Harlequin Tusk not eating

[poopsko24]

Picked up a harlequin tusk , about 4". Put him in my 55 gallon QT tank. He is not eating. He stays hidden behind the pvc that I have in there all the time. I have not seen him swim around all that much. I've tried a variety of different foods, with garlic and all, even cocktail shrimp. I would get live feeder shrimp, but I can pretty much tell he wont' eat them. He is nice and fat with good coloration, no illness that I can physically see on him. Should I wait it out, I was thinking about another week to see if he eats, and if not mabey take him back or what ? I have had him about 4 days so far.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

how are your water parameters in the QT?

pH
NH3 NO2 NO3
salinity
meds (if any?)
last waterchange?
live rock, or tank mates?

 

[poopsko24]

a few tankmates. juv. queen and juv. emperor angel, and a dogface puffer. There is no aggression at all, none. If anything he might be a little shy or scared of them. The tanks parameters are good. I use a tidepool bio wheel a quite a few sponges for bio filtration. Feeding is done sparingly, and I keep up on the H2O changes weekley. I test like 3 x's a week for all the bad stuff. All the other fish are eating good and looking good. I am currently adding no meds. I have pvc for the fish to hide out. I had ick in my main display, 180 with liverock. So I'm letting it go fishless for 6 weeks, will be up soon. I took the fish to my lfs for him to hold for me for a couple weeks, and to get the ick off them ( he runs copper in his system) The angels and puffer looked like they kicked it, so I put them in my 55 QT , then I picked up the tusk on a later day. No LR in the QT.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

i would say throw a few dozen ghost shrimp in there just to see if they perk his interest. how long was the tusk at yout LFS?

 

[poopsko24]

I think i remember hearing like 10 days.

 

[LRS078]

Live feeders in variety are your best bet. Gut loaded (if possible) regular if not ghost shrimp, some crayfish (cheapo feeders), and a fiddler crab with his larger claw plucked off are all viable options. Also if he sees his tankmates chowing down that can help. Just make sure he has some good hiding spots that are not already taken as territory of the other fish. That will help him relax enough to want to eat. 3x caves with 3x fish are okay till fish #4 shows up... What do you have for aquascaping in the QT? Terracotta (sp?) pots from garden section of home depot work great when broken in half vertically. Good luck and let us know how it goes... Keep up at minimum weekly water changes in the QT as well.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

was the tust eating at the store?

 

[warren4066]

always make you sure you tell the person at the store to feed them before you buy it. if i plan on feeding my fish to eat frozen silverside at home i would tell them to feed them that before i buy it.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

that is always a good plan of action. i go one step further. after the fish has proven that it eats with enthousiasm (not stare at the food for a few minutes then take a little nibble) i will pay for the fish and then come back in at least 4 hours to pick it up.. the reason being is because when fish are stressed (like in transport) they tend to empty their bowels, and if they do that in a bag they are riding home in a toilet that could very well kill them before they even reach your tank. let the fish "relieve" himself in the lfs's system before he makes it into a bag. unfortunately not all fish stores will do this for you (arent they sweet) in this case ask for the fish to be bagged in the largest bag with lots of water. if they baulk explain why you are doing so. if they refuse to do that, dont shop there, they obviously dont deserve your business.

 

[poopsko24]

Well, you guys are not going to approve of what I did. My main display (180) with LR had ich. It has gone 5 weeks with zero fish in it. I did in fact put the tusk in the 1180 display. Figuring two things (1. I thought it would be a good time to see if the display had kicked the ich, and (2. Even if it had got ich and was still not eating in the display I would have took him back to the lfs or treated myself. Well as soon , and I mean the minute I put him in the display he went swimming around all happy. There was something in the water coulum he mistaken for food and even went right after it, within a minute. I think he was freaked out in the QT. I know I told myself that I would stick to a strict QT, but I did take a chance with it. Besides there were no other fish in there. He is very happy now, eating, swimming. I will monitor, then put the other fish in. Then I will have a 55 QT tank that is empty , and I will not crowd my QT tank again like that, but I had not choice this time. I will monitor for ich , then add the others.

 

[Petstorejunkie]

i have had that happen to me befoer in the past. i have had a fish act totally cool in one tank and not in another. take my toby puffer for example. he has lived in jsut about all of my tanks and his personality changes in each tank. in the 55 he was happy and a jokester, but also a fin nipper, in the 10 he became pale and depressed (so he didnt last long in that one) in the 75 he became lost and his personality was much like a drone, so now he is living in my 30 and although he still isnot as jolly as he was in the 55 the 30 is a close second, and he isnt nipping any fins.


if you are having perpetual problems with ick in your tanks (which can happen if you keep puffers) i wou ldsuggest putting a UV sterilizer on the tank, i swear by them, but i also stay away form corals.

 

[poopsko24]

got a 40w on there.