tank size for a Blue hippo tang

[nickng]

Never kept a tang before and would love to put a single tang in a 120 gallon 4'x2'x2' tank. Will a blue hippo tang or yellow belly hippo tang be ok in a 4x2x2 (120 gallon). Only other fishes are
pair of 3 inch occelaris clowns
pair of leopard wrasse
a flame hawk
a purple firefish
a diamond watchman goby
pair of belus angels

No additional fishes will be added other than the single tang. Will a smallish 2-3 inch blue hippo tank be ok and how fast will it outgrow the tank. 4 years? 6 years? Also how long will it take the tang to grow from 3 to 6 inches.
I plan to upgrade to a 6+ feet tank in about 5 years.

 

[nickng]

If the small 2-3 inch hippo will not be able to live in the 4x2x2 tank for more than 3-4 years, then what possible brightly colored tangs should I consider? A yellow tang? White tail bristletooth? Chocolate tang?

 

[i cant think]

Never kept a tang before and would love to put a single tang in a 120 gallon 4'x2'x2' tank. Will a blue hippo tang or yellow belly hippo tang be ok in a 4x2x2 (120 gallon). Only other fishes are
pair of 3 inch occelaris clowns
pair of leopard wrasse
a flame hawk
a purple firefish
a diamond watchman goby
pair of belus angels

No additional fishes will be added other than the single tang. Will a smallish 2-3 inch blue hippo tank be ok and how fast will it outgrow the tank. 4 years? 6 years? Also how long will it take the tang to grow from 3 to 6 inches.
I plan to upgrade to a 6+ feet tank in about 5 years.

If I’m honest, 3 to 6 inches will be around 1-2 years and then to get to 8-9 inches from 3 inches is around 3-5 years.

Tangs in your 4’ tank heavily restrict you to Ctenochaetus and smaller Zebrasoma. This is assuming you don’t want to add other fish - If you do then you’ll find tangs long term need to be in either a large 5’ tank (180G 5’) or a 6’ tank.

 

[mrpontiac80]

I love the hippo tangs and have a yellow belly version myself. I personally feel like it would be ok but if you want to add a tang for their ability to work, a bristle tooth tang is tough to beat.

A two spot bristle tooth is darker skinned while a white tail has a really nice reddish color under white lights. Under blues it too looks dull. But they never stop earning their keep. You will have “kiss marks” all over the glass where they constantly eat algae.

A purple, yellow or etc will pick at stuff also but are built with a longer mouth for harder to reach areas. But the colors are nice.

My hippo is probably the least helpful in tank maintenance and also the most destructive. It breaks off acro branches now and then just being a bull in a china closet.
Here is my white tail for reference on colors. Very underrated if you like whiter lights.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Another option…. Fox face lo or one spot fox face. Bright yellow and peaceful

 

[nickng]

Another option…. Fox face lo or one spot fox face. Bright yellow and peaceful

Thanks for the pics. The white tail bristle tooth looks nice.

 

[littlefoxx]

I wouldnt do it. Here is a picture of a blue hippo I picked up yesterday (two years old Im told) in a standard 5 gallon bucket. Dude is huge and they are a PITA when you would need to get him put because he would outgrow the tank in that time. Bristletooth or yellow tang would be a better option!

 

[Bruttall]

Tangs need distance to swim, a 6 foot long 125g > 4ft 120g!!! 8ft long tank is even better yet. Tangs swim A LOT, I have watched mine swim back and forth and a little simple math indicates they swim over 30miles a day. Blonde Naso, Naso, Hippo, Lt. Tang, Clown Tang, Skopas, Sailfin are the Tangs I keep in my 8ft 300g.

Personally I would not try and keep a fish I could not keep in my tank for it's entire life. Rehoming them because they outgrew the enclosure and disrupting it's entire existence seems needlessly cruel to me.

