Two hippo tangs?

littlefoxx · 2026-09-23T19:42:56-0400

For me this fish has always been challenging for me to keep. Always catches something or brings something in my tank even with QT. I recently found a pretty healthy tang from my LFS. Good looking dude, no scratching, eating on day one with me and always out and about. Reason Im asking is I was going to get two because Ive seen a lit of people on FB and a few LFSs recommending them in pairs because they do better and stress less. Ive seen this quite a few times now over the last couple months now. I know the general consensus is tangs dont like to be with others of their same species. Just wanted to hear what you guys all think? Anyone tried it and have better luck keeping them? Or tried it and the tank instantly turn into thunderdome? I was thinking it would be thunderdome so I just got the one little guy.

saltwaterfish.com · 2026-09-23T20:20:22-0400

A lot of it depends on what age you get them at and how big the tank is. If they are still very small like in the one to two inch range keeping two together is a lot easier. As they get older it's kind of a roll of the dice on whether or not they are going to get along. If you end up unlucky with two males there's a good chance you will have to rehome one down the road. Same thing with if your tank is too small to comfortably house two 12 inch fish that want separate territory.

W31Olds · 2026-09-23T21:14:34-0400

I have never heard that Hippos need another in the Tank to do well. I have one and as far as Tangs go, one of the easier ones to keep and not Finicky at all. The Key is the follow QT Protocols for your Hippo and all subsequent Fish. Like most Tangs they are susceptible to Ich.

Ridgeback1 · 2026-09-23T21:43:05-0400

I have three that I bought and introduced together as 1" captive bred from Biota. They are now 5" and have been together for seven months in my 327 gallon tank. I have a lot of free swimming space and stock lightly in terms of overall number and size of fish. They get along great so far and are always together swimming. No aggression at this point among them but they will sometimes chase each other a little. Would three wild caught older fish get along similarly? I don't know. I also have fairly massive wave making going on and they spend a LOT of time swimming into and through that current which burns off energy. In my experience over the decades, it's critical to have a large, long tank. They get big and they like to swim. If you can't accommodate with proper tank size, I'd pass on even one (IMO...I realize others have had success in smaller tanks). I second W31Olds that they for me have been easy to keep and they eat everything. They are high energy fish so eat a lot--I feed frozen twice a day and have a Plank feeder that comes on three times a day, plus nori is available daily to them. I also agree with him that you have to have solid QT protocols.

Gulf Live Rock · 2026-09-23T22:27:09-0400

i tried to introduce a second one and they did not get along. in fact one of them jumped out of the tank so i had to rehomed him..

littlefoxx · 2026-09-24T00:09:34-0400

W31Olds said:
I have never heard that Hippos need another in the Tank to do well. I have one and as far as Tangs go, one of the easier ones to keep and not Finicky at all. The Key is the follow QT Protocols for your Hippo and all subsequent Fish. Like most Tangs they are susceptible to Ich.

Yeah I hadnt either until recently! Thats why I was curious what everyone was thinking

littlefoxx · 2026-09-24T00:13:14-0400

Ridgeback1 said:
I have three that I bought and introduced together as 1" captive bred from Biota. They are now 5" and have been together for seven months in my 327 gallon tank. I have a lot of free swimming space and stock lightly in terms of overall number and size of fish. They get along great so far and are always together swimming. No aggression at this point among them but they will sometimes chase each other a little. Would three wild caught older fish get along similarly? I don't know. I also have fairly massive wave making going on and they spend a LOT of time swimming into and through that current which burns off energy. In my experience over the decades, it's critical to have a large, long tank. They get big and they like to swim. If you can't accommodate with proper tank size, I'd pass on even one (IMO...I realize others have had success in smaller tanks). I second W31Olds that they for me have been easy to keep and they eat everything. They are high energy fish so eat a lot--I feed frozen twice a day and have a Plank feeder that comes on three times a day, plus nori is available daily to them. I also agree with him that you have to have solid QT protocols.

Yeah exactly! I had to go down to a 200 gallon from my 300 otherwise I might have tried it! I have a dense rockscape at the bottom for the eels and more open at the top for swimming. The little one seems really happy and likes to swim with the lieutenant tang I got as well.

littlefoxx · 2026-09-24T00:20:37-0400

saltwaterfish.com said:
A lot of it depends on what age you get them at and how big the tank is. If they are still very small like in the one to two inch range keeping two together is a lot easier. As they get older it's kind of a roll of the dice on whether or not they are going to get along. If you end up unlucky with two males there's a good chance you will have to rehome one down the road. Same thing with if your tank is too small to comfortably house two 12 inch fish that want separate territory.

Thats more of what Ive heard. And its not possible to tell gender with them either so you would have no idea!

Piotrek · 2026-09-24T08:14:25-0400

I was tempted to try it as well, I have to admin. Your tank should be large enough for the 2 of them.
However I came to a conclusion, that it's not as if they are going to form a charming couple, such as clownfish. I'd simply have 2 fish looking the same, while I could get 2 different ones in that slots. No matter how big of a tank, the capacity runs out quickly.