Three Acanthurus tangs walk into a bar...

[AquaLifeStudio]

Well, maybe not walk, but hopefully you all appreciate what I intend to document here.

I'm going to make an attempt at keeping a trio of Acanthurus tangs; a Goldrim, Powder Brown and Achilles in one of my three QT systems for the next month with the goal of graduating them to my main display by the new year.

My local fish store, where I've got all my current fish for my 220 gallon tank, ran a 20% discount off livestock for Black Friday and happened to have these fish available. The Goldrim and Powder Brown were and have been the more active of the three. The two posture and circle a bit throughout their tank these first 30 hours but neither of them are getting the upper hand and are not beating on each other. I suppose this makes sense as the two are very similar looking to each other.

Neither of them have gone after the Achilles, who seems to just want to mind it's own business, hanging out in the bottom middle of the tank.

This tank is being treated with .35 mg/l Cupramine at the moment so I believe I'm going to see a little appetite suppression early on while they get used to their new surroundings. As I see all three improve in their eating I'll slowly ramp up the copper level till I reach the target of .50 mg/l and hold it there for a month. They are all currently eating a little bit.

They'll have access to a variety of foods; Zoomed spirulina flakes, New Life Spectrum Optimum flakes, Rod's Original frozen, Hikari Spirulina Brine, Hikari Mysis, and some Nori (which I limit as it pollutes the water). I add Selcon where I can.

I'm really going to enjoy this journey.

 

[laverda]

As herabovoirs nori should be high in their diet. Much better for them than some of the other foods and an easy way to Selcon. Tangs are like children and will eat candy instead of their veggies if you let them!

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

As herabovoirs nori should be high in their diet. Much better for them than some of the other foods and an easy way to Selcon. Tangs are like children and will eat candy instead of their veggies if you let them!

I am aware of this. Unfortunately, feeding a lot of nori pollutes the water worse than the other foods. They'll have plenty of algae to graze on when they arrive in the Display Tank.

 

[dugthefish]

Just curious, how big is your QT?

 

[laverda]

I am aware of this. Unfortunately, feeding a lot of nori pollutes the water worse than the other foods. They'll have plenty of algae to graze on when they arrive in the Display Tank.

I am surprised you feel the nori pollutes the water more. My tangs do not leave any left at all. Why is that? Does the nori you use fall apart readily?

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

I've tried a couple different types of nori but I'm currently feeding Two Little Fishies, the other one was a fish store that sold it on Amazon.

I currently have them in a 29 gallon tank.

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

They aren't used to me being around the tank but they will be. I'll be watching them a lot over the next 5 weeks.

I'll have a nest cam setup on their tank so I can check in when at work.

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

Other than the first night, the Achilles does not appear to be eating and is not swimming out in the open. It has so far preferred to remain in it's pipe or in the immediate vicinity of it and always in the bottom 3rd. Otherwise, it's behavior is not entirely unusual for a new addition. Anyways, I went ahead and reduced the Cupramine concentration in the water to see if that would allow it's appetite to come back.

Not going for Frozen brine, mysis, rod's, various flakes, nori. Garlic added too.

The Goldrim and Powder Brown are perfectly fine, very active fish and eating whatever I throw at them.

I'll report back soon after trying a few more things.

 

[Crazydiamond]

Good luck- If they start picking on each other, you can always put in a divider to separate them....

 

[Crazydiamond]

Good luck-hopefully they get along in the QT. Try to keep them fat and happy

 

[Crabs McJones]

.....I still haven't found the punchline?

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

I've got my nest camera now on the tank so I can always keep a close eye on them.

I've got plenty of egg crate available just in case. The goldrim has decided it's the boss...

The Achilles was nibbling at the flake food earlier today so at least that's a good sign.

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

 

[RtomKinMad]

I hope it works! Keep us updated! I’ve got a Caribbean blue in quarantine as he was being very aggressive and chasing my yellow for days. Plan to put in new 300 with very large Sohal! Wish me luck too! Lol

 

[AquaLifeStudio]

I'll keep this thread regularly updated.

 

[Crabs McJones]

That Achilles is gorgeous

 

[Dancingmad]

.....I still haven't found the punchline?

I was disappointed too. I'm going to try to help with a different joke.

A dung beetle walks into a bar and says, "Excuse me, is this stool taken?".

Also, great lookin' fish. Hope everything goes well and they live to be 25yrs old!

 

[vetteguy53081]

As long as you feed adequately and provide hiding, they will be fine.
Never enough tangs

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[docvin]

I found that my Achilles doesn’t go for the nori in the clip. I don’t know if it’s the challenge of the flow but he prefers the pieces that get cut up by the MP40 in the water column. You can even try getting the shredded nori by 2 little fishes and feed it through the power head too. Mine goes nuts for this. Just thought I would throw this out, might get him to eat more.

 

[4FordFamily]

I’ll make a prediction... the goldrim gets hurt or killed by the powder brown. It might be a month or a year but it will likely happen. They don’t mix well due to their appearance and the gold rim isn’t as aggressive (typically). A powder blue would have worked more likely, as I’ve kept those three together several times. I do hope I’m wrong though. Keep an eye on them. I also predict the aggression will begin in the DT within a week or so.