Am I ready for a blue hippo tang?

[lemrider]

Hey everybody, I’m newer to the hobby so I came to you for advice. I want a blue hippo tang and want to make sure that I’m ready and have the right set up for one. Here is some info

I have a 135 gallon 6ft long 18 inches deep and 25 inches tall. I got it set up in January of 2020 and cycled and running by February. It is my second tank jumping up from a 10 gal. I have 120lbs of sand, about 140 of rock and I just fixed a cyano problem with chemiclean. 15 gal water changes once a week.

gear
3 ai prime 16( have a 4th I’m gonna add)
1 icecap 4K gyre
1 hydor 1350gph power head
1 600w Ehiem heater With inkbird controller
1 filter sock and some rock and media in sump, no skimmer yet no nothing just a bare sump.

fish/invert list
2 clowns
1 starry Blenny
1 Banggcardinal
1 melanurus wrasse
1 yellow tang
1 diamond spot goby
1 reef chromis (started with 6)
1 royal gramma
1 six line that I lost
1 cleaner shrimp
1 harlequin shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
Handful of snails, hermit crabs and a couple emerald crabs

I feed my fish seaweed, frozen mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, mega mix, and pellet food. I feed only once a day not too much food.

corals
I have just a handful of zoa frags and a gsp

last time I tested my water with Hanna checkers I got
Am 0
Ni 0
Na 10
Sal 1.024
Temp 80.2
Pho 0.17
Cal 429
Dkh 8.4

 

[Gablami]

I don’t see why you’re not.

Only thing I see that you haven’t mentioned is ich. Hippo tangs are prone to ich. If you have a plan for that, or are ok with managing ich (as opposed to keeping it out of your system), then you’re good to go. Just don’t be surprised if you see it is all.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,i would say yes ,go small,not tiny,def qt hippo!! before adding,keep eyes open for skimmer ,it's a must,happy reefing

 

[Hugh Mann]

Looks like you're good to go.
As has been said, watch out for ich. If it's in your tank and not showing, the Hippo will probably get it.

Also watch out for lateral line erosion. Causes tend to be poor water quality and running carbon.

Other than that, should be good to go. Happy reefing, these fish are a must.
(I have mine coming next week!)

 

[lemrider]

I have a 10 gal qt tank so I was planning on getting a little guy and throwing him in there for a bit for the ich issue. My thing is, is that too small for him?

 

[lemrider]

hi ,i would say yes ,go small,not tiny,def qt hippo!! before adding,keep eyes open for skimmer ,it's a must,happy reefing

Is a 10 gal qt too small? I have one set up and only have 23 inches to work for skimmer. I was thinking reef octo 110ss or 150ss

 

[PTXReef]

I got a 3 inch hippo tang about 7 months ago and it has already grown at least half an inch!

Issues I have already come across:
Ich: Ran a cupramine treatment to clear it up + feeding more enriched nori
HLLE (just started ) : I stopped running carbon and do regular weekly 15% WC (in a 100g tank). Soaking its nori and mysis shrimp daily in selcon now and hoping it helps.

Otherwise, he looks healthy and eats like a pig!

 

[lemrider]

I don’t see why you’re not.

Only thing I see that you haven’t mentioned is ich. Hippo tangs are prone to ich. If you have a plan for that, or are ok with managing ich (as opposed to keeping it out of your system), then you’re good to go. Just don’t be surprised if you see it is all.

Is a 10 gal qt too small?

 

[Auquanut]

I'll agree with everything above. I would consider adding a skimmer soon though. Tangs tend to add a considerable bioload.

 

[lemrider]

I'll agree with everything above. I would consider adding a skimmer soon though. Tangs tend to add a considerable bioload.

I was thinking about the reef octo 110ss or 1500ss since I only have 23 inches to play with. Also is a 10 gal qt tank too small for hippo? And what is a proper qt method for them? Do they do well with copper?

 

[PTXReef]

I was thinking about the reef octo 110ss or 1500ss since I only have 23 inches to play with. Also is a 10 gal qt tank too small for hippo? And what is a proper qt method for them? Do they do well with copper?

I think a 10g will be fine for their quarantine with regular WC (the LFS quarantines them in smaller swimming spaces than that). I did a cupramine treatment for my hippo tang but some reefers think that may have contributed to his HLLE.

I have a reef octo 2000 hob skimmer so I am not sure which skimmer would be better from experience.

 

[fishguy242]

if it is small 2" 10 gal would be fine for qt ,just add a ammonia badge in tank to monitor,as far as what is best for qt treatment,i'll have to let others reply

 

[fishguy242]

I think a 10g will be fine for their quarantine with regular WC (the LFS quarantines them in smaller swimming spaces than that). I did a cupramine treatment for my hippo tang but some reefers think that may have contributed to his HLLE.

I have a reef octo 2000 hob skimmer so I am not sure which skimmer would be better from experience.

that is an excellent skimmer,but op has open sump ,would rec. octo 150ss

 

[Letterkenny]

If you have to ask, the answer is get a tank at least 1,000 gals bigger.

 

[Gablami]

A 10g is fine to QT a small hippo. But once you get bigger than 3 inches, I think it might be a bit cramped.

While it’s probably a good idea to QT the hippo tang, what we’re saying is that ich may already be in your tank. It may not be very apparent with the fish that you have currently, but if you haven’t quarantined or treated your fish this far, the hippo may develop ich once you put it in the tank, even if you QT it.

 

[lemrider]

A 10g is fine to QT a small hippo. But once you get bigger than 3 inches, I think it might be a bit cramped. But not the end of the world.

While it’s probably a good idea to QT the hippo tang, what we’re saying is that ich may already be in your tank. It may not be very apparent with the fish that you have currently, but if you haven’t quarantined or treated your fish this far, the hippo may develop ich once you put it in the tank, even if you QT it.

And there’s no way to know ur tank has ich until a fish has it huh? Cuz I haven’t quarantined any of my fish yet

 

[PTXReef]

A 10g is fine to QT a small hippo. But once you get bigger than 3 inches, I think it might be a bit cramped.

While it’s probably a good idea to QT the hippo tang, what we’re saying is that ich may already be in your tank. It may not be very apparent with the fish that you have currently, but if you haven’t quarantined or treated your fish this far, the hippo may develop ich once you put it in the tank, even if you QT it.

Yeah this is true. After my cupramine quarantine, my hippo was ich free for 3 months.Then I forgot to soak his nori for two days and the ich returned. I was shocked, got him back on selcon enriched nori, and now no more signs of ich again. Not sure if that is a direct causation but if it helps, I am doing it! Hopefully you do not run into these issues

 

[vetteguy53081]

As long as your readings are good , at 6 months, it will fare well in this tank.

 

[SPR1968]

Tangs are dirty fish, and although the tank is fine to add it, you need to quickly get something in place to deal with nitrate and phosphate export, or they will build up very quickly.

Your phosphate is already on the high side at 0.17, a good target is 0.03 to avoid potential issues.

So although you could to frequent water changes, you really need at least a protein skimmer which is one of the basics for a reef tank.

 

[Gablami]

And there’s no way to know ur tank has ich until a fish has it huh? Cuz I haven’t quarantined any of my fish yet

Read about converting black freshwater mollies to saltwater. The mollies have no prior immunity to marine ich, and they are black so show the ich spots well. I’ve used them before as a “canary in a coal mine.” They also clean the rocks and eat algae. My only advice with this is to convert them to salt water over the course of 12-24 hours or so. Don’t just dump them in. Good luck!