Hippo Tang Advice

I'm currently re-building the stock in my tank following a series of "learning experiences". I have a clown fish, lawnmower blenny and six spot sleeper goby currently and am wondering if adding a Hippo tang is a good idea.

Tank size is 55 gal and has been set up for 1 year now. The Hippo I was looking at is small now, only about 1 inch( too cute)! And I know that ion the future I would have to either build a bigger tank or surrender the fish when it grows. I guess I'm just looking for imput on that kind of fish, the good and the bad. Thanks! :-/

 

I was just about to write up a question about hippo tangs myself, so I thought I might add my question on to this thread. Whats the minimum tank size long term?

 

A hippo tang will grow to about 12 inches. Even the smallest of tangs require a lot of swimming space and a tank no less than 75g IMHO. So, unfortunate as it is, I would nix the idea of really any tang in a 55g.

 

They should have a long tank because they like to swim fast sometimes. A lot of personality and fun to watch. They recommend at least 70 gallon on liveaquaria.

He's a trip, after he sees Mr. Cleaner shrimp.. he comes flying out of the rocks about mach2. They get ick easy from what I've read. Mine had it for 2-3 days and it went away so far. I think mainly stressed from the transport.

 

So could one theoretically live in a 90 for the duration of its life, or would it need to move out one day?

 

Has anyone here ever really seen a 12" or even a 8" inch Hippo in a tank? I know that they get that big in the open ocean but in a tank?

I know the Tang Patrol will be knocking on my door soon but I really don't see a problem with putting one that small in your tank. And at an 1" or even 2" you would get several years of enjoyment out of it before having to part with it or get a larger tank. but when it reaches 3.5" or so, yes it will have to be taken to a new home, but for now it should be just fine.

As for them getting Ich easily, sadly this is very true. In my experience sometimes the littlest bit of stress seems to set of a bout of Ich and it can be very hard to get them well withour losing them. I have even heard some that all hippo come with ich and its just a matter of time. But I don't believe this, if they are well taken care of they are a great addition to any tank.

 

I also have a 55 and I talked to Tangster about adding tangs and he said to not worry about it at all. His son I believe had a tang-centered 55 for over 7 years with 6 tangs in it and had no problems. I wouldn't hesitate to put one in my tank, I did put a hippo in there a while back but he got stressed as hell from a 8 hour car ride and 12+ hours with no electricity and died unfortunately. But another hippo or powder brown is in my near future... I trust Tangsters advice 100% so I know the "tang patrol" might be after me now but that is my 2 pennies!

 

Ya, we've been told about them with ich. We were interested in trying one in the past, but we had an aggressive damsel fish at the time and were recommended not to try it.

Unfortunately, one of our "learning experiences" was with ich. We lost all but our clown fish. That's one reason we are now restocking. If you look at my avatar, that was my Kole tang zipping through some rocks. We lost him also.

 

Thanks for the imput everybody! This is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm a big believer in asking people who have been ther, done that instead of just reading info in a book. Keep it coming!

 

I have a yellow and a hippo tang in a 55. They'll stay in there until I eventually get a bigger tank. Like said above, unless they're over 3", a 55 should be fine, especially if it is added as a juvenile.