Please advise on tiny Blue Hippo Tangs

[MelbaToasty]

I have seen a lot of squabbling in these forums when it comes to certain tang species in smaller aquariums in this hobby. Yesterday I saw the smallest blue hippo tangs I have ever seen at a LFS. I don’t know if they are tank bread, but these things were smaller than a small blue-green chromis.

They had a small school of them in a 66G Red Sea Max DT. By that I assume they are marketing these things to the nano tank hobbyist. Has anyone ever seen a Blue Hippo Tang offered in sizes barely an inch? What would you do with these? Is this really a nano bread? Are they hearty? I was kind of disturbed by these things and was hoping to get a verdict

 

[Beaun]

I've seen them that small, they are not for nanos, they will get big very fast. Not sure if they are easier to acclimate then larger ones, but the store should not be suggesting them for anything but large tanks.

 

[Toddrtrex]

They will get just as big as any other other P. Heptus. From my understanding they are actually harder to keep compared to larger ones -- going to need more frequent feedings.

 

[snorvich]

I have seen a lot of squabbling in these forums when it comes to certain tang species in smaller aquariums in this hobby. Yesterday I saw the smallest blue hippo tangs I have ever seen at a LFS. I don’t know if they are tank bread, but these things were smaller than a small blue-green chromis.

They had a small school of them in a 66G Red Sea Max DT. By that I assume they are marketing these things to the nano tank hobbyist. Has anyone ever seen a Blue Hippo Tang offered in sizes barely an inch? What would you do with these? Is this really a nano bread? Are they hearty? I was kind of disturbed by these things and was hoping to get a verdict from the tang police.

First of all, do not use the term "tang police" on this board as it is a pejorative. Your compliance would be most appreciated.

LFS around me often have the small hepatus tangs available but since they rapidly grow and can reach a foot in length, most people do not have suitable tanks. Very small fish are often more difficult as they require many feedings.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

First of all, do not use the term "tang police" on this board as it is a pejorative. Your compliance would be most appreciated.

LFS around me often have the small hepatus tangs available but since they rapidly grow and can reach a foot in length, most people do not have suitable tanks. Very small fish are often more difficult as they require many feedings.

Agreed. I've seen baby hippos, ~1" for sale before, and often kept in small tanks. This, in no way, should be interpreted as a suitable environment for this fish. They have the ability to quadruple in size yearly until they reach their full size of 10-12"

 

[BrianD]

My hepatus was smaller than a quarter when I purchased it. It grew.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

My hepatus was smaller than a quarter when I purchased it. It grew.

:lol: No kidding. To see his hepatus now, click on his username then click on his home page.

 

[BrianD]

I have seen a lot of squabbling in these forums when it comes to certain tang species in smaller aquariums in this hobby. Yesterday I saw the smallest blue hippo tangs I have ever seen at a LFS. I don't know if they are tank bread, but these things were smaller than a small blue-green chromis.

They had a small school of them in a 66G Red Sea Max DT. By that I assume they are marketing these things to the nano tank hobbyist. Has anyone ever seen a Blue Hippo Tang offered in sizes barely an inch? What would you do with these? Is this really a nano bread? Are they hearty? I was kind of disturbed by these things and was hoping to get a verdict

It would be quite a leap to believe they were marketing them to any specific hobbyiist based on the size of the holding tank of the LFS. The LFS isn't trying to duplicate the conditions a fish should be kept in. They are merely providing a temporary home prior to sale.

Hepatus tangs are completely inappropriate for a nano tank.

 

[LargeAngels]

Feed, feed, feed, feed, feed and feed again. That is what these small tangs need and like stated above they grow very big and need large tanks.

 

[agreeive?fish]

man i had to look up the word pejorative..the only reason i passed english class was the teacher hated me so much she refused to fail me so she would not have to see my ugly mug sitting in her class for another year..lol

now as for the tiny hippo tang issue

i have tried hippos and yellows both at diffrent sizes from multiple sources without any luck and one day i was at my favorite lfs the day they got a shipment in, they had tiny hippos and yellows still in the shipping bag and they were the healthiest/fatest shipment of tangs i had seen, i bought one of each still in the shipping bag(against every thing i believe in), they both have faired VERY well in the 10-11 months i have had them

the yellow took forever to eat anything but algae of the rocks and nori but the hippo decided he was a clownfish and took up with the juvi "pair" of gsm clownfish and acted just like a clownfish and ate anything and every thing except for nori and did absolutly no algae grazing for several months... yes they due require frequent small feedings but tangs in general require frequent small feedings or algae to graze on all day because of thier poor digestive system so to sum it up yes they are a little more work than the bigger tangs in general but not so much more that you cannot be very sucessful in rearing a tiny hippo up

 

[TampaReefer79]

I have seen a lot of squabbling in these forums when it comes to certain tang species in smaller aquariums in this hobby. Yesterday I saw the smallest blue hippo tangs I have ever seen at a LFS. I don't know if they are tank bread, but these things were smaller than a small blue-green chromis.

They had a small school of them in a 66G Red Sea Max DT. By that I assume they are marketing these things to the nano tank hobbyist. Has anyone ever seen a Blue Hippo Tang offered in sizes barely an inch? What would you do with these? Is this really a nano bread? Are they hearty? I was kind of disturbed by these things and was hoping to get a verdict

You've gotten your questions answered well...they are not suitable for small tanks and will grow, grow, grow. I just wanted to answer the one question you had that hasn't been answered yet, and that is to say they are NOT tank bred.

 

[scapes]

man i had to look up the word pejorative.

........well, dang! i was kinda hoping you'd tell me what it meant too!!!!:bounce3:

 

[pinnatus]

Wikipedia is your friend:

"Pejoratives[1] (or terms of abuse) are words or grammatical forms which denote a negative effect; that is, they express the contempt or distaste of the speaker. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense. In historical linguistics, this phenomenon is known as melioration, or amelioration, or semantic change (e.g., "punk"). Within some social groups a particular term is still regarded as being a pejorative, whereas the term isn't deemed as such within another social group elsewhere (e.g., "hacker"). "

And....

pe·jo·ra·tive (pi jôr′ə tiv, -jär′-; occas. pē′jə rāt′iv, pej′ə-)

adjective

declining; making or becoming worse: applied to words whose basic meaning has changed for the worse (Ex.: knave, cretin)
disparaging or derogatory
Origin: < L pejoratus, pp. of pejorare, to make worse < pejor, worse, orig., inclined downward < IE base *ped-, foot
noun

a pejorative word or form
Related Forms:

pejoratively pe·jo′·ra·tively adverb

 

[snorvich]

scapes, having grown up in Birmingham, there are two different kinds of football fans in the state of Alabama and only one of those is for Auburn. But this year, despite a promising start the Tide succumbed in the second half.

 

[scapes]

whoohoo!! war eagle!!!!!