Any Achilles owners amonst us? Need some input....

[ErikS]

Before you ask, yes I am aware these are difficult fish and I have read up on their care requirements. I'm just looking for a bit of transition help.

 

I purchased the fish on Sat & so far it has made it through the transition phase. It was given a long acclimation which it seemed to handle fine (he was picking on rocks within an hour). It's still a bit skittish, but that's to be expected IMHO.

 

.........but............

 

I can't seem to find suitable food. I've tried two Ocean Nutrition (spirulina based) and formula two. No success yet, the fish seems to know food is in the water - it starts haul *ssing around the tank. It just doesn't seem to know what to do Next on the adgenda is nori & maybe a shot @ some mysis (though meat???).

 

Just wanted some input from achilles owners on the best approach to getting the fish to eat.

 

No, due to the circumstance of purchase I was unable check to see if it was eating - the store is the rather "infamous" one & most likely the fish would have been a goner in a week (it was in one of those 4" cubes & it was 4" itself, plus it was directly next to another achilles = poor prospects).

[xeon]

Eric,

My answer isn't Achilles specific, but more along the lines for tangs. I think if you get some nori sheets and put a piece in a clip... it should be very happy with that. If anything, it is a stationary item it can figure out... LOL. If you don't have a clip, your algae magnet can double as a clip. An oriental grocery should bag you a pack of 10 sheets or so for less than $5. You want the plain roasted variety.

 

I think the Achilles is a sensitive fish along the lines of the Powder Blue, so soaking the dry algae (nori) in some Selcon occasionally before hand might be helpful to the fish healthwise. It should also eat the mysis... of the tangs I've had, (powder blue, hippo and yellow) all of them will accept meaty foods but algae is their primary food. If you don't already, growing some macros will give you some natural feed. My ytang would readily accept both chaeto and feather caulerpa in addition to Nori. Perty fish btw.

[Lee Stearns]

I have always loved this fish- Seen them in the wild plenty of times- Never had one- though I have had many different tangs- Frozen mysis-the small variety soaked in selcon will entice him to eat - They are mainly grazers - Grow Calurpa in your fuge to bring out- I would try a hand full in the tank now just to get him used to it. He will eventually pick at it if only out of curiosity because it is green and then develop a taste even if he has never seen it in the wild. That has been my experience with several other tangs(clowns, powders, hippos,yellows, convicts)- Mine loved feather as well, but grape calurpa was thier favorite. My observation is that Powders are about 50% herbivorous and 50% carnivorous. The Blue hippo about 75% carnivous, the yellow tang about 75% hebivorous, and the clown tang about 85% herbivourous. Though my clown is still a juvinile. I have no idea about the Achillies but by mouth shape I would suspect he is higher on the herbivoir scale.

Good luck and keep us posted on how this specimine fares.

[ErikS]

Thanks for the input guys, really appreciate it.

 

My next step is to try some nori and stop by TRT for some macro (previous tank was over-run with grape, a bit gun shy of the stuff )

 

I'll give the mysis a shot too (have that on hand, stocked up 4 kinds of frozen while @ Roozens).

 

I suspect that the Achilles is in the 75% veggie range. As mentioned I've done a fair amount of research and apparently they have an extra long digestive tract for processing vegtable matter. Based on body shape I assume this is the same for PBT's etc (but not certain, I haven't researched them ).

 

It was pretty sad, they had two of them in those 4" little cubes that they use to stock individual fish......but....I figure any fish tough enough to live in that environment for more than a day might stand a chance.

 

In fairness to Roozens they DID try to warn me off the fish 3 times prior to purchase. I explained to them that I was aware of what I was getting into & that survival was iffy at best - but when it's a fish that you've always wanted I thought I had to give it a shot.

 

(though they thought I was nuts looking at PBTs & Achilles - as in do you think you could find two tougher fish to keep )

 

If not a bit sad it IS funny watching the fish fly around the tank - I smell FOOD!....where's the FOOD???....there's FOOD in here somewhere - only to swim right past the stuff (I thought watching the angel & the clown would give it a hint).

[rocko918]

I do not have a Achilles tang but I so have PB , kole and yellow. I found they love the noris in the lettuce clip. I have tried all kinds of things in the clip. they eat lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, and celery tops. I even hand feed them frozen shrimp soaked in zoe. HTH

 

on a side note. I don't understand why stores get these fish and tell you not to buy them. When you first posted this I would going to say you must have gotten it at Roozens. I am not a fan of that place at all. in fact I will only stop buy and view the fish as I get disgusted when I go there. When I was in TRT, I asked about the anthias they had, now Grim was working and we are on a first name bias (so he knows me), because I heard they schooled. he didn't answer my question, just said they will die in my tank. I forget what I said, and he said the same thing. Then I asked why does he have them if they die in tanks. He said they just send them to them. I just don't understand why stores keep these fish if they tell you they won't make it.

 

sorry did not mean to hijack the thread.

[ErikS]

Well, maybe I wasn't clear - they didn't try to talk me out of it, they just wanted to let me know what I might be in for. They were just trying to make sure I knew what getting the fish entailed - that I was prepared, such as high water flow, good conditions, a long acclimation, and feeding may be tough.

 

Yeah, I'm no fan of Roozen's - truly a horror.......but.....name another place in the area that has the variety of fish? TRT - maybe one or two fish at a time (not a knock, it's not their specialty). Marine Scene? They pretty much carry the standards. Aquarium Center/ Another horror w/ little variety. You want different & a wide variety Roozen's has them (they hade PBT, Chevrons, Yellow Eyes, Naso's....you name it).

 

Going to try Nori & clipped veggies, any tips on keeping them "whole" in the tank? In the past I've had Nori disintegrate before the fish "figured it out" (this doesn't apply to veggies).

 

Thanks everyone, I'll take any ideas when it comes to keeping this fish alive.

[GaryL]

you can pick up some nori in safeway or giant in the asian food section. if there ever was a true dork-fish that would be my yellow tang and he seems to find the nori on the clip. good luck

[OUsnakebyte]

Steven Pro suggested fishbase.org to us at the winter meeting.

 

Here is the link to the Achilles:

 

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSum...esname=achilles

 

It says, "Feeds on filamentous and small fleshy algae." You can click on food items for a more detailed report.

 

Not sure if this helps, but I guess it does confirm that the majority of the diet consists of veggies...

 

HTH

Mike

[ErikS]

if there ever was a true dork-fish that would be my yellow tang and he seems to find the nori on the clip.

 

I had the winner - even with the angel fish leading the way my yellow never figured it out, of course this was the same fish that commited suicide by swimming into the CL intake (actually sad, never figured that such a flat fish would become stuck against a flat intake - since changed them to massive grills).

 

I read that link pre-purchase OU, also good info from Waik