Achilles Tang Primer

[BrianD]

Please offer your suggestions and advice for keeping these wonderful fish.

Possible items to cover:

• Waterflow and tank dimensions
• Acclimation and quarantine
• Tank mates (good and bad)
• Suggested foods
• Recommended size at purchase

Please improve the usefulness to the reader by stating opinions as such and actual experiences as such.

Thank in advance to all who participate.

[fermaster]

BrainD, great idea with this series of threads.
I’ve had the pleasure of keeping 3 Achilles tangs over the course of about 8 years.
Achilles 1:
The first one I bought out of sheer ignorance. I didn’t really use the Internet to explore my newfound hobby and I relied on the “expertise� of the LFS.
Tank size: 125 gallons (72�x18�x22�)
Tank type: Reef tank/DSB, softies
Water changes: Weekly 25%
Water flow: 8x tank volume
Tank mates: 4 chromis, 2 perculas
Food: only ate red algae
Size at purchase: 3.5�
Aggressiveness: none
Quarantine: At that time it was the first fish so I put it directly in my tank.
Experience: Great personality. Very active in the rockwork.
Result: I moved and I sold everything after 2 years.

Achilles 2(Honky Tonk Man):
I had just put together a 300 gallon tank and I really wanted to get another Achilles tang. This time I was researching everything. Everything I read said that only an expert could keep this fish and that it would certainly die. This contradicted my experience so I gave it a shot again.
Tank size: 300 gallons (96�x30�x24�)
Tank type: Reef tank/BB, SPS
Water changes: Weekly 20%
Water flow: 30x tank volume
Tank mates: Naso elagans, Zebrasoma Desjardinii, Paracanthurus hepatus, Ctenochaetus strigosus, 4 bimaculatus anthias, 6 chromis, 2 percula
Food: Red algae, krill, mysis (refused pellets)
Size at purchase: 4.5�
Aggressiveness: none extremely passive
Quarantine: I put it in a 75 gallon tank for 2 months with hypo-salinity conditions
Experience: Great personality. This fish was my favorite by far. Every time I’d put a new clip of algae in the tank it would dart over after it take a bite and do loopty loops for a while then dart back over and grab some more. The rest of the time it was a pretty calm swimmer.
Result: I hate thinking about it but I was moving some corals that I had pegged into the rock work and I was having trouble getting one out and I tugged on it and lifted the rock it was attached to and it then broke free. It then fell back on the rock pile it was resting on where the Achilles was hiding. I was beside myself… I had it for 3 years and in this case I’m positive the pleasure was all mine.

Achilles 3:
I wasn’t going to get another one but my LFS just got a shipment of about 8 Achilles and I was the first one there. I went to all the tanks saw which ones ate and took one at $40.
Tank size: 300 gallons (96�x30�x24�)
Tank type: Reef tank/BB, SPS
Water changes: Weekly 20%
Water flow: 30x tank volume
Tank mates: Naso elagans, Zebrasoma Desjardinii, Paracanthurus hepatus, Ctenochaetus strigosus, 4 bimaculatus anthias, 6 chromis, 2 percula
Food: Red algae, mysis
Size at purchase: 5.5�
Aggressiveness: At first it received some aggression from the Paracanthurus hepatus but after a few days there was none.
Quarantine: Because I got this fish at the spur of the moment I didn’t have my quarantine tank setup and cycled. So I put it directly in the tank…hey I’m not perfect.
Experience: It didn’t exhibit the same personality as the last one did. It was active but not in the same way.
Result: I moved to Dallas so I sold the tank. I had this fish about 3 years.

Conclusion: None of the Achilles I’ve kept were aggressive. I never had a problem getting them to eat. I never observed any problems with ich e.g. I never saw them do the tang ich tail shimee, or scratch on the rockwork. Would I keep one again? Probably not. Achilles #2(Honky Tonk Man) ruined my ability to like another one.

[Untamed12]

I've had mine for about 1.5 yrs so far. Tank is 6' x 4' with a lot of flow and this fish uses every inch nearly every minute.

Eats everything I feed....Formula 1 and 2 pellets, frozen mysis, frozen squid, frozen clam, frozen octopus...and loves nori. I observe the same eating pattern....swim up to the nori clip....5 nips....then do a quick lap of the tank and return to the clip.

My achilles was extremely aggressive toward newly introduced Acanthurus tangs. After pecking order was established, that behaviour stopped completely.

