds stupid, but i won't be quarentining. I have never quarentined any of my fish.

 

[I like Triggers]

sometimes, especially with tangs, you dont want to QT. a tang needs as much space as possible, and being in a small QT and then transfered again can be stressful on them. you might want to try going to vividaquariums.com and calling one of the guys on the left column and asking them about it. they hand pick all their fish and pick only extremely healthy specimens.

 

[RGBMatt]

Achilles tangs are crazy ich magnets. If you're not going to quarantine it, say some prayers for the rest of your fish.

 

[pcbaseball]

i tried one a couple of months ago and left it in the sump for 2 weeks until i was confortable with it eating. No ich and i transfered it in a plastic water pitcher and then right into the tank. Unfortunately my yellow and purple tang didnt like him and he soon died. I would defineatly make sure he was eating before i added the achilles to the other tangs

 

[Triggerfish]

make sure you have a nice surge area for this fish..that's where it will spend most of its time.

probably have store order one for ya and see what condition it arrives in..here they ship poorly.

 

[thriceanangel]

I have heard that Achilles are nearly impossible to keep unless you can offer them a school. They are far to fragile for most aquarists.

 

[Triggerfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8138367#post8138367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thriceanangel
I have heard that Achilles are nearly impossible to keep unless you can offer them a school.

i've never heard that..you have a reference link to that or anything..i would be interested to find out more..thx

 

[thor32766]

as far as the achilles I wouldnt get one, its one of those fish that just doesnt seem to thrive. There are people would get and do great, but its not common. As far as adding a tang with established tangs, all of mine have been together over two years. I just added my black tang about 6 months ago and I havent encountered a single problem. But this is just my experience. Some people did have problems introducing after the tangs have been established.

 

[ledford1]

Re: adding a achilles

i know this sounds stupid, but i won't be quarentining. I have never quarentined any of my fish.

That's scary with the blue tang.

you can also rearrange the aquascape so territories are broken up, esp with the purple tang

 

[thor32766]

yeah ledford is right, these guys you should consider they have ich. Plain and simple. these guys are the ich magnet example!

 

[I like Triggers]

do you have a UV?? you could also feed with therum spectrum thats anti-parasitic to help.

 

[Triggerfish]

i'm thinking the min requirements here would be at least an 8 footer with a major surge zone section...i'm not sure how many folks would be willing to dedicate a section of the tank that would provide such powerful water movement..but that would be pretty darn cool..

 

[bureau13]

I was once in the no QT club. Now I'm restocking my tank because everyone but a pair of maroon clowns got wiped out by velvet.

Needless to say, now I QT...ESPECIALLY with tangs. Trust me...the smaller QT is not as stressful as the parasitic infections which you will inevitably encounter, for you OR the fish.

jds

 

[JamesJR]

You may try getting a big one so he can hold his own against the other tangs. Be careful though, I heard that the bigger ones have a more difficult adjusting to captivity than the smaller ones. They are tough to keep.

 

[zemuron114]

The Naso will be fine with the new addition. however the purple and sailfin may be another story. The purple will definitely be an issue, and hes big so he will be mean !

Achilles can do very well in captivity if given the right requirements and care. they are ich magnets but if they aren't stressed they wont get it. I personally thing QTing this fish is pointless. Either way its going to get stressed in the main system and still probably show signs of Ich. A healthy fish can withstand it. Move around some rock and take out the purple and sailfin and then reintro them after the achillies.


Matt, great picture!!!

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

I wouldn't try this fish without a good 4 week qt...

Qt is NOT stressful for a fish..A properly set up and cycled qt tank helps the fish recover from the stress of capture and shipping...helps him get used to the foods we offer and get used to us..They can learn to eat without competing with others and they won't be harassed at a time when they are most vulnerable...And you can treat them for ich [and other parasites] if needed..If it happens to have Velvet it can wipe out your whole tank....not worth it! Stress does NOT cause ich..Ich is a parasite, not a virus

 

[steveweast]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8147285#post8147285 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JamesJR
You may try getting a big one so he can hold his own against the other tangs.

This is what I did.....The Achilles was bigger than my Powder Blue and my Purple tang. There was a small amount of aggression initially, but, the Achilles would just turn around and and smack them. After a few months, my Achilles and Powder blue are best buds and pretty much stay together.

 

[triggerfish1976]

steveweast,

Your tank amazes me everytime I see it. You probably have a pretty easy time accimilating all of your fish given the size and aquascaping. I just upgraded to a 600g tank and it I find it much easier on the fish.

I originally bought a single purple tang and decided I wanted a school of 4 so I added three more similar sized purple's about 3 weeks after the first was introduced and he wasn't real happy about it. He chased the other three for about a day but the extra room in the tank allowed the new additions to keep away from him. They all now swim and eat togther.

emperior911,

Achilles Tangs in my experience are proabably the most delicate of tangs next to maybe a clown tangs and do not do well in unstable environments. I had one in my old tank a few years ago and he did poorly for about a month getting ich on and off. I then started feeding him large amounts of Nori soaked in garlic and he did real well for about 8 months until I lost him due to a brief power outage that resulted in a major temp. spike in my tank. Every other fish in my tank survived the temp. spike but the achilles.
As everyone has pretty much noted, they like very turbulent water flow due to coming from reef surge zones and are very active in an aquarium environment thus need a large amount of open area to swim around in. Mine would swim full speed around the tank constantly so he always needed a regaular supply of green stuff to nibble on to keep his energy going.
I personally do not QT my fish but I would probably reconsider if I ever decided to get another Achilles because they are the worst ich magnets I have ever encountered with a fish.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8150371#post8150371 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BTTRFLYGRL
I wouldn't try this fish without a good 4 week qt...

Qt is NOT stressful for a fish..A properly set up and cycled qt tank helps the fish recover from the stress of capture and shipping...helps him get used to the foods we offer and get used to us..They can learn to eat without competing with others and they won't be harassed at a time when they are most vulnerable...And you can treat them for ich [and other parasites] if needed..If it happens to have Velvet it can wipe out your whole tank....not worth it! Stress does NOT cause ich..Ich is a parasite, not a virus

"ich is a parasite, not a virus". Thats just semantics. Viruses are nothing but microscopic parasites.

QT IS stressful for fish. Unless you want to set up a QT thats basically just an 8 foot reef tank with no fish.

 

[bureau13]

Sure, QT is stressful. Not as stressful as parasites however! Hell, taking them out of the ocean is stressful. The point is...and I know you know this...the fish aren't going to get ich from being stressed! They get it because the particular parasite in question climbs on board and infects them. So comments like "I personally thing QTing this fish is pointless. Either way its going to get stressed in the main system and still probably show signs of ich" (sorry, I'm picking on you zemuron114) are kind of silly...if you've kept the parasite out of your tank, and you make sure to get rid of it by quarantining and treating the fish before you introduce it, he won't get ich no matter how stressed he becomes. Ich parasites do not materialize out of thin...uhhh, water.

jds