Success keeping achilles

[Sumfingwong]

I have a buddy that has his in AT in a 6ft 120, with other tangs and triggers. Hes actually a member (not active anymore) on this board.

i might give it a go once my tank is up and running again.

Originally Posted by RyanJ

Well this is something right down my lane!! I have had 3!!
the 1st one I had was great! Until Someone Poured something in my tank is what I think.. I really dont wanna go into details on this one!
The 2nd Achillies I had for 7 months! and Was eating NLS pellets! and everything! Untill one day, A Bio-Pellet was pumped up from my sump some how and he decided the he was going to try and eat it! And he did! BUT it impacted in his belly and Burst open like a pop bottle full Dry ice!
Now the 3rd I have had for 8 months and Hes doing great! i just put filter socks on the returns for my reactors and He has been doing great! got him on Pellets in the first 3weeks and once you get these guys on Pellets your golden!! soo that my story and my history with these awesome tangs! I do not suggest them for beginners!!

Boy - that's a lot of !!
I love Achilles.
Along with Nasos, they are really my dream fish. If I ever decide to get a tank large enough, I will probably give them a go. I've never had either yet though.
Not to derail this topic but I would actually like to see Nasos priced closer to what Achilles are. I think it might sway some people from putting them in unsuitable tanks. I guess you could say that about a lot of fish though....

[marie]

I've had Doofus coming up 6 yrs. He had Marine velvet when I got him so he went through copper treatment and 8 weeks quarantine.....Every fish in the tank with him has been quarantined and treated with either hypo or copper and I believe that is why he has done so well

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by marie

I've had Doofus coming up 6 yrs. He had Marine velvet when I got him so he went through copper treatment and 8 weeks quarantine.....Every fish in the tank with him has been quarantined and treated with either hypo or copper and I believe that is why he has done so well

That plus the two full sheets of Nori that you feed him every day

[naesco]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

I'd like to hear some success stories, what was the longest you kept this fish, what was the secret?

I heard these fish like open water, they usually hang out where waves crash and love high turbulent flow....

Please share your advice and pics!

I could not keep achilles successfully and very very few reefers do.

You are right that they hand where the waves crash. A Vortech MP 40 or above set up at full speed and placed so that it just breaks the surface of the water may provide the highly oxygenated environment they need.
Unless you are a similar set up together with a minimum 6 foot tank in fairness to the fish, I would not recommend you attempt to keep one.

[Fishfreak]

I had one in a 6 foot 150 for 3 and a half years. His tank mates included: yellow tang, purple, regal, naso and blue throat trigger. These were only the large fish. When I upgraded to my 400 gallon, they all slowly died within a few weeks of the move. The transfer did them all in. Definitely my favorite fish. Whenever I decide to get one again, I don't think I will be as lucky!

[Willito]

6 foot tank is nice but not a must, mine is in a 4 footer. This is what I find works good:

-Should be one of the first tang in tank
-strong water current
-Run UV before and after adding new fish for a few weeks
-quarantine for the purpose of eating and not disease control

Mine is living with a powder blue and amongst others for almost two years. Prior to this, I lost 5 due to to improper quarantine.

[StirCrazy]

I had mine in my 94 gal tank for 5 years untill my tank was wiped out by a defective heater.

some key requirments are lots of O2, so oversized skimmers run 24/7 work well for this, 0 nitrates is another important thing I found out. the water must be very clean. as for 6 foot tank I will agree to disagree on that one. most of these tank sizes came from when people used to stuff a 100 gal tank with 200 lbs of rock, which resulted in almost no swimming area.

I had 120 lbs of rock in my 94 gal tank aranged in a manor that 3/4 of the tank was open area. so my tank was 3 foot long, 2 foot wide and 25" tall. I never had any problems what so ever, no ich, no nothing.. I bought him.. took him home, dumped the bag out into my fish transfer strainer and put him in the tank. I did ballance the bag water to my tank first.

I have never been a fan of quarenteen tank, I think they do more harm than good, and I never put any other water in my tanks.

there was a good write up on them I found 10 or so years ago that atrubuted 90% of the problems people have with them were related to nitrates in the tank water. a low level isn't good enough, you must have none. the areas where they occure naturaly are not nitrate or nutrent rich area but rather the oposit.

for food, I fed nori, some expensive pellet food, frozen krill, and the ocasional treet of baby brine shrimp.

they are classed as a harder fish, but if you have a mature tank with pristeen water, lots of open swimming area, and lots of flow you should be ok.

as for tank size.. I leve that up to the individual, but I myself having been sucessfull before, wouldent be oposed to put one in a a tank as small as 75 gal depending on the lay out.

Steve

[untamed]

I lost mine at about 3 years. It had ich the entire time, so it is hard for me to believe that ich killed him. Maybe it just took that long to wear down his immune system... Or maybe it was something else.

[tang daddy]

Thanks for sharing the excellent advice guys, I would not consider putting a larger tang in my 75g because I know they like to swim...

So some success has to do with quarantining the fish, making sure it eats well, giving it lots of flow, O2 and zero nitrates. I figured they are ich magnets just like the powder I owned and had great success keeping it.