Juvenile Blue Hippo Tang

[OceanL0ver]

I have a juvenile blue hippo tang in quarantine. I plan on adding it to an established tank in a few weeks. Should I remove my yellow and powder blue tang before introducing this Juvenile regal?

 

[Maritimer]

@4FordFamily is our resident tang-whisperer. My gut is telling me that you've got some potential for trouble on the road ahead, but let's see what Ford has to say . . .

~Bruce

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

What size tank will he be going into?
How long have the yellow and PBT been in the tank?

I can think of a couple of tricks. Removing the two tangs as you stated sounds like the best route but I’m sure you know that’s going to require a lot of work which I’m sure will be well worth it in the long run. You can also place the hippo in a big enough DIY acclimation box made from egg crate so you can test out the aggression level from the PBT and yellow. I heard placing a mirror on one end of your tank is a good way to distract aggressive fish while the newly introduced fish becomes more comfortable with his surroundings. Additionally, keeping everyone well fed and increasing the water flow can help minimize aggression as well. My wife feeds me heavy on Sundays before we go to the in-laws house.

I’m sure @4FordFamily will give you some great advise in a bit.

 

[OceanL0ver]

110 gallon tank. Yellow and pbt been in there for 18 mos.

 

[OceanL0ver]

Keep in mind this guy is tiny, about the size of a quarter.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Oh that’s pretty small. Hmmm well adding him to that small of a tank sounds like trouble. It’s a nice big tank but relatively speaking, it’s uncomfortably small for three tangs. If it were me I would refrain from adding him due to the tank size and the hippos size. While they can perhaps co-exists now without much aggression, as they grow bigger/mature, that tank size might make them more aggressive towards one another.

Just my opinion but I’m no expert or close to it. Let’s wait a second for someone with more experience to chime in.

 

[Maritimer]

It sounds kind of counter-intuitive, but it's possible that the tiny tang might just prove an advantage. He may be able to essentially "fly under the radar" of the other tangs; they may not consider him a threat at such a small size.

~Bruce

 

[4FordFamily]

It sounds kind of counter-intuitive, but it's possible that the tiny tang might just prove an advantage. He may be able to essentially "fly under the radar" of the other tangs; they may not consider him a threat at such a small size.

~Bruce

I agree with this in the short run.

Hippo tangs are very fast growers from this size, in a year they can triple their size. It’s a gamble, a social acclimation box is probably your best bet to see what happens.

Powder blue are so fiercely territorial that this could go either way. The tank is too small for the powder blue due to their desire to cover vast distances of ocean each day, so his aggression is likely to be more than normal.

If you do try it, I’d get a social acclimation box, feed well with tons of nori as already mentioned, and perhaps put up mirrors on the side of the tank as a distraction.

Here’s an article on tang aggression you may find useful:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tang-aggression-understanding-and-combating.76/

 

[OceanL0ver]

Thanks everyone for your input

 

[Elegance Coral]

I manage a LFS, and talk to wholesalers all the time. When we first started bringing in these tiny hippo tangs, we were losing them at an alarming rate. Then we figured out that they're like new born humans. They need to feed almost constantly. Hikari makes some tiny seaweed pellets that work great for this purpose. I just keep a few of these on the bottom of their cubical at all times. We basically don't lose them any more.
I wouldn't worry to much about aggression early on. The hippo will hide, or hang out right outside it's hiding spot most of the time. When other fish come by, it will dart back to its hiding spot. Typically, other tangs aren't very aggressive towards hippos. Hippos are in a genus all to themselves with no close relatives. Usually, other tangs don't seem to care about hippos at all and seem to just ignore them. With that said, you do have a couple of notoriously aggressive tangs that have been in the same "smallish" tank for a long time. Adding any fish can be risky.
HTH
Peace
EC

 

[OceanL0ver]

I manage a LFS, and talk to wholesalers all the time. When we first started bringing in these tiny hippo tangs, we were losing them at an alarming rate. Then we figured out that they're like new born humans. They need to feed almost constantly. Hikari makes some tiny seaweed pellets that work great for this purpose. I just keep a few of these on the bottom of their cubical at all times. We basically don't lose them any more.
I wouldn't worry to much about aggression early on. The hippo will hide, or hang out right outside it's hiding spot most of the time. When other fish come by, it will dart back to its hiding spot. Typically, other tangs aren't very aggressive towards hippos. Hippos are in a genus all to themselves with no close relatives. Usually, other tangs don't seem to care about hippos at all and seem to just ignore them. With that said, you do have a couple of notoriously aggressive tangs that have been in the same "smallish" tank for a long time. Adding any fish can be risky.
HTH
Peace
EC

Thanks!