Hippo

I'm wanting to pick up a blue hippo tang. I would like him to eat some of the GHA the is starting to pop up. Are they good for this?

 

From my experience no. A lawn mower blenny or yellow tang are a better choice

 

Every LFS I look into has yellow tangs with lateral "rotting"... How common is this? I know they are pretty prone to this type of thing, as are the hippos I guess.

 

Yes it is because they dont I guess get enough greens in their diet but i would get a YT because those hippos will get ich.

 

Lawnmower Blennys are good for this..but will starve if you dont have enough algae....I recommend Sally Lightfoot Crab myself..they will DESTROY any and all GHA and then eat detrious as well....but you might want to find out why your getting GHA as well, and fix the problem..not usuing RO/DI water is probably the most common reason for GHA, but I have it in my Predator tank because they are such messy eaters that my nutrient levels are always high...i'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of it in there, since inverts dont last too long with triggers

 

So ich isn't just something I will have to deal with? I use RO/DI. I just have some areas my CUC can't really get to (pump outlets, etc.) and I'd like to have some backup. I just don't like sickly looking fish... Well, duh, I know.

 

You shouldnt have to deal with ich if you buy a healthy fish and put him in a healthy environment....yes hippo's get stressed more easily than a lot of fish, but every fish CAN get ich..but they should be able to fight it off if healthy and given proper nutrition..they will even become immune to the parasite

 

My hippo has only shown slight signs of ich that last less than three days and not for months, usually only when new additions are added because they are an easily stressed species

 

i had gha and it was terrible. covered the whole tank, and my lfs suggested a yellow tang. yellow tang didn't even make a dent in it. then i resorted to a reef package of turbo snails, astrea snails, a few hermits and a few emerald crabs. within two days almost everything was gone and within a week the tank was spotless. this was two months ago and i still don't have a trace of gha as these guys do an amazing job of cleaning the tank.

 

I personally chose not to get a Hippo because of the itch problems well known to this type of fish. Instead I purchased a Yellow Tang and he is doing great and taking grazing all day long... so I don't have any algea issues whatsoever but also use RO/DI water only. So, think about the possible problems you might have with a certain kind of fish. It's easy to fall in love and want to get a certain species but research their diet, possible problems and other specific requirements first before buying. After all... we want to accomodate our fish the best possible way!