Hippo Tang

BiG_KiD · #1 05/25/2003, 06:47 PM

I was curious what the minimum size I coule keep one of these fish in.. I have a 55 AGA, 80lbs Fiji live, Remora Pro Skimmer, 5" Live sand and agronite. For livestock I have a brain coral, assorted polyps and shrooms, 1 Cleaner shrimp, 1 Coral Beauty, 1 Gold Stripe Clown, BTA, Greeny Spiny Star, bluelegs, redlegs,turbos, 2 emerald crabs, and only God knows what else..

My LFS has 2 hippos that are about 1/2". I would like to have both but don't know how long they could be in a 55 gallon tank. Do they do better in pairs or by themselves and is there any prob with the livestock that I have now. Thanks for your help.. Tang Police if your watching Please tell me if I am way out of line with this. I have been thinking about it for a while and have tried to read up on them. From what I can tell minimum tank is 80 but i believe that is for adults and less than 1 year I will have a bigger tank.. Thanks

naesco · #2 05/25/2003, 07:28 PM

Your tank is too small for the hippo tang you want to add to your tank. They need the swimming room that longer tanks provide minimum 6 feet.
Take a look at www.wetwebmedia.com/tangs,.htm
There are many beautiful species of tangs that will suit the size of your tank.
Look at the kole, chevron, purple for example
There is an excellent article on the hippo`s requirements if you look at the December-March issue of RC magazine on this board.
Thanks for asking

marrone · #3 05/26/2003, 09:42 AM

A 55 gal tank is fine for a 1/2" Hippo tang and should be for about a year or so before he out grows the tank. I would only kept 1 per tank as they do fight with themselfs. Alot of the smaller Hippo tangs, and 1/2" is pretty small, don't make it so you need to be careful when choosing one to make sure that it's eating and in good condition.

Michael

matt-davis sq. · #4 05/26/2003, 12:32 PM

If you do decide to go with this fish, be prepared that a 55 gallon tank cannot and will not be a permanent home.

You will eventually have to say goodbye.

I have seen them kept succesfully in 120 gallon tanks, and I plan to move mine into the 120 gallon tank soon.

The acceptability of this tank size is a matter of opinion and contention.

Matt

Wolverine · #5 05/26/2003, 03:53 PM

It's a really bad idea to get a fish on the idea that you plan on getting a tank that will be big enough for it. The vast majority of people who plan on this end up not getting that larger tank when they plan.

Dave

marrone · #6 05/26/2003, 05:22 PM

There is nothing wrong with kepting this size fish in a 55 gal tank for a while until he gets a bigger tank as a 1/2" Hippo tang is going to take sometime before he out grows the tank. Also if he doesn't get a large tank then he can always trade the Hippo tang in.

If you go on the principal that the fish, when fully grown, is going to be to large for the tank then you would need a very large tank as Hippo tang can get about a feet of more. For that matter almost all fish when reaching their maxium size will be to large for a 55gal tank but most fish either won't reach their maxium size or can be in the 55gal for a while.

Michael

naesco · #7 05/26/2003, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by marrone
There is nothing wrong with kepting this size fish in a 55 gal tank for a while until he gets a bigger tank as a 1/2" Hippo tang is going to take sometime before he out grows the tank. Also if he doesn't get a large tank then he can always trade the Hippo tang in.

If you go on the principal that the fish, when fully grown, is going to be to large for the tank then you would need a very large tank as Hippo tang can get about a feet of more. For that matter almost all fish when reaching their maxium size will be to large for a 55gal tank but most fish either won't reach their maxim size or can be in the 55gal for a while.

Michael

So Michael would you be able to get rid of your hippo after you had it for a year or so? I don't think so. Hippos are the type of fish that you get attached to. Will you Big Kid?
You are right about many fish getting too big for a 55.
But, there are hundreds of really neat fish that don't and these are the ones that are suitable for a 55.

marrone · #8 05/26/2003, 07:03 PM

If a fish gets to large for my tanks I would either get a large tank or trade the fish in and get a smaller Hippo tang. Some people have problems doing this, I'm one of them, but I have larger tanks so that wouldn't be a problem for me. But some people want certain fish and they get them small and when they grow larger they do trade them in for smaller fish so they sometimes that get a larger tank.

Just because you have a small tank doesn't mean you can only get fish that are going to stay small.

BiG_KiD · #9 05/26/2003, 10:35 PM

I have been thinking about a 125 is this big enough. From what I have read it not really the gallons of the tank but the length would this be long enough for it.. I think a 125 is like 75 inches or so ? does this sound right?

naesco · #10 05/26/2003, 10:48 PM

That is it.
You can keep almost any tang you want.

BiG_KiD · #11 05/26/2003, 11:11 PM

Could I keep a pair of hippos in a 125 or is better to not have a pair no matter what size of tank.. I always like to buy in pairs, I feel bad if the fish don't have company.

BiG_KiD · #12 05/26/2003, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by matt-davis sq.
If you do decide to go with this fish, be prepared that a 55 gallon tank cannot and will not be a permanent home.

You will eventually have to say goodbye.

I have seen them kept succesfully in 120 gallon tanks, and I plan to move mine into the 120 gallon tank soon.

The acceptability of this tank size is a matter of opinion and contention.

Matt

I see that in your homepage you list a hippo?

So has your's outgrown your tank or are you just a hippocritt ...LOL..

naesco · #13 05/27/2003, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BiG_KiD
Could I keep a pair of hippos in a 125 or is better to not have a pair no matter what size of tank.. I always like to buy in pairs, I feel bad if the fish don't have company.

