Any one have experience w/ Achilles tangs?

[Jasonny5895]

Ive heard there hard to keep and all sorts of bad stuff. I think there gorgeous and have a 110 gallo tank with perfect water levels I plan to put him in. I am picking him up on tuesday. The one in the store appears healthy, no ich, active but not pacing, with no scratches.

 

[jhale]

you just posted that 5 fish died in your tank! why not figure out what happened there before you buy one of the hardest to keep fish with one of the worst survival records in captivity. sorry to be blunt but I do not think your tank is large enough either.

 

[deelucky]

i agree there has to be some kind of problem due to your sudden loss in fish and until you dont figure out the reason why you should not attempt to get any fish that calls for expert care.its not fare to the animal.

 

[herman]

Im so frickin confused :anger2:

 

[alrha]

i've had one in the past, it survived about a month in my 187.

 

[DevIouS]

:supermad:

 

[rickytsui]

ok if u do get one just make sure it eat i have one right now in my 180g had it for about a year

 

[Jasonny5895]

I agree it would be a bit careless, to get this difficult fish. However I have never had this happen in my 3 years of saltwater fish keeping. The LFS says my water levels are great and I probably shocked te fish due to the sudden 6 degree drop in temp in a short time. That was the only change in the night before the death of the fish. The four remaining fish in the tank look healthy and vibrant. The Achilles is fairly small a few inches ang I have a plan to upgrade to a 220 when I move in september

 

[digitalreefer]

The LFS says my water levels are great

First off... get your own test kits. Second... is this the same LFS that's going to sell you the expensive fish? Let's think about this for a minute. Third... I've had my water temp drop quickly and stressed my fish, but never lost 5 of them with a 6 degree change.

I have a plan to upgrade to a 220 when I move in september

Then I would say you should consider this fish in September.

 

[jhale]

upgrades do not always happen, don't plan fish purchases around them.

one of our members just lost power for three days, his tanks went down to 50 degree's and he did not loose any fish. your drop of 6 degree's should not have done anything to the tank. the temp was still in the safety zone.

like digital said stop listening to the LFS chances are they just want to sell you more fish. don't ask people here to validate the purchase of a fish your not ready to keep, it won't happen. asking for advice here is great, just please listen to what people are telling you. no one is trying to sell you anything here, were just giving you the absolute best advice possible.
help us help you to figure out what happened in your tank, and do not buy any impossible to keep to fish

 

[crox99]

My water usually drops 3-5 degrees every night and I never lost a fish. You shoud really reconsider getting the Achilles.........BTW do you have any pic of your tank prior to your lost? I am just curious.....

 

[Jasonny5895]

Thank you all for the advice, I just dont have any other thoughts on how they could of died. A few clues besides the addition of a chiller. 1) I added a green carpet anemone attached to a small live rock piece 2) I added a few pound green mushroom rock 3) added a few lb. piece of tonga branch (all these additions along with chiller the night before the tragedy). A few days previous I notice some ich on a powder blue yellow tang, kole tang and Hippo tang (3 of 4 are no longer with us) I was treating them w/ garlic soaked food and cleaner shrimp. Remaining fish appear completey clean for a week or so.
I do test my own water with 2 seperate tests (instant ocean, and aquarium pharmaceuticals) all ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 8.2, calcium around 450. All my corals look great (colt, mushrooms, polyps, octospawn etc.) just the 3 tangs died and a missing pseudochromis

 

[crox99]

Do you have a picture of your tank pre-tragedy?

 

[digitalreefer]

The test kits you have are not the best kits around. Also, the corals you have are pretty hardy and will survive things most fish will not. Let's put aside the ethics of this particular fish and think about something everyone understands... money. Do you really want to spend money on this fish when 3 fish (all tangs I might add) just died in the tank? The money could be better spent on a better set of test kits, a grounding probe, a controller to monitor temperature.

Once you move, get a bigger tank, and maintain stability for awhile... go ahead and get the fish.

 

[ellebelle]

Just to throw in my two cents on the temperature issue - when it gets warm in my apartment, it is not uncommon for my tank temperature to have a six degree variable in day/night temps. All of my fish are very healthy.

 

[spykes]

ok sorry but i gotta say most likely you did too many things to quick in your tank. You got the same complex as my neighbor where he just starts buying stuff to add on to his tank. your problem might not be the 6 degress diffrence, but adding the amount of fish or rock in very close timing. You could cause mini cycles in your tank. dont try this fish because it will die and let me repeat that it will die.


btw do you use any denitrator or ammonia treatments in your water, such as ammolock or amquel plus?

 

[nycmat]

i have to agree with both jhale here and spykes. i have had experience with them as you can see from the photo above. its a beautiful fish. you should 1st check your tank and see whats going on before even trying this fish. 2nd about mini cycles that could be very true as well. give more info regarding your tank. and 3rd you should really see how much flow you have in this tank because they demand a very high flow and vegitarian diet. the one i kept was for about a year and a 1/2. i made the mistake of adding a moorish idol in there that wiped out my whole tank. DO THE RIGHT THING !!! here take some time and see whats happening, find out if there is anyone that can hold him for you while you find this out, do not take salesmens opinions they are biased.
matt

 

[tangerine]

jasonny5895,what's yr tank size(i may have miss posts on that) and what fishes have u got pre tangs death and post?
AT requires a large tank with a lot of flows to thrive. diet is another factor to consider.
another important point to note is,do u have a territorial fish in yr tank already that wud harass any newcomers?the AT, as with it's species of tang ,are ich magnets and any stress will cause the ich to surface.
those are some of the points to look into if u intend to get it but do agree with the rest,try to find out why yr previous tangs died before attempting this fish. anyway,it's best not to rush out to buy replacement fishes so soon after some fishes have died in yr tank.let things remain as they are and reestablish equilibrium before adding any livestocks.

 

[nycmat]

just out of curiosity here. what store are you looking to buy it from? that would be another issue to be careful of. what size is it and how much are they asking for it and what are there water parameters that they have been successful with it so far. you should find out those answers 1st as well.

matt

 

[Jasonny5895]

Im looking to buy from fishtown in Queens, my tank is a 110 x-high.. I have two large power heads (one not sure gph, other is a rio 1700 pump in tank w. wave maker on it) i have a rio 3100 in the sump. And a rio 180 for my HOB refugium.
Just for reference, I added all this stuff because I purchased an entire used tank in order to get a good deal on a arctica chiller. I gave most of the live stock to LFS keeping the one tonga branch, mushroom rock, and anemone because I wanted to add them to my tank and had a short amount of time to get them in a tank. They are all thriving.
I dont have any pics but will get them asap on line and I decided not to get the fish after your advice but will take my deposit and use it for something more practical in the future