Powder Blue with Achillies
- Thread starter Tracey2
- Start date
I have both in an 8' 300g. It's a bad idea. I added a slightly smaller achilles to the pbt's tank. This was after about 6 weeks QT. He was fat and happy, and was almost killed within 12 hrs. I tried to catch either fish through various methods and was unsuccessful.
Finally I taped 2 4'x1' mirrors to the front bottom of the tank and everyone in the tank went berserk. Apparently an achilles would rather attack an achilles than a pbt and a pbt would rather attack a pbt than an achilles. In fact most of my fish were attacking their reflections nonstop. This lasted for about a week. At that point, only the aggressive fish kept attacking their reflections. I really do mean nonstop.
After 3 weeks of this, they started taking pauses in their attacks. At this point, I removed the 2 4' mirrors and stuck a 2' x1' one to the end of the tank. That mirror is still there. It has been probably 7 months or so and all aggression in the tank seems to be directed at the mirror. I tried removing it maybe 2 months after the achilles was added and the aggression went up quickly.
Now I think of it like a mirror in a bird's cage, they seem to enjoy attacking their reflections, and they can't hurt themselves badly doing it. My current 4 flatfish (pbt, achilles, choc, one spot foxface) hang out together most of the time.
While it seems to have been successful, it was alot of drama. I was surprised because I had added quite a few fish to the pbt's tank with no issues whatsoever. The order of addition was pbt, hippo, chocolate, achilles. Each fish added was a juvenile and smaller than the others. Never before had the pbt shown aggression.
Finally I taped 2 4'x1' mirrors to the front bottom of the tank and everyone in the tank went berserk. Apparently an achilles would rather attack an achilles than a pbt and a pbt would rather attack a pbt than an achilles. In fact most of my fish were attacking their reflections nonstop. This lasted for about a week. At that point, only the aggressive fish kept attacking their reflections. I really do mean nonstop.
After 3 weeks of this, they started taking pauses in their attacks. At this point, I removed the 2 4' mirrors and stuck a 2' x1' one to the end of the tank. That mirror is still there. It has been probably 7 months or so and all aggression in the tank seems to be directed at the mirror. I tried removing it maybe 2 months after the achilles was added and the aggression went up quickly.
Now I think of it like a mirror in a bird's cage, they seem to enjoy attacking their reflections, and they can't hurt themselves badly doing it. My current 4 flatfish (pbt, achilles, choc, one spot foxface) hang out together most of the time.
While it seems to have been successful, it was alot of drama. I was surprised because I had added quite a few fish to the pbt's tank with no issues whatsoever. The order of addition was pbt, hippo, chocolate, achilles. Each fish added was a juvenile and smaller than the others. Never before had the pbt shown aggression.
Tracey2
Member
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I have the reverse situation where the achillies is already in the tank and am loving the small powder blue at my lfs but I don't want to ruin what I have going in my tank. Why do you think your chocolate tang was accepted by your powder blue, is a chocolate not acanthurus tang also?
TampaReefer79
Premium Member
Yes, the chocolate tang (acanthurus pyorferus) is a memeber of the acanthurus family.
bigdog0598
New member
thats awesome! I'd love to see a video of that!
Moort82
New member
Not my tank but i remember seeing on someones tank thread that they had a 9ft tank with a resident powder blue. They added a small achilles and the powder kept it in a hole for a few days and i think it really went for it until it killed it. The guy tried later with a bigger achilles and once again the aggression happend but it made it through. Although he did say he would never mix the two again as they were constantly fighting each other over the time he kept them.
If you have a happy achilles i personally wouldn't risk anything with it.
If you have a happy achilles i personally wouldn't risk anything with it.
I have no idea why the chocolate was accepted, perhaps he was too small when added...(less than 2") I did definitely surprise me after adding all the other fish that i did, that the pbt was so aggressive.
In the first few weeks the achilles, even though it was smaller, was going on the offensive as much as it could before it got too weak to attack. I was surprised by its aggression since it kept losing...and trying...and losing...and trying...
Tracey2
Member
I wonder if some people have success because they are adding male with female vs 2 males. Is there not a hybrid achillies that is a combo achillies and powder brown, that would mean in the wild they mate?
