Harlequin Tusk Show off

[Kyuss]

Tusk is lookin good OrionN!

Had to move mine to the sump because he was harassing a new addition to the tank, chasing him up into the top corners. He's been in the fuge side for a month now and handling the smaller space surprisingly well. Tried dividing my display tank up with egg crate so he could have a side to himself and maybe get use to the other fish, but the divider wasn't too stable so I gotta move some rock if I want to try it again. I hate to have to get rid of him but I don't want to keep him stuffed in there too long either. Got to figure out what I'm going to do.

I will say he's got as much character as any trigger I've ever had. Always right up at the glass eyeing me up and down anytime I'm by the tank.

 

[bobamike]

sorry I dont have a pic to show,but I have a indo tusk that is about 4 inches,I got him this past july,he is a healthy fat and sassy fish.he is a bully in my tank,he likes to chase my coris wrasse and melanaris wrasse,and blue side wrasse,and he loves moving my frags everywhere,which makes me so mad!and I have lost several fish since getting him,bicolored blenny,pygmy angel,chisel tooth wrasse,cleaner shrimp,my 3 inch female ocellarius clown,and two maxima clams,I cant prove he killed any of these animals,but I suspect he did it.I do have a dersa,and crocea clam that I have had for over a year.all that aside I love my tusk,just wish he wouldnt bully my other fish.

 

[kegogut]

Tusk is lookin good OrionN!

Had to move mine to the sump because he was harassing a new addition to the tank, chasing him up into the top corners. He's been in the fuge side for a month now and handling the smaller space surprisingly well. Tried dividing my display tank up with egg crate so he could have a side to himself and maybe get use to the other fish, but the divider wasn't too stable so I gotta move some rock if I want to try it again. I hate to have to get rid of him but I don't want to keep him stuffed in there too long either. Got to figure out what I'm going to do.

I will say he's got as much character as any trigger I've ever had. Always right up at the glass eyeing me up and down anytime I'm by the tank.

What was the new addition? Would have to be a nice one to take its side over the established tusk

 

[Kyuss]

What was the new addition? Would have to be a nice one to take its side over the established tusk

A kole tang, but he was rather on the small side at around 2". He never got touched by the HT, just harassed quite a bit. The kole is growing fast though - there was nothing else to pick at algae before and he really cleaned it up. I also noticed the kole posturing his tail at the niger trigger a few times now, but 99% of the time the two just follow each other around. That's actually a good thing IMO because I think if he stands up to the HT a few times, the HT will back off - it worked for the niger originally. I'll partition the tank soon like I mentioned and see how it goes from there.

 

[kegogut]

A kole tang, but he was rather on the small side at around 2". He never got touched by the HT, just harassed quite a bit. The kole is growing fast though - there was nothing else to pick at algae before and he really cleaned it up. I also noticed the kole posturing his tail at the niger trigger a few times now, but 99% of the time the two just follow each other around. That's actually a good thing IMO because I think if he stands up to the HT a few times, the HT will back off - it worked for the niger originally. I'll partition the tank soon like I mentioned and see how it goes from there.

You also might try just keeping the HT in the sump for a couple months until the kole gets used to the tank then reintroduce the HT.

 

[Kyuss]

Thing is at 6" he doesn't exactly have a lot of room - the fuge part he's in is half a 75g partitioned off in the middle with a glass baffle. There's a good amount of LR & substrate in there so he's found a good spot at least. He's handling it better than I expected actually, but I don't want to wait too long either because that's only 2ft of tank.

 

[OrionN]

It is hard for me to accurately estimate the size of my fish. My tusk was about 3.5 inches when I released him into the tank. Seeing him every day, he doesn't seem to change much in length but a lot bulkier. I was very supprised when I tape a 6 inches piece of ductape to the front to my tank and use this to objectively estimate lenght of fish in my tank.
My Harlequin Tusk is slightly longer than 5 inches at this time. This is 3.5 to 5 inches in 6 months.
Before having the strip of tape, I just estimate that he is about 4 inches now.

