Any Experience With Achilles?

[EmilyB]

Well, they are herbivores...

Spirulina flake and they do like those OSI spirulina nibblers very much.

[seanoman]

No i know they are herbivores, but I was just curious if maybe it was something in it's diet that was taking away its colour. It has no problem eating any algea of any type and it is getting a belly on it.

[marie]

Usually loss of colour is a sign of stress, my achilles looked like a powder brown hybrid (greyish) the whole time he was in quarantine but the day after he went into the display tank his colour came back. He may still be expecting the regal to jump out of the rocks at him and may take a while to feel comfortable in his new surroundings.

Do you have any other fish in the tank that is bigger then him that he might feel a bit threatened by?

[wickedfrags]

Congrats on finding one that size! I am looking for one, likely the last tang to go in my tank. And from previous experience, if it is eating, it will be be fine. A little ick is to be expected.

[Trigger Man]

Originally Posted by wickedfrags.com

Congrats on finding one that size! I am looking for one, likely the last tang to go in my tank. And from previous experience, if it is eating, it will be be fine. A little ick is to be expected.

Good to know that if it is eating it should be fine. Now I just have to decide how long is enough in qt when it is showing great coloring, eating and no signs of disease. Is 2 weeks enough?

[300g]

i have one show size 10" in my 280g fish tank.eat all the food ,i keep him only 2 weeks ???(dead)

[Delphinus]

Never kept this fish myself but the one thing that does come to mind - flow flow and more flow. I've seen this fish while snorkeling and it's plum happy in the raging surf at depths less than 10' and from what I've heard from those that seem to successfully keep this fish that the common element seems to be high O2 and high flow turnover and surging currents in the tank. In fact I have this recollection of Marie posting a picture (or maybe a video) of her Achilles tang doing a sort of "surfing" trick in the output of a Tunze ... (at least I think it was Marie.. apologies if I'm remembering wrong..)

So I'm thinking that even if the fish is in QT, it might not hurt to have a higher flow turnover in the QT tank than what you might do otherwise.

Just my $0.02, not based on experience at all, just based on my own speculation. Good luck, they are a beautiful fish, I hope one day when I'm ready, I can try this fish too.

[naesco]

I have tried the achilles tang on two occasions many years ago. In both cases the tangs died.
I read subsequently that the are a very very difficult tang to keep as others have posted. I think it is on the way out as the symptoms you described were the same as mine.
Although they are algae eaters I would add to there diet varied high quality foods including garlic and selcon supplements.
I do know that the require highly oxygenated water so I would suggest you install a wave system or at the minimum place a hefty powerhead six inches below the water line. You will see that the achillies will 'play' in the stream.
Best of success. I hope everything works out.
http://wetwebmedia.com/badacanthurusaq.htm has excellent recommendations on the good and bad tangs to keep. The achlilles tang is on the bad list.

Apart from the well know tank size requirements (which you easily meet), reefers are well advised to consult this list before considering a tang purchase.

[wickedfrags]

The toughest thing about these fish is getting them to eat. If they eat, eventually they will kick the ick that inevidably comes with them.

Assuming he keeps eating you should have no worries. If he is in QT, get him good and fat as it could be stressful him when there become competition for food.

Get him good and fat, so if he does not get to eat too much for the first few days his fat reserves do not go down to low.

Originally Posted by Trigger Man

Good to know that if it is eating it should be fine. Now I just have to decide how long is enough in qt when it is showing great coloring, eating and no signs of disease. Is 2 weeks enough?

[seanoman]

Originally Posted by marie

Usually loss of colour is a sign of stress, my achilles looked like a powder brown hybrid (greyish) the whole time he was in quarantine but the day after he went into the display tank his colour came back. He may still be expecting the regal to jump out of the rocks at him and may take a while to feel comfortable in his new surroundings.

Do you have any other fish in the tank that is bigger then him that he might feel a bit threatened by?

Hey thanks for the replies. Marie the way you described it looking like a powder brown hybrid (greyish) would be exactly what I would say it looks like. It seems however that when we go down to look at him, he slowly gets better colouring. Which makes me think something else is picking on him, But I have never seen anything other than the regal show any aggression.

The other fish in the tank are:

6 - Green Chromis
2 - Red Fire Fish
1 - Yellow Fin Fairy Wrasse
1 - Green Coris Wrasse
1 - Raccoon Butterfly
1 - Sunburst Anthias
1 - Dussumieri Tang

Originally Posted by wickedfrags.com

Congrats on finding one that size! I am looking for one, likely the last tang to go in my tank. And from previous experience, if it is eating, it will be be fine. A little ick is to be expected.

It's not the ick I am concerned about, its the pale colour.

Like I said, I got the fish from Dan at Aquatic Addictions in Abby here. He has gotten 3 in lately and they have all been the same size. I know he ships, you should give him a call.