Adding a 4 inch powder blue to a 625g that has an established 6 inch Achilles Tang

Flame2hawk · Oct 12, 2022

After many weeks, the Achilles finally showed interest in the tangs in acclimation boxes. While I was contemplating my next move, the PB had enough of the acclimation box and jumped into DT. At that point I released all the tangs…YT, PT, and Gem. I fed heavily then put up some mirrors and hoped for best, So far so good as Achilles spends almost his whole time chasing himself in the mirror while new tangs getting adjusted. All eating and swimming. Fingers crossed….

Flame2hawk · Oct 12, 2022

Day 3- All ate this morning. Occasional chase by Achilles going after PB but not crazy by any means. Will likely remove mirrors today as Achilles has lost interest. Might try turning on lights this afternoon which usually triggers a bit of aggression before things settle down. Stay tuned….

Flame2hawk · Oct 13, 2022

Day 4- Decided to turn on lights. The reflection caused by the mirrors still in place, got the Achilles interested again and has given the powder blue a break from the constant moderate/slow chasing. Not too violent but chasing nonetheless. Powder blue takes off as soon as Achilles comes near. Hopefully this will abate in the next days as PB can’t live under constant stress and fear forever.

Flame2hawk · Oct 14, 2022

Day 5- The chasing is pretty constant but its low energy. It’s annoying but not causing frayed fins or scalpel gashes. Occasional burst’s of energy and charging but overall moderate but constant. The PB is eating fine but just dont think any fish would want to be constantly harassed all day so still hoping Achilles backs down.

Flame2hawk · Oct 16, 2022

Day 6&7 - less chasing and more tolerance. I think we’re in the clear

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Learnings- Keep in large acclimation box as long as 2 months if not causing any stress and he continues to eat robustly. feed allot especially right before releasing and for about a week after. keep lights off 3-5 days and even after turning them on, shut off again if you see too much aggression developing. Keep mirrors up for at least one week and even longer if needed. Even though they show less interest every day, you will occasionally see the aggressor spending some time fighting himself in the mirror, especially after turning lights back on. Every little bit helps. Adding multiple fish at the same time helps immensely. Of course having a large tank is a big assist. Otherwise best to plan ahead and add all at the same time.

I had all of the above working in my favor and it was still a bit stressful when first released. Every day it got a bit better and today they are swimming around together. May it last a lifetime….we shall see….

Enjoy!

Flame2hawk · Nov 8, 2022

QUcik update….Everyone is best of friends…no chasing, no aggression and ultimate tolerance.

Hopefully the documentation in this content helps others. In my experience after using acclimation boxes many times to intro new fish, the longer you keep the fish in there up to 2 months, the better. This assumes of course that its a very large acclimation box and the fish is tolerating it well with little stress. Of course this will vary( hold tangs longer then clownfish for example) by species and circumstances (ie: tank size, other established fish etc) .