Hippo Tang

Kelz88

Got Reef?
Someday in the future when i have my own house I would LOVE to get a huge tank for a couple of tangs (2-3 hippos and maybe a sailfin, although more research will be needed with tang compatabily) May be YEARS down the road, but id like to start researching now.

So the hippo would need a 180 gallon tank, preferably 8ft long.

I was wondering a few things

180 gallons is bare minimum and i would like to go 250ish

How much can you play with the 8 ft of swimming room? Can i go seven ft or maybe even bring it to 6 ft? Or would that be just cramping his/her style?

How high should the tank be? Moreso for the sailfin who is a big maybe.

How much turn around would the hippo need? im looking at my tank and i cant picture a 1ft creature turning around in about 13 inches.

Now the one thing i DONT want to hear is "I kept my Hippo tang in a 55 gallon for 5 years and he is fine" I understand sometimes big fish can be crammed into small spaces sometimes, but i would like this tank to be somewhere the tangs could live out their whole lives.

I want to do it right :)
 
I have about a 5 inch hippo in my standard footprint 180 (6x2x2) and there are days that he looks cramped, and other days he's fine. If I can get some issues I'm having worked out with my current tank (and convince the wife) I'm thinking of a semi-custom build for him and my other tangs

Most sites say a 180 is the minimum so in theory 6 feet would work, but if you're just in the planning stages, I'd say 8 feet if its plausible
 
Geesh I have a Hippo that is close to 5 inches at least in my 220 that is 6 feet and 30 inches high by 2 feet wide and it moves around all the time slashing in and out of the rocks.

I also do not have a ton of rock in my tank. It is 2 islands of rock, maybe 160 pounds which was on purpose to make sure the Tangs have a ton of swimming room.

I have the Hippo, Lieutenant, Yellow, Naso, Blonde Naso, and one Unicorn right now with about 19 other fish. I am sure you have seen the pix or videos. They all have tons of room.

Only the Unicorn will be removed one day if it starts to get big quick. It feels like they have all stopped growing for a long time. I got him as a samll adult for only $35 and since I love them I thought I would get it because they are over $100 on-line.

I thought Biff said her Yellow tang has stayed smallish for years in her 90 gallon.

I just happen to know a store with a i think 12' tank who would take the Unicorn in a second and probably give me a decent credit.

I have plans to remove a few of the fish due to coral nipping and/or slight bullying anyway. I have my trap in there as we speak.

In the end I am hoping to get an 8 footer one day but I want it at least 24x24 so I want to go from my 72"x30"x24" to a 72"x24"24" which is only like roughly 15 gallon more water.

Better swimming room and less water to penetrate for the lights = WIN.

6 foot is fine by the way but 3 Hippos I don't know about in one tank.
 
I thought Biff said her Yellow tang has stayed smallish for years in her 90 gallon.

I had my yellow tang for 11 years, and a sailfin tang for about 5 years. I started with a 55 gallon (with the yellow tang), then upgraded to a 240 (then I got the sailfin), then downsized to the 90. Both fish stayed pretty much the same size the whole time. I can honestly say I've never seen a foot long hippo tang in a home hobbyist's tank. So I have no idea how long it would take for the fish to get that long. But I'd guess well over a decade. I don't think you have to worry about providing for a foot long hippo tang.

When I had my 240, I did have a 15" vlamingi tang for about a year. My LFS gave her to me because they took her out of a 75 gallon tank that they were called in to service by the owner and were shocked at where she was being kept. She was a HUGE fish and looked so out of place in my reef. The 240 was way too small for her; she had a hard time turning around, but my LFS was in the process of moving to a new location and didn't have anywhere better to put her. And they didn't know of anyone else that had a tank larger than my 240. So it wasn't ideal, but when the LFS moved into their new store, they built a huge shark pond, and I brought the vlamingi back to them. I was sad because I was attached to her (her name was Jill), and she'd let me pet her under the water and would eat out of my hand. But by that time, she was very stressed and had clearly outgrown the tank and was starting to show signs of disease. I knew she had to go back to the store. Sadly, she jumped out of the shark pond within a few days of the move, so maybe she was happier in the 240!! :mrgreen:

I don't know how long it took her to get to be 15" long, but vlamingis (in my experience) are faster growing than a lot of the other tangs.
 
Last edited:
OH yeah I remember Jill! I didn't know she was technically a "loan" from the LFS LOL Maybe she was trying to get home to you, biff ;)

RIP Gary Coleman, indeed!
 
I remember Jill. RIP Gary Coleman!

OH yeah I remember Jill! I didn't know she was technically a "loan" from the LFS LOL Maybe she was trying to get home to you, biff ;)

Jill was quite a fish. She will live on in Living Reefs history FOREVER!!!

She wasn't technically a loan. She didn't start off that way, at least. But the longer I had her, the more clear it became that my tank was too small for her. By the time I'd had her for a year, I knew I had to find her another home or else she was going to die. By that time, it was lucky that the LFS had moved and had built this new shark pond. I think my only other options would have been to try and find someone in Phoenix (about a 2 hour drive away) that had a tank larger than a 240, or try to find an aquarium that would take her (and I think the closest aquarium is in Vegas). Unfortunately, no walls could contain her! I was distraught when they told me she had jumped.
 
I have no idea about the tangs, but a 180 or bigger sounds great. I'm already dreaming of mine too.

LOL, this hobby is so damn addicting - I have a 90 and already can't wait until I have a home so I can have a 260 or 300 angel and tang tank LOL. Now where in the heck I'll get the money to have such a tank I have no idea! Or where I'll get the money to have a home, I have no idea! I was actually thinking of buying a small condo this spring/summer, but then I decided to get a fish tank ;)
 
Back
Top