Has anyone had the powder blue/achillies combo going well but not get along later, when mature? Prickles, how big are your chocolate and powder blue now, any aggression?
I thought I would get the pb, qt for the next month or so then add to dt using an acclimatization box, if there is alot of aggression the pb will go back to the store.
Has anyone had the powder blue/achillies combo going well but not get along later, when mature? Prickles, how big are your chocolate and powder blue now, any aggression?
I thought I would get the pb, qt for the next month or so then add to dt using an acclimatization box, if there is alot of aggression the pb will go back to the store.
mrmikeasaurus
New member
i have a PB and an achillies in my 220 LD tank.. they get along fine.. i run a UV at night as a precaution
extreme5450
Member
the chocolate was probably left alone due to the different body shape
Tracey2
Member
Good to know, how big are they? Did you introduce them at the same time?
I've had both tangs for many years now in my setup with other old friends...
- Purple tang 10,5 years
- Hippo tang 8,5 years
- Sohal tang 7,5 years
- PBT 7 years
- Achilles tang 6 years
last introduced, the achilles had tough times with the PBT for a couple of months. But all thoses fishes live together with almost no agression at all.
I won't recommand to populate a small tank like mine (140 gallons) with such a list of tangs.
I guess I'm a bit lucky
to have a peacefull tank with such a population for so many years.
- Purple tang 10,5 years
- Hippo tang 8,5 years
- Sohal tang 7,5 years
- PBT 7 years
- Achilles tang 6 years
last introduced, the achilles had tough times with the PBT for a couple of months. But all thoses fishes live together with almost no agression at all.
I won't recommand to populate a small tank like mine (140 gallons) with such a list of tangs.
I guess I'm a bit lucky
to have a peacefull tank with such a population for so many years.
Alex T.
Active member
I think sohalfr's success comes from crowding them and making them dissipate aggression amongst each other. I once had an Achilles, Desjardini Sailfin, Yellow and Naso tang in my 150. They all got along. I think most of this is due to extreme flow, heavy feeding and minimal rockwork for lots of swimming space. Keeping this many surgeons happy in a 150 I felt was too cumbersome of a task in an SPS reef so I made some sales and only keep the Achilles and Yellow. I believe if one wishes to keep multiple Acanthurus species in any sized tank they have to be crowded.
After visiting the Baltimore Aquarium last year I noticed 3 Red Sea Clown tangs, a powder brown and multiple yellows in what appeared to be close to a 500 gallon reef. I was blown away that 4 clown tangs weren't killing everything in the tank. I also recall Terry Siegel's famous 10 foot 400 gallon reef tank having a Powder Blue, Sohal, Yellow, Sailfin, Kole and Achilles all in the same tank. He had barely any rockwork and I was floored when I saw that many large tangs together with all fins intact.
After visiting the Baltimore Aquarium last year I noticed 3 Red Sea Clown tangs, a powder brown and multiple yellows in what appeared to be close to a 500 gallon reef. I was blown away that 4 clown tangs weren't killing everything in the tank. I also recall Terry Siegel's famous 10 foot 400 gallon reef tank having a Powder Blue, Sohal, Yellow, Sailfin, Kole and Achilles all in the same tank. He had barely any rockwork and I was floored when I saw that many large tangs together with all fins intact.
They are not too big. It's only been about 8 months or so. The achilles is still quite a bit smaller than the pbt. I would guess the pbt outweighs him by 50% or more. They are about 1-2" difference in length.
I still have the mirror up since I don't notice it on the side of the tank. There is some aggression, but it's very limited. They do tend to be near each other, but always keep an eye on the other and don't get within 3-4". They will swerve if they are likely to breach that range.
Yes key factors might be:
- crowding them a bit
- very good flow
- lot of open swimm space, they have plenty of space to swimm above the rockwork
- still a lot of places in the rocks to retreat in case of need or at night
- my 7,5 years old cleaner wrasse
- good feeding (but not heavy
), dry, frozen, nori- all introduced as tiny fishes, about 2"
- and maybe... some luck
Current max size is about 6" for sohal and hippo tangs.
Growth is limiting itself according to tank size, this is at least my experience.