Is extremely sensitive to ich and is the only fish in the tank that seems to have trouble with it.

The fish was fairly large when purchased...maybe 4" and has grown to maybe 6".

[Gary Majchrzak]

3 specimens attempted in well lit/well filtered/well maintained 225 gallon high flow reef aquariums over the course of 15 years. Without breaking out the record books and going by the best of my early Saturday morning memory:

#1) large 7" specimen recently imported from Hawaii' purchased with limited knowledge of this species requirements or reputation in captivity.
Not fully healthy at time of purchase (ie: very skinny with visible lumps on it's sides.) It didn't last for more than a few months back in the 90's. No pix of this fish readily available right now.

#2) smaller (4") specimen from Hawaii' purchased with much better knowledge of the species requirements. This fish thrived for about a year or so. It got skinny and lumpy before passing.
Here's a pic of #2 in my aquarium.


#3) 5" specimen purchased from someone breaking down their 90 gallon reef aquarium. This fish was kept in a slow flow (!) 90 gallon LPS reef aquarium for 3 years before I purchased it. It was very fat (I'm talking chubby fat) and appeared very healthy despite the extreme lack of water movement in it's captive environment. Much to my amazement the previous owner netted it out of his 90 reef after calling it to a net using nori. (I assure you this was totally crazy- the fish was obviously dear to the aquarists heart.) This current Achilles eats almost anything fed to the aquarium but shows a marked preference for nori- so daily feedings of nori (perhaps even multiple feedings of nori) is an important key to keeping this species IME/IMO. Here's a pic of #3 (currently in my aquarium)

note: A. leucosternon (Powder Blue Tang) is not very fond of my Achilles Tang

[OCMS]

I made the rookie mistake of purchasing an achilles as it is decribed as a "3" in regards to care level (should be less, although subjective I know) in A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-To-Know Aquarium Species by Scott W. Michael. Luckily, it has done superbly over the last 2 months since purchase. Ich set in almost immediately, but was kept in check with diet and cleaners, and has cleared.
After receiving the achilles, I met Mike at Inland Aquatics, who has been a great resource in regards to care for this beautiful fish. I would not have purchased it with the knowledge I have now at my elementary level. I think luck and the size of my tank have been the only saving graces.

Waterflow and tank dimensions:
DT is 240g (96x24x24)
GPH unknown. I could only guess, as I haven't taken the time to calculate it. CL on ReeFlo dart with 2x EcoTech Marine MP40w (battery backup)
Tank had been set up as a FOWLR for 4 yrs before we moved it, added a refugium, added more LR, and turned it into a reef tank 3 months ago. So although the tank is "new", it had been re-established with the existing water, sand and LR.
10% weekly water changes with current set up.
3" argonite and oolithic sand bed.
350# LR

Acclimation and quarantine:
Drip method, and straight into the DT (another questionable rookie mistake)

Tank mates:
All behaving well after an initial feeling out period. No other Acanthurus sp. however (which I will not do in this small of a tank).
Pseudocheilinus ocellatus
Apogon leptacanthus (x10)
Valencienna puellaris
Elacatinus sp. (ORA mated pair)
Amphiprion sp. (ORA Picasso mated pair)
Xanthichthys auromarginatus (pair)
Paracanthurus hepatus
Zebrasoma desjardini
Labroides dimidiatus
plus a number of invertebrates


Suggested foods:
Red and green SeaVeggies with Selcon, and freshwater PE Mysis. Ignores flakes and pellets.

Recommended size at purchase:
4.5" purchased 2 months ago from the Diver's Den, and gaining in girth.

[kirkaz]

I kept an Achilles Tang for over 5 years. We bought our first house in S. Carolina and the guy didn't want to move the 125 gallon tank, so we took the tank with the house the Achilles had already been in there for 2 years, so he lasted more than 7 years in the tank.

I find these fish very hardy once established, he survived many beginner errors on my part. In general I think an open tank with lots of swimming space is important, at least 6 feet long worth of tank, I would say my 125 was a bit small for him. Plenty of good water flow, and excellent, consistent water. If the ph dips under 8 at any time this fish will let you know with mopey behavior immediately. Perhaps most important is providing these fish with a good diet and plenty of greens, every morning I would put a full sheet of seaweed in for him to enjoy.

One thing to remember in spite of their fragile reputation, this can be a very aggressive Tang. In a tank with 2 Triggers, a Lunare Wrasse, and a few other aggressors, the Achilles was the undisputed king of the tank. They do not tolerate their own kind very well, mine killed a Yellow Tang very quickly I tried to add. He would abuse any new arrival for about a day or so just to let them know who the boss was.