Yup and feed them selcon enriched frozen plankton

marrone · #14 05/27/2003, 07:38 AM

It's not good to kept a pair of Hippo's, I'm not even sure if you could sex the Hippo tang anyway. They'll fight and you'll probably lose one of them. A 125 is good for a Hippo and actually Hippo tangs stay closer to the rocks and do less swimming than other tangs.

matt-davis sq. · #15 05/27/2003, 09:46 AM

Quote:

I see that in your homepage you list a hippo? So has your's outgrown your tank or are you just a hippocritt ...LOL..

Now that's not very respectful. If you recall, I had said:

Quote:

I have seen them kept succesfully in 120 gallon tanks, and I plan to move mine into the 120 gallon tank soon.

In other words, I bought mine as a juvenile, he has grown, and now I need to move him to the larger tank. My profile only covers the 55 gallon setup, not the 120 gallon which needs to get running soon,

Matt

BiG_KiD · #16 05/27/2003, 11:37 AM

Thanx for all the imput I think that I am going to LFS after this post to pick up one. I really want the pair but I don't like to see things fight in my tank, that is one of things that got me interested in the hippo...

feed them selcon enriched frozen plankton

more info on this please..

Wolverine · #17 05/27/2003, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by marrone
There is nothing wrong with kepting this size fish in a 55 gal tank for a while until he gets a bigger tank as a 1/2" Hippo tang is going to take sometime before he out grows the tank. Also if he doesn't get a large tank then he can always trade the Hippo tang in.

I disagree. The reason I say there's something wrong with it is because many people never get the larger tank. Most people also don't end up trading their fish in, and, even if they do, many stores don't want to take them (and don't just assume that local public aquariums do). The reason I don't like doing this is because the fish grow a lot faster than people expect, and I've seen it happen over and over where people are stuck with a fish that's too big for their tank, and they can't get a new tank, and they can't get anyone to take it.
If you check July's AFM, Scott Michael has a big thing about this very subject in his Saltwater Q&A section. I don't have it with me, so I can't give you the exact quotes right now.

Dave

marrone · #18 05/27/2003, 06:27 PM

Unless your going to buy say a shark or a grouper or a large eel most LFS will take the fish back. Also remeber we're talking about a 1/2" Hippo tang in a 55gal tank that will only get so large most if not all LFS will take the fish back.

Also if you go on the prinicpal that the tank is to small for a fish after it's fully growth then most of the fish that people are keeping like groups, angels, triggers, tangs, eels and lionfish will be to small for even the largest home aquarium and should only be kept at public aquariums.

Yes it does happen that people never upgrade to a large tank and some just leave the fish in the smaller tank but people also do upgrade to larger tanks and actually this is how people start to have multi-tanks.

Wolverine · #19 05/27/2003, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by marrone
Yes it does happen that people never upgrade to a large tank and some just leave the fish in the smaller tank but people also do upgrade to larger tanks and actually this is how people start to have multi-tanks.

My point is that, IME (and the experience of many other LFS workers of public aquarium workers) the vast majority fall into the category of those who don't upgrade, while a few of them do.

And I do agree with you that many people keep many fish that they should not be keeping at all, and should only be kept in public aquaria, if at all, but that's a separate issue from this discussion.

Dave

BiG_KiD · #20 05/27/2003, 11:09 PM

WOW didn't mean to start such a controversy.. I have decided to wait a little bit longer to get my hippo...I will do more research but mainly cause the LSF where I was planning on purchasing was closed.. lol.. I don't know what to do I really like these fish but I don't wanna feel like I am doing something immoral or unethical by bringing one of these beautiful creatures home.

naesco · #21 05/27/2003, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BiG_KiD
WOW didn't mean to start such a controversy.. I have decided to wait a little bit longer to get my hippo...I will do more research but mainly cause the LSF where I was planning on purchasing was closed.. lol.. I don't know what to do I really like these fish but I don't wanna feel like I am doing something immoral or unethical by bringing one of these beautiful creatures home.

Wait until you get a bigger tank and in the meantime there are hundreds of cool fish that would love to be in a tank your size.

marrone · #22 05/28/2003, 07:28 AM

Actually if your going to get a 1/2" Hippo tang a 55gal is a good tank to start with as there is a high casualty rate on such a small fish.

Sicklid · #23 05/28/2003, 09:33 AM

You guys should also keep in mind that even though it may be a 120 gallon tank, you may have 1/2 of the water displacement in the tank taken by LR, corals, or some other decor giving your fish the remaining 60 gallons of swimming space. Hippos get way too large for 60 gallons of swimming space. I have 1 Hippo in my 300 gallon tank, and sometimes I wonder if it is large enough for it and my other fish.

marrone · #24 05/28/2003, 10:19 AM

That a problem that you have to think about if your going to do a fowlr tank as the amount of rock that you will place in the tank wil take up alot of space cutting down on the amount of available swimming room. So even though the tank is large with all the rock it limits the amount of large fish.

Flanders · #25 05/28/2003, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Also if you go on the prinicpal that the tank is to small for a fish after it's fully growth then most of the fish that people are keeping like groups, angels, triggers, tangs, eels and lionfish will be to small for even the largest home aquarium and should only be kept at public aquariums.

Now you're getting it. I agree. If people stop buying fish that will grow too large for the home aquarium, stores will stop stocking them -- larger angels and tangs, that is. Lions and eels are not as active and although many species get large they don't require as much swimming space as, say, a French angel. The smaller species can easily be kept in a very large home aquarium to adult size, IMO.

This is all if you go by that principle, that is. I do. It seems like the responsible thing to do. If you live in a one-room apt. in NYC, it would be irresponsible to purchase a St. Bernard, right? Not to mention a total PITA.

I second naesco's recommendation of the Kole tang. They are gorgeous fish.