Achilles Tang

Terry Martin

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
Does anyone have experience with the Achilles Tang? I would like to keep one in my new tank. I know it is a difficult fish but I do have the right tank set-up. The tank is 8 foot long and will have tons of flow since it'll be a bare-bottom sps tank.
I'd be interested in any advice, but my specific questions are:
1. What would be the best place to acquire the fish? I'd prefer to start with a small fish.
2. I'd like to keep 3 or 4 tangs in the tank. Is this OK? Which tangs would be most compatible?
3. I have a 55 gallon tank that I can quarantine in and can give lots of flow. Is it better to quarantine alone or with the other tangs that I wll put in the tank. I was planning to introduce all tangs together.
Thanks for any advice!
 
I had one about 15 years ago, didn't quarantine. It was my only Tang at the time. I think I got it from tropic isle in Framingham. It's also my understanding that if your going to have multiple tangs or fish that have the same body type, then they should all be introduced at the same time, to keep aggression at bay. Good luck, as the Achilles is such a pretty fish.
 
Hawaiians apparently eat them
B5727A2A-199E-4B6D-80F7-F692FB2B1172.jpeg
 
If you get a small one, the chance of it to survive is greater. A smaller tang can adapt to captive environment quicker.
Many large Achille tangs are caught using cyanide.
If I were to get one, Liveaquaria is the place I will order one.


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If you get a small one, the chance of it to survive is greater. A smaller tang can adapt to captive environment quicker.
Many large Achille tangs are caught using cyanide.
If I were to get one, Liveaquaria is the place I will order one.


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Thanks, Dong. I have an alert on for a small one at Live Aquaria. Unfortunately, I prefer Divers' Den but they seem to only sell large Achilles.
 
Does anyone have an opinion on the compatability issue? And also, if you are going to introduce 3 tangs at once into main tank, should one quarantine them together (to acclimatize them to one another) or is it better to keep them in separate quarantine (as qt tanks smaller and maybe there will be aggression)?
 
Terry,
The best place to get an Achilles or any fish is from another member's established tank. I know it's hard and you never know when but that would be the absolute best. Next is LFS when you can actually see the fish in person. This may help or may not. For the warranty, you can't beat LiveAquaria. Most of my tangs came from LA. They arrived healthy. I would also always get a smaller fish if I could.
For compatibility, it's an Acanthurus species. Extremely aggressive and especially toward its own kind. I would add it last. What other tangs do you plan on keeping? I would not recommend more than 2 Acanthurus(Powder Blue, Powder Brown, Achilles, Sohal, etc) unless you have a 500gallons+. 2 might be manageable.
Fish keeping is all about anger and stress management. Keep it down by selective species, food, environment, and water quality and you will have tank with happy fish.
 
Agree, these tangs are very aggressive. They harass other tangs then commit suicide by going on hunger strike or infested with ich.


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Terry,
The best place to get an Achilles or any fish is from another member's established tank. I know it's hard and you never know when but that would be the absolute best. Next is LFS when you can actually see the fish in person. This may help or may not. For the warranty, you can't beat LiveAquaria. Most of my tangs came from LA. They arrived healthy. I would also always get a smaller fish if I could.
For compatibility, it's an Acanthurus species. Extremely aggressive and especially toward its own kind. I would add it last. What other tangs do you plan on keeping? I would not recommend more than 2 Acanthurus(Powder Blue, Powder Brown, Achilles, Sohal, etc) unless you have a 500gallons+. 2 might be manageable.
Fish keeping is all about anger and stress management. Keep it down by selective species, food, environment, and water quality and you will have tank with happy fish.

Nick,

Thanks very much for the info. I was thinking of a blue and a naso with the achilles. But I have a small Desjardini Sailfin in my frag tank that needs to be transfered to a bigger tank, so I could do the sailfin and either a naso or blue, if that would be better. What do you think? (Or I could give up my Achilles dream!). The tank is 180 gallons but 8 feet long with lots of flow and will be plumbed into an existing sps dominant tank system with stable parameters.
 
Your problem is the tangs you already have can grow to be very very large. The Naso alone can grow up to 18" in captivity. After seeing how big they can get in a public aquarium, I vow not to keep one. Your Desjardini can grow up to 16" and can grow from 2" to 8" in about 2 years. It's one of the fastest growing fish I've kept(Emperor angelfish is the next fastest grower).
I'm never one to say No to anyone on the fish they want in their tank. It may or may not work out but you have to realize what you're up against.
 
Ok, thanks, I'll re-think my plans. It may be the Achilles is not worth the capatability issues given I already have the sailfin tang.
 
I think the Achilles and the Sailfin will get a long fine. I was concerned about the Naso, Blue, and Sailfin with an additional Achilles.
 
I think the Achilles and the Sailfin will get a long fine. I was concerned about the Naso, Blue, and Sailfin with an additional Achilles.

OK, I meant either naso or blue so idea would be 3 tangs as I thought usually less conflict with three. Is that right? If I was getting a third, would a blue work, or is it better to avoid Acanthurus and get another genus entirely. Or is two better? Sorry to pester with so many questions but I know you need to plan things out.
 
Does anyone have experience with the Achilles Tang? I would like to keep one in my new tank. I know it is a difficult fish but I do have the right tank set-up. The tank is 8 foot long and will have tons of flow since it'll be a bare-bottom sps tank.
I'd be interested in any advice, but my specific questions are:
1. What would be the best place to acquire the fish? I'd prefer to start with a small fish.
2. I'd like to keep 3 or 4 tangs in the tank. Is this OK? Which tangs would be most compatible?
3. I have a 55 gallon tank that I can quarantine in and can give lots of flow. Is it better to quarantine alone or with the other tangs that I wll put in the tank. I was planning to introduce all tangs together.
Thanks for any advice!
Terry, I was waiting everyone give their opinions and all of them makes sense. I was the person who lost 24 tangs in my tank on the beginning of the year by introducing the last one Achilles, he took 2 days to spread out Velvet, I lost even my gem tang on that. Today, I have 6 yellow tangs, 4 hippos blue, sohal, powder blue, white tail, scopa, powder brown, couple more I forget the name in my 230 gallons. I will not introduce Achilles from my experience until I get my dream tank 1000 gallons next year or so. In order to make this yellow tangs leave together, since they were placed separately, I had them in a trap for 2 weeks to introduce to the tank, plus I had to watch for a full week. It was a quite of work but now the leave about 3 months beautiful together. However, I have a clowtang and selfin, that I had to move to my other 150-gallon tank, because they were fiding too much (sohal is the worst in my opinion very aggressive) before spread ich by the stress. I love tangs, and in the future, I will go for all kinds of tangs in my big tank. But again, it's trick to make them leave together. You are more than welcome to stop by and look at my tank in Winthrop. Good luck. Paulo
 
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