Putting a Blue Hippo Tang with a Naso Tang

njjamie

njjamie

Member
Does anyone know if this will be a problem? I have a 55 gallon tank and the Naso is about 3 inches max right now. I saw a blue hippo at my LFS and simply fell in love with it.
Other fish in my tank: Vermaculated Angel, 1 damsel, 2 dominoes, 15 snails, 15 crabs, 3 shrimp.
The guy at my LFS also told me I should get rid of my damsels and dominoes right away as they are just start up fish. I know they are taking up the bioload in my tank but they are not too bad looking....so I think. Any suggestions on this one??
Second time poster on SWF.com and I am officially addicted!
Jamie
 
N

nereef

Guest
there shouldn't be compatability issues between the two fish, but both tangs will eventually outgrow the tank.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Whoa! A Naso in a 55...
I'll spare you the lecture but give you a story on my experience with Nasos and 55 gallon tanks.
The current size of your fish won't cause compatibility issues, but beware... when I was new at this, I tried to keep smaller Nasos in my 55 with the same logic... but what I found is that even with the small size, they stressed out enough in the small tank to never eat, and eventually died.
The blue hippo will be happier in a bigger tank, but the difference between your tank size and the "accepted minimum" for a hippo is much smaller than with the Naso, so the Naso is your bigger problem.
Just a heads up....
I'd also be worried about all of these relatively territorial and in some cases aggressive fish in such a small system... the tangs won't like being crowded and the Damsels are just bullies. You will have aggression problems.
... now you got me all upset again that I can't keep a Naso...
 
njjamie

njjamie

Member
Well I thank you guys for the replies so far and I can see that I am obviously going to regret this decision. Trust me if I had the room I would have gotten the 100 gallon in the first place....and my girl was not going to let that fly either. :mad:
Any suggestions on any other nice looking fish?? I have no attachment to the damsels, but a lot of the smaller fish I have seen in my LFS and on SWF.com have not been that cool?? I am looking for great color, nice shape, and somewhat hardy b/c the tank is so new. Any suggestions??? Thanks!
 
N

nereef

Guest
how new is the tank?
there are many colorful and active fish that could live out their life in a 55.
including: dwarf angels, small wrasses, dottybacks, basslets, dwarf lions
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Most lionfish will be okay in a 55.
There are also Gobies, Butterflies, small Angels, dottybacks, hawkfish, anthias.
My 55 reef has only four fish in it.
- Royal Gramma
- Pinkspotted Watchman Goby
- Sixline Wrasse
- Maroon Clown
You'll find your chances of success skyrocket with a seriously underloaded system, but there are plenty of solitary fish (like the four I mentioned above) that will bring personality and amazing color to your system. With the live rock in there, you can also add inverts such as feather dusters, sponges (watch with Angels), shrimp, crabs, etc.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
Whoa! A Naso in a 55...
I'll spare you the lecture but give you a story on my experience with Nasos and 55 gallon tanks.
The current size of your fish won't cause compatibility issues, but beware... when I was new at this, I tried to keep smaller Nasos in my 55 with the same logic... but what I found is that even with the small size, they stressed out enough in the small tank to never eat, and eventually died.
The blue hippo will be happier in a bigger tank, but the difference between your tank size and the "accepted minimum" for a hippo is much smaller than with the Naso, so the Naso is your bigger problem.
Just a heads up....
I'd also be worried about all of these relatively territorial and in some cases aggressive fish in such a small system... the tangs won't like being crowded and the Damsels are just bullies. You will have aggression problems.
... now you got me all upset again that I can't keep a Naso...

Take it easy buddy!!!!!!!!
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by NEreef
hey scsinet, how big is your pink-spotted watchman?

He's about 5 inches long. I've had him for about 18 months now and he hasn't grown any in the last year or so, so I think that's as big as they get.
 
N

nereef

Guest
thanks, scsinet. i am looking for a watchman that will be large. my yellow watchman was eaten by my fuzzy dwarf lion, but i still have the pistol shrimp.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
I have a yellow watchman in my nano with a shrimp. They've never paired up, but the Pinkspot Goby paired right up when I dropped a tiger pistol into my big reef. He outlived the shrimp.
I frankly got tired of him anyway because he was always tearing up the reef. I was afraid he'd cause a rock collapse.
The pinkspot is about the biggest watchman I know of. The only bigger Goby generally found in the trade is the Dragon, but I'm not sure if they pair with shrimp.
 
N

nereef

Guest
it took my yellow watchman and my tiger pistol shrimp about a month to pair up in my 90. i was worried i would lose my goby, because it would just hide behind the return for my skimmer all day. i was carefully spot feeding him, and one day he was just hanging out on the bottom with the shrimp.
i'll see if the lfs' supplier has a pink-spotted watchman on the next fax.
here's an old pic of the goby...
 
seannmelly

seannmelly

Active Member
I've seen blue spot watchman 5-6" almost 7". He didn't do very much, but he was pretty aggressive, ate a firefish.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
HAHAHAHAH maybe that's what happend to that purple firefish that disappeared after 2 days...
wait... that's not funny... that was 30 dollar meal that Goby had... I coulda gotten a whole steak for that.
 
seannmelly

seannmelly

Active Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
HAHAHAHAH maybe that's what happend to that purple firefish that disappeared after 2 days...
wait... that's not funny... that was 30 dollar meal that Goby had... I coulda gotten a whole steak for that.

Lol. I certainly hope he didn't eat your firefish. I know I LOVE my purple firefish, even though he hides all the time!
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by njjamie
Well I thank you guys for the replies so far and I can see that I am obviously going to regret this decision. Trust me if I had the room I would have gotten the 100 gallon in the first place....and my girl was not going to let that fly either. :mad:
Any suggestions on any other nice looking fish?? I have no attachment to the damsels, but a lot of the smaller fish I have seen in my LFS and on SWF.com have not been that cool?? I am looking for great color, nice shape, and somewhat hardy b/c the tank is so new. Any suggestions??? Thanks!
My suggestion is dump the girl buy a HUGE tank then find another girl. Fishtanks get girls too you know
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by stdreb27
My suggestion is dump the girl buy a HUGE tank then find another girl. Fishtanks get girls too you know
You ain't kidding. Search around this board... from the pictures posted, some of the fish girls on this board are cute. :joy:
 
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