I have owned a lot of great and interesting fish, but the Achilles is still my all-time favorite I have kept.

Unfortunately this is the only pic I have of him....It was before we had a decent camara

[sunfish11]

I have my Achilles in a 3 year old reef. It is a standard dimension 210 gallon tank with 300+ lbs of live rock and 40X water turnover rate. Tank is full of fish and is LPS dominated with a little bit of stony coral and a crocea clam. He has been in the tank for 10.5 months.

The first achilles I tried was given to me by the LFS. He was very, very skinny and sickly. He died in 2 days. I figured that would happen because he was so far gone, but the price was right. I didn't try a new one for almost 2 years.

I waited and searched for the right achilles. On Dec 4th of 2007 I brought home a beautiful 6-7 inch achilles from the Diver's Den. I picked him up in person because I didn't want to stress him out with shipping. I acclimated him for a hour or so and put him in the main display. Within a few days he developed some ich which didn't affect my other fish at all. I got him a pair of cleaner wrasses that had him spot free in a few days and I kept food in front of him all the time for the first few weeks. The ich went away and he has been fine ever since. DISCLAIMER___ I am in no way recommending that you should not QT your fish. I don't recommend you try this with your Achilles Tang.

He ate Seaweed selects within a couple of hours of introduction. He loves any type of algea sheets. He also eats all frozen meaty foods offered. He still doesn't eat flake or pellets. He was a bit slender when I got him but has since filled out beautifully.

His tankmates include 4 other tangs of which two are acanthurus sp. There is little aggression between him and the other fish although he is definitely king of the tank and occasionally chases the other fish. The others just stay out of his way. He has never hurt any other fish nor harrassed them to the point they were stressed out and wouldn't go out in the open at all. If he chases one into the rock he forgets about it and they reapear within moments.

My achilles tang can change his eye and skin color at will. To signal a cleaner shrimp, neon goby, or cleaner wrasse he turns both his skin and his eyes blue. When showing aggression to another fish (or his reflection) he changes only his eye color blue and flares his fins which turn a dark red orange color. I used to be able to make him change his eye color by turning off the room lights in the evening so he could see his reflection in the glass but he is now used to it and wont acknowledge his reflection any more. He will still change his eye color to warn another fish to get out of his way. He also change his eye color without changing his fins to red.

I have seen achilles with their eyes stuck blue in the store and I don't know for sure what this signifies, but after observing my fish I would see it as an indication of stress and pass that fish by in the store. I know mine doesn't do this when he is happily swimming around. For him it is a rare thing and not an indication that he is happy.

His tank mates are as follows -


1 Copper Band Butterfly
3 Ocellaris Clowns
2 Pink Skunk Clowns
4 Lyretail Anthias
1 Coral Beauty
1 African Flameback Angel
1 Potters Angel
1 Achilles Tang
1 Orange Shoulder Tang
1 Convict Tang
1 Regal Tang
1 Naso Tang
1 Midas Blenny
2 Chromis
1 Blue Throat Trigger
1 Whipfin Wrasse
1 Neon Goby

Here are a few pictures of my achilles. The first picture is normal coloration. The other show some of his other colorations; Blue for cleaners and blue eyes for "move it or I am gonna kick your butt."







Here is the day he was introduced and met my Naso.



Here is a picture of the achilles and his tankmates taken today. Since the picture above I have changed lights from 10K to 15K so the tank is a bit to blue now.



Lisa

[juuniz]

mine



videos:


tank specs:
170 gallons
with lots of flow 3400lph return pump, vortech mp20, tunze 6045,6055,6025

QT for 4 weeks using 75gall with low level of formalin before went in to DT, no sign of whitespot in the process but once put in DT get an ich for 2 weeks..

tank mates:
black tang (give him hard time at 1st few days)
queen angelfish
royal gramma
ocellaris clown

size at purchase 4"

feed on nori, have seen him pick NLS pellets in QT but when inside DT feed on nori, mixed veggies and some frozen mysis..

[dcmander]

those color changes are incredible! thanks for the pics

[lowendmelody]

Great thread! I hope to add an achilles to my tank once it's more up and running. Don't know if my setup will be big enough but the info is much needed! thank you all

[t5Nitro]

Is 25x turnover adequate for an achilles?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by t5Nitro
Is 25x turnover adequate for an achilles?

