Baby Blue Hippo Tang help!

J

JFranz93

New member
So I've been in the hobby for a few months now and have aquired 4 freshwater tanks and I finall set up my first saltwater tank. It's been cycling for about 4 weeks now but I wanted to give it about 8 weeks.

After searching endlessly I finally found a dory fish. She is no bigger than 1.5 inch in size and she is adorable. I wanted to find one that was roughly 2-3 inches but I've been searching for a few weeks now and went ahead and bought her.

She is in a 10 gallon QT tank but her behavior is abnormal?

I've done a ton of research and I knew going in a lot about the dory fish.

That being said, she is really weird. Like she is constantly laying on her side and hiding under the PVC pipe I have in the tank. Sometimes she just lays on the bare bottom of the tank. On her side. I knew this was common but I've had her roughly 24 hours now and I don't know if I should start being concerned or not? I have nori and some sheets of seaweed in the tank and I can see where some have been chewed on. But that's about it.

Thanks in advanced!
 
I know someone will ask about acclimation.

The salinity she came in and the salinity of my tank were both 1.025 but I went ahead and floated her for about an hour and drip acclimated her until the water level quadruple in size. Just as a precaution.
 
Make sure your not leaving the seaweed in to long it will start to raise your phosphate and nitrate levels. Also I need to know more about peramiters of the tank and how you set it up to be able to help at all.

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Blue hippos get stressed VERY easy. Do you see any white spots? Any skin tags?

Because she is in a qt it is much easier to doctor her/him. Monitor the activity and pay close attention to her/him.

If you see white spots, go to your LFS and get the meds it needs (ich remover). For now though turn off your lights, be sure to keep the temperature steady. And keep it stress free. It's truly hard to remedy the Hippo without all the facts. Also if you could post a pic. That would help.

Hope this helps a little.
 
My parameters are stable. Ammonium, nitrite, and nitrates are good with nitrates at 10 PPM. pH is 8.4

What do you mean how I set it up? The QT tank or the main display? I currently don't have any fish in the main. It's still cycling. I set up the QT tank 3 months ago and was phantom feeding the tank and it took about 6 weeks to cycle. I have two QT tanks. A 10 gallon and a 20 gallon. I have the meds. No white spots.

She just seems unusually lethargic.

What else do you need? I would say I am no sense a novice when it comes to freshwater. But saltwater I am. I did about 2 months of research before I even set everything up. I did this all for a blue tang and now I'm worried 6 months of preparation is going to fail my little girl. :(
 
Wedging themselves in a rock or under PVC is just kind of what they do. I wouldn't panic just yet.

Keep trying to get it to eat. Despite being a surgeonfish, regal tangs are actually planktivores. You will have better luck with Mysis and brine shrimp (live brine almost always works with any fish).

Good luck.
 
She's probably panicked in the small tank. I hope her destination tank is above 200 gallons.
 
Yay! I ended up testing my hydrometer and it was malfunctioning. I tested basic tap water and it was reading 1.025.

So I went to Petco and got a new one. The reading was 1.29

I slowly added RODI water until it diluted the system to 1.026. And as the water was slowly being added she was more active!!! Yay!
 
Her tank will be a 6 foot 125 tank. This was just at QT tank.

I wanted bigger but I did research and 6 foot tank was the minimum. I know some people want tangs in larger. But ehically they belong in the ocean so who is to say what a blue tang "needs."
 
It's normal with this guys. I have one that's been with me for 2 or 3 month can't remember and she still runs and hide when I feed the tank. She will poke her head out to see if I am sitting in my chair and only then come out to eat.

I remember she was on her side and pale for a couple of days. And then hide behind the filter for the reminder of her stay in QT.
 
Be sure to adjust it very slow and buy a refractometer and throw the hydrometer in the trash. I always check the calibration of my refractometer before using also. Good luck to you.

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I agree with Snaredrum. Always raise your salinity slowly, never more than .02 ppm in 24 hour. But I'm sure it'll be fine. As for the 200 gallon tank. I wouldn't worry. The 125 is fine until it get too big (years down the road).
 
It will be fine in your tank for quite a while. I wouldn't worry about that right now. I would treat it for ich now while it is qt even if you don't see spots. These things are almost certain to come in with ich. I'd do either hypo or TTM but copper will work as well. I'd try reef frenzy to try to get it eating. If not live brine should work
 
All I can say is I have a 4" blue hippo and when the lights go out she lays in her rock cave talked to some veterans in this field and it's a normal thing they do haha it's like they sleep in a bed


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The 125 will be fine. It's opinion based IMO and a 6 foot tank will be plenty. Besides I'm going to hopefully be starting dental school soon and in 5 or so years when I buy my own practice I'm getting an 800 gallon to run the length of my office. She will be my main display fish :)

Thanks for the information! About the hippo. If I could post a video I would but she is finally swimming. I do wish I had known about not changing the salinity. Live and learn!

I love how I'm told a 125 won't be if enough. I've read a lot. Some people say a 4 foot tank is the minimum, some say 6 foot is. So to answer you question, I've done my research on the internet :)
 
Sorry if it sounded like I went off. I'm in a couple Betta groups on Facebook and anytime someone posts a picture of a tank that is less than 2.5 gallons people attack the person who is asking for her. Instead of offering advice.!

I'm just glad that usually the betta fish is at least in a gallon of water and it those tiny cups they come in :(
 
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