hippo questions

[tigerseyes01]

I acclimated my hippo tang to my Qt tank last night and left him/her be with light on he/she hid right away . this morning i put the light on and still hiding .. i dropped in some brine shrimp and i did notice him/her peeking out and eating a bit now i was wondering if this hiding is a normal thing,will it change once he/she has been here awhile and also i have brine shrimp,silversides ,flakes and a pelleted type of food .. what else should i get that he might like
thanks all and have a great day

 

[jim672]

tigerseyes,
See your previous post about my concerns about you keeping a hippo.....
But if you keep him, he needs to have greens in his diet. Get some Seaweed Selects, the green variety are good, and make sure you have some of that available for your hippo at least every other day. Beyond that, the other foods you've mentioned are fine.
Jim

 

[jla9508]

I used to have a Hippo, I traded it in to the LFS a coupl weeks age. It would sometimes hide all the time and sometimes it would swim around all day long.

 

[tigerseyes01]

JIM
Hi i havent updated my profile in a bit .. i also have a 55 gal fowlr that i plan on putting him in in a few weeks ... also in a year i am getting a 125 gal set up so i think i will have plenty of room . ty for the concern though. my 30 gal is a reef that had a couple clowns in it .I would never put a potential big fish in a small tank .. thanks for the feeding tips
i will get to the store and gets some greens .i have heard of feeding lettuce and such is that true

 

[triggs]

I have heard the hippos are hard to keep and I still support that. I have a hippo in my 240 gallon, and he gets parasites easily, even in that big of a tank, but my cleaner usually pecks it off right away. Mine eats tons, he eats flake, brine, mysis, and other smaller foods. That is great that you are qting your fish, especially a hippo. I suggest soaking the food in zoe, and whenever (if he does) get ick, or parasites soak garlic in his food and that works great!

 

[karlas]

for greens try the seaweed selects, dried nori, alge disc, or pellets containg alge. adding liquid vitamins to the food will help give it extra vitamins and minerals to boost the imune system. also a soaking in garlic every so often can help prevent against parasites including ick

 

[jim672]

tigerseyes,
I'm envious of your planned 125 (my wife tells me we don't have room for one that size
). Good luck!
I have read on this BB people who feed lettuce but have no personal experience. My guess would be the Seaweed Selects, and all the other things specifically mentioned by karlas would provide more vitamins and nutrients than plain lettuce.
Hippos are my favorite fish. All the best with yours!!!
Jim

 

[tankstolove]

Tigerseyes Congrats on your new hippo!!! I guess everyone can use this, when I get a new tang or angelfish, and they are not eating right away. I take spinach, or romane lettuce and blanche it in boiling water to softing the texture for a few seconds. Then I add it to the tank in the rock, or coral trying to make it look as natural as possible. I notice very quickly, that my offering is nibbled on, sometimes slowly at first, and within a week they love it. I then transfer into feeding it a balanced diet of the regulars. I've saved many $450+ showfish this way for our customers and myself. Replace every few days so that it doesn't began to decompose in your tank, that's not good GOOD LUCK on saving an otherwise compermised fish. SEE LIFE... "It's a beautiful world!"

 

[royce]

My hippo used to hide when I walked by the tank and was especially shy when I moved him to his new tank, but now he is frequently out and about. I think he knows that food frequently happens when I'm near the tank and he even hovers by my face when I'm looking into the tank. boy is he a pig. he chows on everything I put in the tank - flakes, frozen, brine, seaweed selects.

 

[infinsable]

Its normal for them to hide for a while, When they get use to their surroundings he'll come out but might hide when you pop around the corner HTH