Help from other Achilles/Finicky Tang Owners

[Holsteiner]

I have an achilles that i've had now for about 6-7 months. He's doing great and is incredibly chubby. Problem i'm having is the only thing he eats is nori. He continually grazes on rocks all day, but only thing I can get him to eat is the nori. I've tried everything, and I mean everything. I also soak everything in either Selcon or garlic. He's also in a tank with a purple tang who doesn't snub his nose at anything. I was hoping within a couple months he would learn from the purple tang to eat other stuff but no luck yet. I'm not incredibly worried at this point, but at the same time would feel much better if he would start eating a varied diet. All of my other tangs eat nori, mysis, flake, pellet and a selection of rod's food. I soak weekly in Selcon. Any suggestions from any other achilles owners or others that have picky tangs would be much appreciated!

 

[Fish Bowl]

Gracilaria/Ogo has never failed me at getting one of these to eat.
I also do know that they can be picky with certain foods based on their sizes as well so for example if your using a larger mysis, try a smaller one (same with pellets and so forth)

 

[pktech]

ha! We're in reverse - My new achilles is finally eating nori after 3 weeks in QT & I was lucky to get him eating the spirulina & brine cubes a few days after I got him. It will not touch pellets or Rods or even the slightly larger size mysis ... I also know that some of my fish will not eat selcon soaked food so it's like having more picky kids to cater to, LOL ... maybe the presence of the other tang(s) is casing him a little stress?

 

[Holsteiner]

He loves the selcon, but won't eat anything else when it's soaked in selcon...no stress, he's in with a purple tang but they seem to be best buddies, no aggression from day 1, but he is the ruler in the tank for sure!

 

[nonimmigrant]

I have an achilles that i've had now for about 6-7 months. He's doing great and is incredibly chubby. Problem i'm having is the only thing he eats is nori. He continually grazes on rocks all day, but only thing I can get him to eat is the nori. I've tried everything, and I mean everything. I also soak everything in either Selcon or garlic. He's also in a tank with a purple tang who doesn't snub his nose at anything. I was hoping within a couple months he would learn from the purple tang to eat other stuff but no luck yet. I'm not incredibly worried at this point, but at the same time would feel much better if he would start eating a varied diet. All of my other tangs eat nori, mysis, flake, pellet and a selection of rod's food. I soak weekly in Selcon. Any suggestions from any other achilles owners or others that have picky tangs would be much appreciated!

My big one did that for a year and then finally started chowing on anything you threw at it. Give it time, but do ensure that the nori is getting a vitamin soak and then feed. Good Luck.

 

[Ostara]

I've had several Achilles and each one has had a few things it devoured and lots of things it wouldn't touch. The one I have now didn't really eat for two weeks when I got him. His mouth was a bit banged up and he just wouldn't try anything. The first thing he started with was seaweed, then flake. Now he eats my pellet mix (NLS, Formula 1/2) like crazy but won't touch the flakes he used to eat. He still eats seaweed though. Doesn't want anything to do with frozen. Of the other two I've had, one ate only frozen and only certain brands of mysis and spirulina brine, and even chose certain size pieces over others. The other ate NLS pellets and absolutely nothing else for a long time (more than a year), then suddenly started eating frozen and seaweed.

As long as he's eating and is fat and healthy I wouldn't worry too much about it. Soaking his seaweed in Selcon is great; I would just keep doing that and give him time. He'll probably branch out and start sampling other things sooner or later.

 

[Holsteiner]

Thanks so much Ostara and nonimmigrant! Good to know it's possible, will just take more time. For now he pretty much has nonstop access to nori and I soak a strip or two a day in selcon. He's fat and happy so hopefully eventually he'll expand his palate ;-)

 

[rogersb]

Mine has also only been eating nori but went through a hgue amount of gracilaria yesterday. I put it in the tank monday and he left it alone for 2 days then - BAM - all of it gone.

 

[Holsteiner]

Mine has also only been eating nori but went through a hgue amount of gracilaria yesterday. I put it in the tank monday and he left it alone for 2 days then - BAM - all of it gone.

Someone else mentioned the gracilaria to me...did you use the actual plant or did you have the gracilaria sheets? I'm going to order some today....

 

[geaux xman]

You could try bloodworms. My 2 achilles eat bloodworms most aggressively. Maybe then it would start trying other frozens. I have one in the morning, if its too early, it would ignore the mysis. But the 2nd
I put in bloodworms, hes all over it.

I have one that would only eat frozens and nori. The other eats everything frozen plus all dry(pellets/flakes) food.

Try both the regular mysis and PE mysis.

 

[Moort82]

Something that has worked for me is to put a strip of nori over a piece of rock, use a rubber band to hold it on and put different foods underneath. When it goes for the nori it may accidently take some of the other food and the more it does, the more likely it will begin seeing them as a good source of food.
Other than that you could mash some algae flake up in a little water and paint it onto a rock. Let this dry and then add to your tank.
These both create a natural feeding method and has worked wonders for several people i know.