My Achilles hates my Gem

[125mph]

Tank is 180g with an acchiles (4.5”) whitetail (4”), blue hippo (4.5”), and purple (3.5”)

I’m trying to introduce a gem tang just under 3”. After a full 40 day QT, i put the gem in an acclimation box in the display for 4 days and then released him after it seem like no fish were interested. All seem good at first but within 5 mins the acchiles full on charged the gem and would not back off. Only a few mins and the gem’a fins were practically broken off. I caught the gem since he was already cornered and out him back in the acclimation box. Interestingly no other fish cared about him except the acchiles.

Is there hope? I can try a month long acclimation.

Here they are.. he still trying to charge him.

 

[royaleFork]

Try catching the Achilles and putting it in the acclimation box. I've had success catching the aggressive fish and putting it in a 1-2 week timeout.

 

[JGT]

Achilles while beautiful are rectum openings when it comes to other tangs. You need to flip the script. Take out the Achilles and put the Gem in and see how the others react. If OK, then try the Achilles. But I’d give it a week in new surroundings for the Achilles so he “forgets ” the DT. If others are also aggressive you may need to do similar. I had to do this with like 6 tangs when introducing 3 new ones. Put them all in a QT tank for couple weeks and then back into the display all at once. It worked.

 

[125mph]

Thank you both! I will try to get the acchilles and put him in a box, and see how the gem does...

Now comes the tricky part.. how do I catch the acchiles? I used to catch fish easily by sectioning off the tank but now I have too many corals and rockwork.

Any good fish traps you guys recommend?

 

[JGT]

I’ve used the rectangular bubble magus trap and have always gotten my culprits. Hold off feeding like a day or 2 and then drop the food into the trap. I usually get multiples but then remove the ones I want. Good luck!

 

[JGT]

Mine looks just like this…

Sea Side Aquatics Collapsible FTC - Medium Fish Trap
https://a.co/d/aXHWRSl

 

[exnisstech]

You still have the purple to worry about once the Achilles problem is solved since both the gem and purple are zebrasoma it may or may not go smoothly.

 

[kboogie]

Ancanthurus are infamous for the behavior you are observing. Clown Tangs, Sohal Tangs, PBT, and Achilles are going to be your top Tangs to have bad behavior (in that order). Typically, you will add the Acanthurus last and make sure it is smaller than the others to help.

I love PBTs so much that I tend to put them in much earlier than I should, resulting in the behavior you are experiencing. I have used the mirror trick, where I put a mirror against the glass (away from where I have my algae clip). I leave it there for one to two weeks. I monitor to make sure the aggressive fish still take time away from chasing their reflection to eat. I find that this resets their brain and they tend to forget about the new fish.

Also, I find making sure there is always nori helps a lot as well.

 

[Reefering1]

Have you tried putting a mirror against the glass, see if he gets the Achille's attention...

 

[125mph]

Thanks all! I got the bubble magnus trap today, and already caught the acchilles. I have temporarily put him in the acclimation box and released the Gem. Purple and Gem seem to be fine, purple is doing some minor chasing but nothing too terrible. I think the Gem will be okay now.

Next step is to put Achilles in my QT tank for 2 weeks, and then go back into the DT. Hopefully he "forgets" the DT.

 

[125mph]

When I reintroduce the Achilles back into the DT, should I use an acclimation box for a few days or straight into DT? He is big enough where he wont get picked up by any other tang.

 

[krak256]

To be honest, I don't think 2 weeks is enough especially if there isn't a substantial change to the rock scape. Tangs have pretty good memories; I had an established purple tang that I sumped for 3-4 weeks and added a PBT. Once it went back into the display, it was attacking the PBT.

I would put it into the acclimation box before releasing. At least that gives you a chance to determine if his attitude has changed.

 

[backbayreef]

You're not alone - my Achilles almost killed the purple tang after been in the same tank for 2 years! Well, I think that this behavior was induced by me. I've re-aquascaped so it's essentially a new tank, new territory. I've moved the purple tang to the frag tank for now but like others mentioned, it's a risk with these aggressive tangs.

An Achilles Tang will be the last fish to add but we all know that there's no such thing as the "last fish"! lol

Good luck with yours...

 

[Tangdora]

Place nori clips on the sides to the acclimation box. Let the Achilles get used to eating with the gem near to it. Should help lower some of its defensiveness

 

[125mph]

After 2 weeks with the Achilles in a seperate QT tank, I decided to give it another try. I put him back in the DT and the blue tang, purple and others are going into his face and he isnt as dominate as before. He hasnt cared or bothered the small gem tang either! Poor guy, I think he forgot about the DT lol.

And on a side note, my purple sometimes chases the gem but for the most part, they have been good citizens the last 2 weeks as well.

Cross my fingers this holds up. Going to feed some nori right now :)