Hippo Tang last try

So here we go...for a bday present i thought i'd try 1 last time for a hippo tang to be the crown jewel of the tank.

this time there's no major threats to stress him out. 4 damsels and 2 young perculas.

this tang is huge.

it's a 55 gallon with an average amount of live rock.

MY QUESTION:
could any hippo tang experts offer thee most important few things to remember with keeping Hippo Tangs alive?

i've never kept a tang alive for longer than 10 days but i can keep everything else.

i spent too much on this fish to give up.

i read most of the threads but this is an appeal to those who truly feel they know hippo tangs and i'll take your key tips as gospel

thanx!

 

Now I'm scared...! I just brought one home yesterday and he/she seems to be doing fine. I didn't know these were problematic fish. They seem pretty common...? PLEASE ADVISE!

 

Those damsels will stress it out.

I purchased mine as a baby. they don't acclimate well to aquariums when they are older. Mine was about 1.5" long when I got it. I had to feed it very small foods like cyclops. the little guy is doing great and is very active.

 

So will being "huge" in a 55g tank.

 

small is better. i supp their food with garlic, til he comes out lookin for food on his own.

 

A cleaner shrimp or a type of ich cleaning fish might help just incase it gets ich from being stressed out...

 

I know this may seem like an obvious question, but what killed your last few tangs?? Did they all die from the same cause; were you able to determine a cause? Would be very helpful information if we are going to steer you in the right direction.

 

You are fighting an uphill battle here, unfortunately. First of all, your tank is too small for a tang of any kind, especially one that is large. I am the last person to be a "Tang Policeman", and I am not saying it is totally impossible to keep a tang in a 55g, but it is very very difficult. You will need some excellent filtration, more than an "average amount" of liverock (whatever that means) - since tangs produce lots of waste and use up lots of oxygen from the water. The damsels and clowns that you have are fairly aggressive fish, and very territorial. So introducing a fairly docile fish like a hippo tang into a tank with established damsels and clowns, where the tanks is small to begin with, may simply not work.

Ok, so you wanted advice on how to improve your chances, here are some suggestions:
1) Increase your tank size (I know, I know, may not be possible)
2) Make sure you have a sump with a very good skimmer (I don't know what you are using)
3) Get lots of live rock, more than average, to improve your filtration capacity
4) Remove your damsels from the tank into a QT or sump before you introduce your tang. That way your tang can establish territoriality without being harrassed. After several weeks, re-introduce your damsels
5) Before adding your tang to the DT, quarantine him for a while to make sure he does not have any diseases. DIseases are much harder to treat in a DT.
6) Cleaner shrimp do not help with ich. They only clean dead skin from the fish. The actual parasite is much too small for cleaner shrimp to eat. So this will not help if the fish gets ich. Better to make sure he doesn't have ich before adding him to the tank.

Best of luck with it!

 

It's tough.

See the tiny ones chance of survival is pretty slim, even when you think they are doing good.

I am on my 3rd try with hippo tangs now.

1st one was doing great, and then it got a swim bladder infection of some sort and ended up not making it after about 3 months. it was about 3-3.5".

Second one was tiny, like 25 cent piece size. It was 12 dollars, and was doing great for about 2 weeks, then just disappeared.

My 3rd attempt I got the other week, and is about 2", and doing great.

I don't think these are any more difficult than most other tangs outside of that they are prone to ick.

Now in a 55g, they will outgrow it quickly. These get to be around a foot long and will easily get bored in a tank that size.

 

they all died within' 7-10 days but everything else always lived.

everyone is getting along so far. the damsels, clowns and hippo seem to be co existing.

its just a big tang in a 55g.

its now chipping away at the big chunks of seaweed in the veggie clip.

but still isn't eating the every other day form 1 and 2 i toss in

its been 8 days. this is the window when i usually lose the more expensive fish.

i haven't had fish die in a year... until i buy somethin' thats more than 30 dollars. then i lose em!

just seeing if there's "can't miss tips" when it comes to hippo tang maintenance.

i have a skunk cleaner shrimp, 2 small clowns, 3 yellow tail damsels, 1 velvet damsel and thats it... plus the hippo. all in a 55g. (loads of green hair algae growing every where)

i have been putting a chunk of seaweed in the veg clip every morning. when it disapears i put another in.

i use 1/2 a cube of form 1 on monday. nothing tues. then 1/2 cube of form 2 on WED. nothing thurs. and then repeat that process throughout the week

thanx for the help!
j