 

[nickng]

Understand that a grown tang or even one around 6 inch will need a 7 to 8 feet tank. I plan to upgrade in 4 years. Hence asking if anyone has experience keping a 1 to 2 inch tang in a 120gallon 4x2x2 for 4 years before upgrading to a larger tank.
So far there’s one response indicating it’s ok for 3 years before it gets to 6 inches from 1 inch. Wondering if there’s more anecdotal experience. If the evidence from previous owners are that 1 inch tang is not happy in a 4 feet for maximum of 3 years before upgrading, I’ll definitely not get even a small hippo

 

[nickng]

I wouldnt do it. Here is a picture of a blue hippo I picked up yesterday (two years old Im told) in a standard 5 gallon bucket. Dude is huge and they are a PITA when you would need to get him put because he would outgrow the tank in that time. Bristletooth or yellow tang would be a better option!

Thanks, how big is that tang in the bucket? About 4 inches?
Oh I won’t have a problem catching the tang at the 4 year mark since I will breakdown the 4 feet tank and move everything to a ~7+ feet tank.

By the way is it ok to keep a blue hippo in a longish 8+ feet shallow frag tank, say only 16inch tall

 

[Bruttall]

By the way is it ok to keep a blue hippo in a longish 8+ feet shallow frag tank, say only 16inch tall

I'd suggest better to have 24 inch height, but I guess the fish could thrive there. His behavior would be the telling factor, if you watch your fish you will notice when they seem off, distressed, agitated etc.

 

[nickng]

I'd suggest better to have 24 inch height, but I guess the fish could thrive there. His behavior would be the telling factor, if you watch your fish you will notice when they seem off, distressed, agitated etc.

Thanks, 24. Inch tall then. I guess it makes sense since the fish will probably like to swim up or down every so often.

 

[tobster]

I bought a blue hippo about the size of a quarter a year ago. She’s now about 5” in just over a year.

 

[Bruttall]

31 inch tall tank, the hippo is about 6 inches, Blonde Naso is 12inches with streamers for reference. Lots of up and down, they travel the length, width and height of that tank a lot.

 

[Uncle99]

Nope, to short.
Long tanks for this guy.
Both these guys 9” at 5 years.

A yellow, bristlettooth, Kole might work well.

 

[exnisstech]

I recently lost my hippo that I had for 5 years. She was smaller than a blue damsel when added and maybe 7 inches or so when she passed, I never actually measured. A bristle tooth or yellow would be fine in your tank IMO. I keep a yellow and two spot bristle tooth in a 36x24x24 tank and they do just fine. But like @Bruttall I know how to tell if a fish is stressing. These two just leisurely swim around grazing all day. No pacing the tank or fussing with each other. I do have a 7ft tank also in case things didn't work out in the smaller tank. Yellow and bristle tooth (I have a convict also) are my most valuable CUC members. I have one tank too small for tangs and it has gha all over. I don't think I'll ever set up another tank too small to house at least one tang.

 

[littlefoxx]

Thanks, how big is that tang in the bucket? About 4 inches?
Oh I won’t have a problem catching the tang at the 4 year mark since I will breakdown the 4 feet tank and move everything to a ~7+ feet tank.

By the way is it ok to keep a blue hippo in a longish 8+ feet shallow frag tank, say only 16inch tall

The tang in the bucket is easily 9-10 inches. And he is around 2 years old. My cousin has one that hit about 5 inches in a few months. And the 8 foot tank would be better for one swimming length wise for sure but still would be cramped. Thing is life gets in the way and you may not be able to get a bigger tank then. And you will have to re home it way before you get that tank. Best advice is to stock for your tank you HAVE not the one you WANT. This hippo I have looks massive in my tank and he is in a 300 gallon

 

[bobnicaragua]

Hippo tangs grow to the size of their tank. Get a small one and you should be able to keep it as long as the tank is up and running.

I put a small one in a 29 gallon years ago, and it never really grew.

 

[nickng]

Thanks for all the sharing. Majority here says a blue hippo will grow fast. Most likely will get a yellow tang then. A bonus that it will eat GHA
Are yellow tangs mellow, peaceful with other fishes. It will be the only tang in the 4x2x2 tank.

 

[littlefoxx]

Thanks for all the sharing. Majority here says a blue hippo will grow fast. Most likely will get a yellow tang then. A bonus that it will eat GHA
Are yellow tangs mellow, peaceful with other fishes. It will be the only tang in the 4x2x2 tank.

Should be fine, mine only was mean to other tangs. And tangs may or may not eat GHA, none of mine ever have. Also here is my monster blue hippo for size reference. The tangs he are around are all around 6 inches for reference