 

[kegogut]

Looking good Minh.

Whats your feeding regiment btw?

 

[OrionN]

I feed the tank 1.5 sheet of Nori a day, about 2 square inches of Mysis or Ocean Plankton (1/4 inches think) and a heaping teaspoon of mixture of flakes in AM. The Nori on two clips and the frozen thawed and mixed with flakes in a cup of RO water. I dumped the food in the tank, a free for all event.
In the afternoon, I some time feed them with chunks of seafood,mainly to the anemones. Often I give the tusk a chunk too. He look like he is going to bust after eating a chunk of salmon. Sometime I feed the tank a froxen steamer or two in the afternoon. The Tusk often got a huge chunks of these also. I am sure I can feed the tusk a lot more food, but he seem full all the time. My tank got thousands of small snails, less than 2 mm. Every night they swam out to the rock surface and the glass but during the day they hide in the sand and under the rocks. Every moring when the light turn on, the straggler are all eaten by the Tusk. He often turn the rock over to eat the snails under there also. It seem that there is a stable population of snails now. They reproduce as fast as he eat them.

 

[OrionN]

I have made a decision to get a Australia Harlequin Tusk. I talk to a LFS here in Corpus Christi. She will order a small Australia Tusk for me. Once it arrived, I will trap and exchange my Tusk for an Australian Tusk (plus cash of course) I have never have an Australian Tusk, and will look forward to see the differences between the two sub-population

 

[reelredfish]

Whats the diffrence? Colors?

 

[Jasanden]

Whats the diffrence? Colors?

Yes , I think it's comparable to an Red Sea Regal vs. an Indo Regal Angel. The colors on the Australian Harliquin Tusk look like it was freshly painted. Like the paint is still wet almost dripping off.
And of course price- Aust. HT =. More $$$$

 

[OrionN]

The first is Pacific HT while the second is a Australian HT. This comparison is not completely fair because it look like the Australia Tusk pictured about is likely larger. (the eye spots are completely gone while my Tusk is still there, but much less then when he was 2.5 inches Mainly IMO the Australian is redder and more vivid in color.

 

[somedude]

I dunno, call me crazy but I like yours better than the Australian HT. I prefer the strong white stripes and the yellow accents. But the deeper reds are nice.

 

[OrionN]

These two pictures are pictures posted earlier in the thread of two healthy HT at about the same size. The eye spots on both are about to disappear. I think from the pictures I saw, this is the best comparison of the two. I am sure health of the fish have a lot to do with coloration. They change their color a lot too so meed is also very important. You can make your own conclusion as to which subspecies is better looking.

 

[ryanrid]

I got a juvi HT last week (approx 1"). This came from Northern territory instead of Cairns. the price is less than half, I paid $45 (AUD obviously), will be interesting watch it mature.

There is nothing cooler than getting a juvi fish and watch them change to adult coloration.

Ill try to get a pic over the weekend.

 

[Kyuss]

Very nice! Definitely interested in seeing a pic of him, don't get to see em much under 3" too often.

 

[asylumdown]

man I miss this fish. I've had two. Lost one in a total crash, and sold the second because it started attacking my other fish.

Both my tusk's HATED copper band butterflies, which was frustrating as I love both fish. My second one was relentless in his harassment of my CBB, but the tank was big enough that they could separate each other and be ok for a bit. Final straw was when the tusk bit a freshly introduced Yasha goby that I had just spent weeks carefully quarantining clean in half.

Had to get him out with a fishing hook, but he went to a good home.

 

[ryanrid]

Here it is, closer to 1.5 in than 1

 

[Kyuss]

Yeah looks like a tiny little guy with those over-sized looking eyes lol, thanks for sharing the pic. It's always fun to watch the big guys grow from little juvies.