Keeping an Anchilies Tang

[Pennies2Cents]

Found a similar thread on RC, thought it might be useful to some of us here on MAAST who are looking into such a beautiful but hard to keep fish.

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

Your thoughts and experiences both positive & negative are welcome as they will aid in the education of keeping this fish healthy & alive in the home reef aquaria.

[Bill S]

Eve,

Having considered this the ultimate tang to keep, this was on my list for quite a while. As much as I wanted one, in the end, I chose not to. Here's why:

1) Yes, they are very difficult to get them beyond the first few weeks. Mortality, from capture until 1 month in captivity, has to be more than 90%. At that point, they should be left in the ocean.

2) They really should be quarantined from other tangs.

3) When they go into a tank with other tangs, they will likely get beat up rather badly.

4) And here's the killer for me: Once they get established, their behavior makes a Sohol look like the kid picked last for baseball. They will kill ANYTHING that they don't like. Seriously, they are bad, bad fish. Other tangs, unless timid, are likely to get beat up.

[MidWest Frags]

Just echoing Bill's comments --- Our A. Tang story:

We bought him from an LFS, pulled him right out of the bag before it hit the stores water. He was very small. The body was not much larger than a quarter -- so small he did not have the orange spot between body and tail. We were just re-setting up our 210 and had also bought a Mystery Wrasse. We had taken the tank down because of a leak and had the tank replaced. The fish removed from the 210 were a six-line, purple tang, Juvi Chevron, Red Sea Sailfin, several damsels and other fish I can't remember. This was about 3 years ago.

We introduced the Achilles and the Mystery into the 210 by themselves. The P Tang, Sailfin were fully grown. The Sailfin was actually the leader of the group and I knew there was no way they would get along if added at the same time. I waited for about four months to re-introduce the other fish to the 210. The Achilles was eating and had grown quite nicely.

Added the other fish who were "new" to the new 210 -- no dominance in this tank because they had been relocated for five months or so. All the fish got along. The Sailfin re-established his dominance within a couple weeks. He was more "pushy" -- not a killer. All fish got along for about 2 1/2 years. I started having a lobophora problem -- it's a brown rubbery algae that coats everything if left unchecked or un-eaten. Don't want this to be a lobo thread but it's one of the very few algaes that thrive in a low nutrient system -- Go figure!

Anyway there are just a few things that eat Lobophora -- a Naso tang and Tuxedo Urchins. I introduced a Large, beautiful blonde naso into the tank and it was not good. Ich, which kinda came and went over the years came back but never enough to kill, but this is when the Achilles started to take over. Long story short -- the Achilles went on to kill three more Naso's -- not by major biting but by trapping the tangs and keeping them there so they can't eat. Tried feeding with lights on or off, target feeding etc. Helped for a bit but eventually the Tangs starved -- at least that's what I assume. Sailfin and Purple tang are gone as well.

So with nothing to eat the Lobophora it eventually took over and I took the tank down about three months ago. Surviving tangs were the chevron and achilles. I put the achilles in a 125 all by himself. He was doing very well but found him the other day on the fish room floor.

Yes - Bill, They are Bad, Bad fish.