Achilles tang

[TheMcs]

Within the next year I'd like to add an achilles tang to my 185, which is part of a 500 gal system. There is ample oxygenation of the water, it is well filtered, and the DT has lots of swimming room and turbulent flow.

I rarely see these around town, but when I do they are at least 4". What's the consensus on best size to buy? I prefer to start with small fish and watch them grow. I haven't read anywhere that small achilles don't ship or acclimate well, so I'm curious as to why you never see them. Any thoughts/advice?

[Neptune777]

I see them locally in the 4" range on a fairly regular basis. (I never see them smaller than this, and at this size they have lots of room to grow). 4" is optimal IMO...

The key to Achilles is getting one that is eating and disease free up front. If you can get past that hurdle then you should be good to go. Diver's Den on Live Aquaria has them periodically but they sell really fast.

[AquaReeferMan]

Yeah Ive never seen an Achilles under 4". From what Ive read they are very hard to collect at a smaller size. Mine was 4" when I got it. Like Neptune77 said look for a healthy one that is eating. By far my favorite fish.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e349/aquareeferman/achilles6-1.jpg

[fastford]

LFS here in St. louis MO has a good supplier for Achilles. They just got a huge shipment of fish and a couple nice 4-5" Ach...

[TheMcs]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I'll ready myself for a 4" achilles. Nice to know up front before a long, fruitless search.

[yoboyjdizz]

Right now there is a 3 3/4 inch achilles in the drives den the smallest i've seen: http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?ddid=38227&siteid=20 got mine last week very healthy and beautiful!