Really Considering a Blue Hippo Tang

[AquaAlexCardinale]

I am really really considering getting a Blue Hippo Tang. I have a 120 gallon aquarium (4'). I am getting a 6' 180 gallon by the end of the year.
I really love the blue tang. I know one of my local fish store sells captive bred blues and they are much more expensive but they always seem to look the best, fat and thick and I've never seen ich on them. Is it true that the captive breds are healthiest? Is it possible that I don't see ich on them because he always stocks cleaner wrasse and shrimp with them?
I'm thinking about getting his largest captive bred which is about 3.5-4'' and is in a 20 gallon tank. Will he be ok for a while in the 120 and what can I do to avoid ich? I'm going to pick up some copper safe because you never know.

 

[bang guy]

I would recommend waiting until the 180 is setup and stable. Just my opinion.

It is not true that an abundance of Cleaner Wrasse and Shrimp is an ick preventative. They can certainly make an infected fish feel a little better but they do not actually eat the microscopic Ick parasite.

A breeder like that, I would rely on his abilities to prevent ick from infecting his fish. That said, a couple weeks in a quarantine tank is always a good idea.

 

[lmforbis]

Your fish store is not being straight with you. There are no captive bread hippos. There has been minimal preliminary success but the fry have never made it past a few weeks. The only tangs successfully bred in captivity are yellows, this has only been in the last year or two. The success with in promising but so far the fish offered for sail tend to have some physical issues.
If you don't have a 6 foot tank don't try a blue. Wait until you get the 180. Even small ones need the length to swim. Mine was barely a half inch when I got her. She is now, 4 months later, about an inch an a half. She has used every inch of the 6 foot length of the tank from the day I introduced her to the tank. It is also very important that you have an ich free tank if you are going to get a tang. They are very prone to this parasite because of their thin slime coating.

 

[beth]

There is a distinction between captive raised and captive bred. My understanding is that hippos are not captive-bred. They can be captive-raised which is likely what your fish store is advertising. Hippos are captured at larval size, raised up into small juvis, then sold as captive-bred.

 

[beaslbob]

I had a "dory" tank in my old 55g tank. It was originally about the size of a quarter and I first kept it in a small ~10g tank. It grew fast and a couple of years later was 3-4 inches.

The wife's 60g also has a dory which was/is 3-4 inched long and doing fine.

To avoid ich I recommend a healthy, balanced, and stable system. I accomplish that by using macro algaes which the tang likes to eat. So I use a refugium which on my old 55g was just a partition at the back of the tank.

my .02

 

[deejeff0442]

I have kept tangs in a 90 for over 30 yrs 2 to 4 inch ones
I have a hippo and a Naso in my 90 now. Both are around 3.5 inches and are as happy as can be . Never understoodthe 6 foot tank thing or who came up with it but in my experience they don't know squat. Never had a disease pop up or see any stress
That being said any fish will always be happier in a bigger tank seeing they came from the ocean

 

[bang guy]

Do you mean you moved them once they hit the 2 - 4 inch mark?

I've seen a lot of 4 foot systems with odd acting Tangs, especially Hippos and Powder Blues. They "pace" across the glass and are overly aggressive. Not always, but I've seen it happen a lot. They never seem to recover to become normal after that.

I have seen this same behavior in certain tangs in 6 foot tanks as well, but never a Hippo, mostly Sailfin and Naso.

In my experience the 6 foot mark for the smaller Tangs seems accurate.

 

[deejeff0442]

I plan an 8 foot tank within 18 months. But no had purple in a 90 for 3 yrs and now.problem. never seen it and I have always had tang