Fully Grown Achilles only 6"?

tfp

New member
I've had him for over 7 years...and I really can't tell if its even grown since I got it. any ideas why this fish won't grow? was hoping by now he'd be like 10" with a huge teardrop :(.
 
I think it depends on how much you feed and the size of the tank but with that said I think a lot of people will be happy to be have that fish that don't grow.
 
I got mine 4 years ago and he was 3 1/2" at that time. Today he's a very fat 8" long and still growing. I would be very happy if mine would stop growing ;-)

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I think mines just a some kinda dna runt :(. all the other tangs he's been with have outgrown him by several inches (maculiceps, fowleri, orange shoulder, purple, scopas, chocolate, blue). just thankful they all get along :)
 
This could just be nature protecting the fish. People are always discussing tanks being too small for fish. But in my decades of being in this hobby I have yet to see a fish outgrow a tank. My dad had a yellow tang for 14 years. The yellow was in a 50g tank. He never got more than a 2" body size. Lots of people would jump up and scream that this tang was miserable and unhappy. But 14 years is significantly longer than most fish survive in this hobby.

I have a pair of large Hippos in my 400g tank for 3 years. They are obesely fat, but only about 7" long. If you go to any public Aquarium you will see Hippo Tangs that are over a foot long.

When these fish are kept in our tiny boxes. And even 400g is tiny compared to the amount of area an Achilles can cover in 5 seconds in the wild. Nature protects these fish so they don't outgrow there homes.

And while someone may have an 8" Achilles in a 240 and yours is only 6" in a 400g - Neither one of those fish is the close to the size of some of the SHOW Size Achilles that come in out of the wild at over 12". And I am sure that both of your tangs are fat and healthy.

Dave B
 
these are a tough fish for sure. If feeding well with Moderate growth I would be happy.
Great color on the fish above^
 
12" Achilles? What are you smoking?

:lol:

My powder blue was bought in '06, and is still only a hair over 5 inches. I'm not going to sweat it. He looks just fine to me... albeit a bit on the chubby side :)

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This could just be nature protecting the fish. People are always discussing tanks being too small for fish. But in my decades of being in this hobby I have yet to see a fish outgrow a tank. My dad had a yellow tang for 14 years. The yellow was in a 50g tank. He never got more than a 2" body size. Lots of people would jump up and scream that this tang was miserable and unhappy. But 14 years is significantly longer than most fish survive in this hobby.

I have a pair of large Hippos in my 400g tank for 3 years. They are obesely fat, but only about 7" long. If you go to any public Aquarium you will see Hippo Tangs that are over a foot long.

When these fish are kept in our tiny boxes. And even 400g is tiny compared to the amount of area an Achilles can cover in 5 seconds in the wild. Nature protects these fish so they don't outgrow there homes.

And while someone may have an 8" Achilles in a 240 and yours is only 6" in a 400g - Neither one of those fish is the close to the size of some of the SHOW Size Achilles that come in out of the wild at over 12". And I am sure that both of your tangs are fat and healthy.

Dave B
um i have many tangs dropped off at my store due to them outgrowing aquariums. Right now we have another acanthurus xantherterpus pushing 20 inches that came out of a 150g tank and was bought at 3.5 inches 5 yrs ago. I have pics and will post some when i get home. Our other beast is in a thread titled monster tang ( pushing 24.5 inches atm and has certainly outgrown the 800g he is in.
 
I think sometimes it depends on the fish. My chrysurus angel has barely grown in 12 years, still about 7", and this guy is fat and always eating well. Placed a 2.5" juvi Xmas emperor angel and that guy has grown past 8" in the same tank in 3 years. I've seen the same in other types of fish.
 
Fully Grown Achilles only 6"?

um i have many tangs dropped off at my store due to them outgrowing aquariums. Right now we have another acanthurus xantherterpus pushing 20 inches that came out of a 150g tank and was bought at 3.5 inches 5 yrs ago. I have pics and will post some when i get home. Our other beast is in a thread titled monster tang ( pushing 24.5 inches atm and has certainly outgrown the 800g he is in.


I've seen foot long Achilles, sailfins, and Nasos in the wild, maybe over a foot.. Beautiful.

So... Where are these pics? And the thread, tried to look for it. I would like to see these huge tangs.
 
the thread is called monster tang and was posted about a yr and a half ago in the fish forum. have pics of the new guy but also have the flu but will post when i can. At the shop atm. but home in about 4 hr
 
That's a pretty famously gigantic Acanthurus. Yellow fin tangs are huge. I think the biggest Acanthurus, if I'm not mistaken.
 
I've seen foot long Achilles, sailfins, and Nasos in the wild, maybe over a foot.. Beautiful.

Even fishbase, which has some crazy max sizes listed, only lists the max recorded Achilles at about 9.5 inches. So I'm sorry, but you haven't seen foot long achilles tangs.
 
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