Harlequin Tusk

chandler04

Active Member
Anyone with experience with tusks, pics too, please post. Im gonna get one, and I wanna know as much as I can. They are the COOLEST fish. Pics would be greatly appreciated, as well as eating habits, temperaments, etc. Thanx
 

squidd

Active Member
Mine jumped out of the tank...When I was researching/asking about them nobody seemed to mention their tendency to do that (At least I don't remember that part)
After he jumped ship and I posted about it, I heard a lot of "Oh Yeah, They Do That" ...
So I just thought I'd mention it...
Mine started eating the first day, and would go after Flake as well as the meatier treats...
Was a little shy for a day or two and then became a regular in the front glass...
The "Australian" ones tend to be more colorful (more blue "trim") than the indo pacific and less likely to be cyanide caught (they tend to die three weeks later...:nope: )
Other than that here's a pic of mine...Got him here from SWF...
 

psufan43

Member
I had one a few yrs back, until we had a storm and we lost power for 4 days, the whole tank died, i had him in a 150 gallon with a small 2inch undjulated, and 6 inch achiles tang, and 6 inch powder brown,
he was no problems at all, he ate anything. he was such a cool fish.
alot of personality and out almost all the time.
 

chandler04

Active Member
Nice. Mine is gonna be in a 55 gallon. I believe itll be allright. If it doesnt appear to do okay, then hell go back to the lfs. Simple as that.
 

adamz

Member
ive had one for a while now and he ate the first 10 mins of being in the tank but he was at my store for a long time but he dosent messe with anybody and even eats flake food but what he really enjoys is big peices of shrimp due to his huge mouth. back when i had a big zebra eel i was feeding him and the harliquin took that shrimp and had no problem swallowing it
 

bona42na

Member
I also love that fish but was concerned about my cleanup crew. What are your experiences of them with cleaner shrimp,conch , snails and starfish ? TIA Peter
 

bona42na

Member
Yeah so are my triggers , and hes OK with my inverts. So whats your point ? Do you know the answer to my question? Do you know anything about this fish besides that he is cool Chandler ? What can you add to this discussion ?
 

chandler04

Active Member
So lets see. It is cool, is known to eat inverts, but MIGHT stay away from ones already in the tank. They usually eat, but this guy says his didnt. They need a good deal of swimming room and do well in captivity, but they may need more cuz bigger is better. Well, I know that. I know I can house it, but I dont know if it will eat my inverts or not. I guess tha the answer to the riddle is pot luck, same with other ?? fish. You have to see how they do. Not all fish are the same. Obviously, these guys are built to take down shelled fish, hence the tusks, but wen it comes to the aquarium, you wont know until you try it out. Thats all we can say on this fish, and i myself, am satisfied. Thanx for the info magic.
 

tyr-sog

Member
Tusks are so sweet. I've been tempted the last couple of times I was at the pet store to pick one up. I just don't want all my inverts to go bub-bye. :D
 

humuhumu

Member
Squidd is absolutly right about the harlequin tusk collected from the indo pacific. I had one several years ago, it ate immediatly but, died a few weeks later. I belive that it may have been collected with cyanide which was a common practice back then.
 

triggerfish

Member
You can not keep a tusk in a 55. these are real swimmers. Tusks do not do well is small tanks. There is a current thead on a different forum trying to find out why some tusks just die and others thrive. In smaller tanks all the tusks died, but in the large tanks they thrived. Some of the tusks were ausies and the others were from the indo pacific. Even the ausies died in the smaller tanks.
BTW Chandler04 When you pick a fish plan on keeping it for its life.
just my $.02
 

squidd

Active Member

Originally posted by MarksMagic
ya, there's a rumor blowin around that australain caught husks are caught more carefully and genuinely, they must have the magic touch :)

I heard they were only caught by

[hr]
, young, aboriginal virgins that cradle the fish in their breasts, rather than use a net... :eek:
:yes: :D :yes:
 

chandler04

Active Member
That would be nice. And, to anser you, NO, I dont pic a fish to keep it for life. I like to keep a whole assortment. If I get attatched to it, then Ill keep it.
 

reefer44

Member

Originally posted by humuhumu
Squidd is absolutly right about the harlequin tusk collected from the indo pacific. I had one several years ago, it ate immediatly but, died a few weeks later. I belive that it may have been collected with cyanide which was a common practice back then.

fish that have cyanide poisoning can't eat at all after they get it..so i am positive this was not the case.......
this fish seems to big for a 55 chandler so i wouldn't go with it...but if you haveyour mind set on it who am i to stop you.....
also i don't think they live in the indo pacific?????.....i have only heard they live in the coral sea off of aus. coast....i could be wrong though......
good luck with em matt
Brad
 
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