Skinny Achilles Tang

[marclibert]

I've had my Achilles Tang for several months now. He eats pretty good and I feed daily. For some reason I can't get him fat like the other fish. He's the biggest fish in the tank, and seems happy. Unfortunately he always looks thin, as compared to my other 4 fish who are always fat, dumb, and happy. I feed my fish a variey of dried seaweed, several types of frozen foods(Formula 2, mysis shrimp, Ocean Nutrition VHP), and dried formula 2 pellets, and sometimes cyclopeeze.
My tank is a 90 Gall reef and my water quality is excellent, especially for fish...Any thoughts on the diet?

 

[Psyire]

Was he really skinny when you got him?

 

[marrone]

It would probably help if he was in a larger tank. The fish is probably being stressed some what because the tank isn't large enough.

Your going to need to make sure he eats more. Start feeding more Nori and other greens, Frozen romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli also soak in in some vitaimins.

 

[Psyire]

How large is the achilles?

 

[RichK]

What are the other fish in the system? Tangs are very active and graze all day. I would suggest buying some nori and a clip to hold it in the tank so that the tang can graze on it throughout the day.

 

[pk1]

I second the Nori. My Achillies is capable of eating a 2" by 8" piece in an hour. These fish live on reef crests, in very turbid water...they need a lot of flow and room. I'm usually not one to comment of tank size, but IMO a 4 foot tank is too small. I even feel my 180 gl is too small.

Patrick

 

[marrone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7014352#post7014352 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pk1
I'm usually not one to comment of tank size, but IMO a 4 foot tank is too small. I even feel my 180 gl is too small.

Patrick

I did comment on the tank size not being large enoug.

 

[pk1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7014439#post7014439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marrone
I did comment on the tank size not being large enoug.

I should have stated, " I agree with marrone"

PK

 

[marclibert]

Thanks for the diet suggestions, I will try the veggies. How about soaking them in Selcon? The tang is ~ 6" long.
Another problem with him is he's not the fastest fish to get to the food, so alot of time I have to spread out the food so the the other fish don't consume all of it. I also have a small Hippo tang, 1 yellow wrasse and 2 pink skunk clowns.

 

[vette68]

I had an achilles for about 6 months before it starved itself. The biggest problem with them is that they are a more timid tang. I had mine with a more aggressive red sea sailfin, morpho and purple tang. They all got along fine, it's just that the achilles wasn't a voracious eater like the other tangs. It preferred to wait for the food to float by instead of attacking the food like a school of pirhannas like the rest of the tangs. Mine eventually starved itself and died. So, I think the aggressiveness of your tankmates will determine your overall success with an achilles tang. And when I say aggressiveness, I dont mean towards other fish, I mean how aggressive they are when they feed.

 

[jfloydr]

Wow, this is the first tang thread I've seen where people give good advice and don't just berate the guy or call him names for having a tang in anything less than a million gallon tank. I wish all threads were more like this one. Thanks!

 

[hanas]

Agreed, maybe people won't fear asking questions about tangs anymore.