Blue Hippo Tang Care

[brandoniscool]

Hi my name is Will in Mr.Rutherford's class. We got two new fish and one of them is the blue hippo tang. My teacher and myself wants to know how to take care of a blue hippo tang and what to feed it.








Thanks,
Will

 

[Joe0813]

You guys should have probably read up on the fish before you bought it.... Tangs in general are ich magnets and the hippo is the worst in my opinion. so I hope your teacher is QTing the fish. I have mine eating everything I put in the tank... I try and feed frozen brine/Mysis two times a week and then I feed flake or pellet the rest of the week. Only thing I cant get mine to eat yet is Nori sheets

 

[vette.tech]

And how big is the tank i cant imagine you have a 180+ gallons in a third grade classroom

 

[reeferstace]

Recommended tank size for a hepatus tang is 8' and 240 gallons minimum. They should also be subjected to a strict quarantine regimen as Joe stated.

 

[Joe0813]

oh ya... good point on the tank size... i forgot about that one

 

[anbosu]

Hi Will!

As some of the others have mentioned, this fish can get pretty big and aggressive, so at some point you will probably have to move it to an even bigger tank. They are pretty easy fish to care for though, once you get it eating. It will eat algae, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, and all sorts of flake and pellet foods once it is used to living in your classroom.

The hepatus tang also likes to swim, a lot, so you will see it zooming in and out of the rocks and all over the tank all of the time. At night, it will sleep in between some rocks in the tank where it feels safe, and in the morning it will come out and swim all over the tank, all day, again! Hope you enjoy the fish, and remember, if it starts being mean to the other fish or gets really big it's time to move it to a bigger aquarium.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Hey Will...

From the looks of the tank on your teacher's website, it has been running for a while. It looks like a pretty big tank. Can you tell us how many gallons it holds? I also see another tank in there? Ask your teacher if that is a Quarantine tank. If it is not, keep reading...

You stopped in the right place, and did well with asking for guidance. Speak with your teacher, and see if he can get an additional 20g tank with a small filter on it with only the floss in it (No carbon.) and something from an established tank that has been running and has a good bit of beneficial bacteria on it.

Once you have that tank, add the item from a running tank to it with water from the already running tank in your classroom. Take the two fish you have and put them in the 20g tank, and watch them for a few days. Feed them what the people above have suggested. Once they are eating, it's suggested to treat them with cuppramine if they are showing little white spots on them. Your teacher can order it for you, and help you with following the instructions on it.

Keep the 20g tank, and follow the above advice for every new fish you buy after the 13 weeks is up, and these fish are added to the first tank. This teaches you a Quarantine practice. Skipping this step is one of the biggest mistakes in this hobby.

To help you out more, can you post up some more information? How big is the tank that your teacher brought? This fish gets pretty large, and it may be a good idea to consider trading it in for something that will be more comfortable in the tank if it is not a large tank. What is the other fish that you all purchased?

This hobby is tricky sometimes for older people, so the advice may be a little confusing for you, but if you hang in there, and do it right, you'll be a better fish keeper for it...

Have your teacher sit down with you, and read through the stickies at the 'new to the hobby' forum...

Best of luck, and keep us posted.

Oh yeah: Ask your teacher to post some pictures on this thread about his tanks and setup. He may be able to teach us old-timers a thing, or two...

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

To everyone except Will: Take a second to check out his website: http://mrrutherfordisawesome.weebly.com/reef-system.html

It looks like Mr. Rutherford knows what he is doing, and has quite a setup. Will is learning young, he may be teaching us somethings as he grows into the hobby... I wish I didn't wait until I was almost 40 years old to start learning.

 

[Joe0813]

i wish my third grade had a huge reef tank

 

[vette.tech]

Holy crap! Mr Rutherford IS awesome LOL

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Lol. Told you...

 

[Whistl3r]

His tank is a 120g, you did notice they are ROTM this month right? lol

 

[brandoniscool]

Hey RC, Brandon here (mr. rutherford).

Thanks so much for answering Will's question. I and really appreciate everyone's interest in my class project.

To answer some of the questions, a blue and yellow tank were donated with a 120 gallon tank setup two weeks ago (thanks roger!). They had been in an established tank for a while showing, no signs of disease so I didn't do the normal quarantine procedures. I initially wasn't the best about QTing livestock but now that i'm battling an aiptasia outbreak in the 120 gallon in my classroom, I have a renewed appreciation of the importance of catching pests.

I agree that a 120 gallon is a little big for a blue tang, especially one that's getting older. He seems to be getting along with the other fish and I'm trying to keep him well fed and happy. It's not something I would have bought myself, but tangs are eye catchers. The kids were really happy to find a 'dory' but I might try to find him another home when school gets out (Will, if you read this don't tell the other students). Perhaps my local fish store will trade me for something.

None of my fish has ever had Ich in the 5 years since I started my obsession with aquaria, I'm super anal about water quality and obsessively do water changes. I'm a little inexperience and perhaps naive about the seriousness of ich and I appreciate the warning about tangs.

I'm my interest is really in coral invertebrates but the kids are all about fish so I'm sure that it will happen some time in the future. I'm really glad to be part of the RC community. I couldn't do my project without you.

 

[brandoniscool]

i wish my third grade had a huge reef tank

We're actually trying to get all 5 classrooms to have reef tanks. I have 2 120 gallons and a 90 gallon already set up and am trying to network for more :bdaysmile:

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Well, Man it's good to hear from you. Tell your class we said hi!!!

 

[Joe0813]

We're actually trying to get all 5 classrooms to have reef tanks. I have 2 120 gallons and a 90 gallon already set up and am trying to network for more :bdaysmile:

thats awesome.. i dont know whether you meant to right the 120 is a little big for the hippo or little small but usually they do best in a 6 foot or bigger tank. i have one in my 180 and hes only about 2 inches and he swims around the tank like a mad man

 

[brandoniscool]

trying to find him a new home

trying to find him a new home

I'm in the process of finding the tang a new home. If any one in the Central Illinois area is interested let me know.

My student Will (originator of this post) will start posting on RC on his own username (with parent oversight) and is currently building a fresh water tank. Look out world!

 

[fishhuman]

I wish my third grade teacher was as cool as you mr Rutherford that's a great reef you got set up there

 

[brandoniscool]

I wish my third grade teacher was as cool as you mr Rutherford that's a great reef you got set up there

Thanks dude, my project actually has three tanks and I'm in the process of building four and five. This one is the coolest so far, though I'm having problems stabilizing the water chemistry.