IMO/IME it would be more accurate to discuss O2 saturation than tank turnover (although the two are related in most cases). You'd want saturated (or supersaturated) levels of O2 when attempting an Achilles. Achilles are usually considered aggressive. Here again, water movement can be helpful because high flow can help to reduce aggressiveness in captive fishes.

This thread has me wondering another question.
Everybody that's successfully keeping an Achilles here feeds algae... specifically nori (right?).
How do you feed nori?
How do you keep your Achilles well fed with algae...
a clip, a feeder, feed by hand or what?
(In my case I've used all of the above.)

Make no mistake about it-
this is not a species for a newbie.
This is a very challenging species to maintain in captivity.

[OCMS]

In regards to feeding nori (specifically, I feed red and green SeaVeggies daily soaked in Selcon), I have found that clips and similar methods are a mess as the nori softens and falls apart in the tank and makes a mess.
I use 2 large Mag Floats (1 for each color). On the wetside half, I place the nori attached with rubberbands in alternating directions. That way the tangs can only grab small pieces at a time which they nibble on throughout the day. And since it is on a Mag Float, I can move it where I like and keep my hands out of the water.

[OCMS]

In regards to the aggressive nature of the achilles, a LFS just had an established achilles kill a copperband (Chelmon rostratus) within 10 minutes of introducing the copperband into their 375g reef tank.
The achilles is ~5" and is the largest fish in the tank, which is otherwise filled with wrasses, clowns, and anthias.

[sunfish11]

I feed the tangs seaweed rubberbanded to a rock (less mess). I use Seaweed Selects and Sea Veggies. I rotate colors every day so that all the tangs can get what they need.

Yes, my achilles is aggressive. He is the undiputed king of the tank.

Lisa

[prugs]

I just sold my achilles after 2.5 years. Good by old friend. You can see him on the far left side of the 210gal tank.

[maverickdia]

I have Achilles, only two weeks. He eats only seaweed nori.
Sorry, my English very bad.

[tangers]

Just out of curiosity, how many people that have an achilles run a UV sterilizer? Thanks in advance.

[prugs]

I ran a UV sterilizer 24/7 along with ozone, & soaked food in garlic. It liked mysis & nori sheet best. Wouldn't touch larger foods like krill.

[OCMS]

No UV here.

[sunfish11]

No UV here. Perhaps in a large tank you could get two or three achilles if they were all very small to begin with. I would try it if my tank was big enough, say 500 gallons or so.

Lisa

[cl2ysta1]

Originally posted by tangers
Just out of curiosity, how many people that have an achilles run a UV sterilizer? Thanks in advance.

we run two 36 w UVs on our tank with the achilles

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by tangers
Just out of curiosity, how many people that have an achilles run a UV sterilizer? Thanks in advance.

no UV here. QT off all introductions is probably more important than UV in the main display from what I've seen.

Originally posted by HarrsCars
Would these type of tangs be considered the dominant of the species. I have a 5" sohal and would like to introduce a Achilles tang in my tank. I would move the sohal at the same time and put them in the tank together. Do the Achilles school at all. More than one in a 300????

Thanks
Mike

Achilles and Sohal together in a 300 certainly sounds like a recipe for disaster. Sohal (alone) will completely dominate a 300-500 gallon aquarium IME.

[jnc914]

I have attempted three Achilles. The first was from an LFS and it never ate and wasted away. The second was DOA from an online vendor and my current Achilles has been with me for almost 7 months. I have my Achille's in a 300 (8ft long by 2ft deep) gallon Fowlr with 4 Tunze 6100 set on full pulse. The tang is always moving and loves the turbulent flow and is often swimming in front of the powerheads. I got him from Diver's Den, 4" in size, and I was forced to have to QT him for almost 4 months in a 40 gallon QT due to a velvet outbreak in my display. I am glad I did as he got ich 4 days after adding him to the QT. I feed alot of red and purple seaweed. He also loves mysis and brine with selcon. He is the boss of my tank and can be a bully when he gets hungry. He is in with a pair of Tinkers and a pair of golden butterflies, and a medium Goldflake Angel. I run UV and Ozone (orp 400) 24 hours a day, along with a very big H&S skimmer to keep optimal water conditions.

[kirkaz]

Originally posted by tangers
Just out of curiosity, how many people that have an achilles run a UV sterilizer? Thanks in advance.

I did with mine, and always do on a FOWLR.