nedd help with my harliquin tusk wrasse

n8ureman

New member
Hey guys I really need your help... does anyone out there have any tips on how toget my harliquin tusk to eat. Ethier through feeding method or type of food. I really don`t want to loose this guy as this is one of my all time dream fish. I have tried formula one, and guppies and he didn`t really have a strong response to ethier.(no response in fact on the formula one). He is in a 40 gallon tank all by himself. And the tank is "cycled" and has about 50lbs of live rock in it to provide hiding places. And for what its worth I dont think mine is from Austraila as he wasn`t that expensive and he dosen`t have all the blue I`ve heard the aussie ones are supposed to have...Please help!
 
u gotta try give it some meaty dead food for it to scavange on before it feels comfortable hunting down a guppy i reckon...

get some mysis shrimp from your lfs, or go to the supermarket and get a mussel or scallop or something for him to pick at....

good luck.

adam
 
i second the mysis, and meaty foods from the ocean (preferably shellfish, not guppies!). It may take some time for it to decide to eat what you're feeding, but it is not the type of fish that will starve to death because it's too finicky. Be patient - and no more guppies.
 
I have an Indo Tusk, it will eat anything. It just may be a little shy if it's new. If your un-lucky you may be experiencing the Indo Tusk death syndrome where by many Tusk owners have reported a high death rate with Indo tusks probably due to catching methods (poison).

My Tusk has been hiding for 2 weeks now, but for the first three months he ate like a pig. I'm thinking my grouper may be beating him up, but I have never seen them fight. So I'm thinking it may be somne form of Tusk cancer that took three months to develop for the reasons above. If mine dies, I will only buy a Autralian Tusk. Worth every penny!

Note: Ausi Tusks only come in 6"+ maybe even 8" plus sizes as they are caught by hook. So you will need a big tank.

Hope he does well.

Try fresh scallops or clams from super market. Also try spot feeding him with a stick. Also, try nori.
 
i agree with the last post that if he's healthy he'll eat pretty much anything but nori. Mysis seems like my Tusk's favorite. Could try live mysis or perhaps ghost shrimp if desperate but you don't want to get him dependant nor ill trained. Mine just gobbled down an acro crab that strayed too far. If he's a cyanide victim nothing you can do i don't believe.
 
I find for my methods that brine, mysis, krill are all a waste of time. Go with a tail end of a piece of raw shrimp, thawed in a plastic bag (if was frozen) floated in the aquarium filter if possible.

It is the 'best' portion of the shrimp from what I can gather of the pieces the fish go for. slice it into small pieces about the size of a pea. The other I use is Omega Shrimp Pellets. My tusk likes them more than anything else I offer other than tail cuts of shrimp.

Sounds weird, but I stare at my fish a lot and have found this trend with the shrimp selection.
 
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