Tang question

m0nk

m0nk

Active Member

Originally Posted by carolinethedog
http:///forum/post/2690274
I was thinking of adding a blue hippo tang to my 38 gal. This site says min. tank size of 40 gal. But I see tangs in reef tanks all the time that are supposed to be under the minimum. Here is a link to a photo contest that has a yellow tang in a 29gal. http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/tan...ntmay03tan.htm
So whats the deal?
Please don't do this. For one thing, the minimum of 40g would be to hold a juvenile temporarily. You certainly can't keep one for it's entire life in there. Some will even say it will outgrow a 90g tank. Keep in mind 2 things:
1. Hippo tangs will grow to be 12 inches long. If they don't, they aren't healthy. I have seen them this long in numerous tanks. It does take a few years to reach that size, but in order for it to grow properly it needs adequate space, and a 38g certainly isn't adequate.
2. In the wild, this fish is an active swimmer. It will pace back and forth in even the largest of tanks. I have one in a 180g and sometimes it doesn't seem like enough length, but it can definitely live a full and active life in there. Personally, because of how active they are, I wouldn't recommend anything less than 125+ gallons for long term housing, but again, some people try them in 90g. The length thing is an issue there, since it can grow to be 1/4 the length of the tank.
Hope that helps, and please, again, don't try to keep one in such a small tank. They're prone to numerous ailments when they get stressed by their environment.
 
carolinethedog

carolinethedog

Member
Thanks m0nk,
Im wondering-
Fish- I have maroon clown, fiji blue devil, sleeper goby, and domino damsel. (semi-aggressive)
CUC- 15 blue hermits,15 turbos, 1 sea of cortez, 1 cleaner shrimp and 1 peppermint
Tank is six months old but totally flourishing, 6-7 types of coral (xenia, zoos, flowerpot, finger leather, candycane, and some big thing i havent ever ID'd) Anyway, I was thinking of leaving it alone for awhile, feeding coral phytoplakton and copepods oyster eggs and then adding a mandarin in 3-6 months. But in the mean time, what would be good to add?
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member

Originally Posted by carolinethedog
http:///forum/post/2690284
Thanks m0nk,
Im wondering-
Fish- I have maroon clown, fiji blue devil, sleeper goby, and domino damsel. (semi-aggressive)
CUC- 15 blue hermits,15 turbos, 1 sea of cortez, 1 cleaner shrimp and 1 peppermint
Tank is six months old but totally flourishing, 6-7 types of coral (xenia, zoos, flowerpot, finger leather, candycane, and some big thing i havent ever ID'd) Anyway, I was thinking of leaving it alone for awhile, feeding coral phytoplakton and copepods oyster eggs and then adding a mandarin in 3-6 months. But in the mean time, what would be good to add?

I would say you are pretty well maxed out there, the damsels and the maroon clown will all be rather aggressive with any new tank-mates, and it's a good bioload for that size tank.
 
R

rcreations

Guest
SWF's tank requirements are very bad. They should never list the tank requirements for the actual fish size they sell (1-3"). That's a very bad thing to do because someone will buy that fish for a 40gal and then find out that it'll outgrow that tank in no time.
 
fishygurl

fishygurl

Active Member
Originally Posted by carolinethedog
http:///forum/post/2690295
Mandarin future possibility?
mandarins eat copepods many many copepods thats all the do all day they can eat 200+ copepods every day and the only way to do this is have a lot of rock (100+ pounds) a very mature tank a good size refugium and a bigger tank size, since even if you could (not sure if you could or not) put that much rock in your tank there would be pods every where and they wouldnt be able to escape the mandarin will just eat them and having a less volume will be harder to keep the population of pods up, you could buy pods and dump them in every day-week but this would get very very expensive, i wouldnt recommend getting a mandarin dragonet or a scooter blenny (also a type of dragonet) in that tank size..
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishyGurl
http:///forum/post/2690361
mandarins eat copepods many many copepods thats all the do all day they can eat 200+ copepods every day and the only way to do this is have a lot of rock (100+ pounds) a very mature tank a good size refugium and a bigger tank size, since even if you could (not sure if you could or not) put that much rock in your tank there would be pods every where and they wouldnt be able to escape the mandarin will just eat them and having a less volume will be harder to keep the population of pods up, you could buy pods and dump them in every day-week but this would get very very expensive, i wouldnt recommend getting a mandarin dragonet or a scooter blenny (also a type of dragonet) in that tank size..

Plus, the damsels and/or the maroon clown would almost certainly kill it.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
It takes one year for a 1.5" Hippo to reach 7-8" and as mentioned previously, fully mature, they are 12"+.
They should not be placed in anything smaller than a six foot tank: minimum. They get too friggin' big, too fast, swim way too much, and putting these fish in anything less than that is simply irresponsible.
Seeing big fish in small tanks looks ridiculous anyway, if you want your tank to look nice stock it appropriately.
 
invertcrazy

invertcrazy

Member
Originally Posted by RCreations
http:///forum/post/2690341
SWF's tank requirements are very bad. They should never list the tank requirements for the actual fish size they sell (1-3"). That's a very bad thing to do because someone will buy that fish for a 40gal and then find out that it'll outgrow that tank in no time.
What they need to do is list the size of the fish they are selling and also list the size the fish will be when it's full grown to give some of the new hobbiest an idea of what to expect. Although research should be the first thing to do. not everybody does it when they see a cool fish that they just gotta have and most of the lfs's aren't gonna be much help either. I would put this in the suggestion box but I don't know where it is
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top