harlequin tusk with other wrasse

steallife904

New member
I know they will go after the cleanup crew but I don't have much of one in my tank. Got a few very large turbo snails and a urchin (don't think they would touch urchin?) in my 150 gal (5ft long). I already have a flasher and a fairy wrasse in the tank. Will a tusk bother them?
 
I had one in my ft tank. With wrasses. Snails and hermits. He didn't bother any fish. Ate the hermits and snails. Would flip over anything that isn't glued down. It ruled the tank. Eventually got rid of him. But amazing fish.


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I have one in my 150. I also have about 4-5 fairy wrasse (flame, lineatus, rhomboid, etc)..

The tusk was fine for 6 months, but after he grew to about 2", he started picking on the flame wrasse.

after ~1 month, the flame wrasse died.. the other wrasse are ok. The Tusk is definitely becoming the boss of the tank though. I think another year or so it will start eating my anthias
 
they will turn on smaller fish in any sized tank. bigger tanks got better survival chance.
 
they will turn on smaller fish in any sized tank. bigger tanks got better survival chance.

I've almost always had a tusk in at least 1 of my tanks for over 40 yrs... usually purchased at 4-5" size ...none ever ate another fish that I can recall...tank sizes from 75 to 450g
 
Had to Get rid of mine as he developed an appetite for my smaller fish. He ate a Bangaii by accident going up for a piece of krill. A month later he ate a newly purchased Talbots's damsel. Then my Melanurus wrasse (another new addition). He was my favorite fish though. Awesome personality!
 
do they seem to go for newly added fish or would he turn on the ones already there? If I got him I would plan for it to be the last fish.
 
My harlequin went for the new ones and he was one of the first ones in my tank. I think after it accidentally ate my Bangaii Cardinal (who was there before him) he thought it was okay to eat small, newer additions. My first fish in the tank were a pair of small clowns and he never bothered him.

I do careful research before any fish purchases and at the time I never found anything on the net suggesting Harlequin tuskfish ate any fish in captivity. Inverts like snails and shrimp, yes, but not fish. And it is true as someone mentioned above they will tear up any rockwork light enough that they can fit in their mouth. I witnessed it a few times looking for a blenny in the rockwork (which disappeared btw, maybe he ate him too?) and moving rocks with his teeth. pretty cool to watch but I knew I had to take him out of there before it totally alters the rockwork.
 
My harlequin went for the new ones and he was one of the first ones in my tank. I think after it accidentally ate my Bangaii Cardinal (who was there before him) he thought it was okay to eat small, newer additions. My first fish in the tank were a pair of small clowns and he never bothered them.

I do careful research before any fish purchases and at the time I never found anything on the net suggesting Harlequin tuskfish ate any fish in captivity. Inverts like snails and shrimp, yes, but not fish. And it is true as someone mentioned above they will tear up any rockwork light enough that they can fit in their mouth. I witnessed it a few times looking for a blenny in the rockwork (which disappeared btw, maybe he ate him too?) and moving rocks with his teeth. pretty cool to watch but I knew I had to take him out of there before it totally alters the rockwork and eat all my small fish:strange:
 
I have a 4 inch Tusk in with a 7 inch Dragon in a 5 foot 120G FOWLR. The Dragon has been in for a year and the Tusk for about 10 months. The Tusk is the shy one of the tank out of all the fish.
 
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