Harlaquin Tusk in my Tank, help Me Sharky

[Quigonsean]

Hey Sharky Len Says your the man to ask. Also anyone else with this experience chime in.
Anyone who has a Harlaquin Tusk in your reef without problems of it eating invert tank mates. I'm setting up my 75Ga with 20Ga fuge. It's gonna be a reef, but not the conventional type with corals from front to back, and top to bottom completelt concealing the LR. I'm gonna have som zoos, shrooms, a bubble, a hammer, a fungia plate, and a platagyra, and thats it for corals. I will have a BTA for the pair of Percs I'll get.Fish are gonna be the Tusk, a yellow tang, Royal Gramma,Pearly Jaw fish, 2 Percs, an Algae Blennie, and 2-3 Neon Gobies. What I'd like is any advice on keeping it from eating my janitor crews and cleaner shrimp I plan on having as well as a serpent star. I'd be gratefull for the info my LFS says it sounds like a great tank with those fish and corals but, don't put any crabs or shripm and stars etc... cause the tusk'll eat it. I've read many succesfull stories of tusk with these, but not how they did it. Should he go last? or first? to stop him munching. If you have the time let me know.

Thank you,
Sean Ward

 

[mojodeli]

Well, Tusk naturally eat crabs and such so there is no realy way to prevent this. The question is what do you want more?

I have a tusk and he's a model citizens save for a few porcelain crabs. He won't harm the corals but your shrimp, small fish and crab may have a problem.

I also havea yellow clown goby and the tusk hunts it relentlessly. I have a large tank with lots of rock so I don't worry too much about the goby.

 

[Quigonsean]

Thanks I appriciate sharing you experiance. How big is your Tusk? I love the Tusk it's my absolute favorite fish. Any idea how fast they grow? Once again thank you.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[TrippingBilly]

Tusk and goby. They get along so far.[/img]

 

[TrippingBilly]

I guess the pic didn't show up the first time.

 

[Anonymous]

You'll have to definitely expect your Tusk to do what Tuskfishes do - eat arthropods/crustaceans. That's what they've got those trippy lookin' teeth for.

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on the fish, in my experience (I've had upwards of half a dozen tusks over the years).

Trick is I think to get them small. Last one I had was a monster aussie. Gorgeous fish, and he left crabs and snails alone just fine, but went nuts over any kind of shrimp I tried to add.

I've kept 2 or 3 smaller specimens (not at the same time) of 3" or so in reefs with shrimp. One even went to the cleaner shrimp regularly.

So I guess my advice is get a small one and don't get too attached to your shrimp--they may or may not become lunch.

 

[Anonymous]

BTW, here's my last brute:

 

[Anonymous]

Well, Tusk naturally eat crabs and such so there is no realy way to prevent this. The question is what do you want more?

I have a tusk and he's a model citizens save for a few porcelain crabs. He won't harm the corals but your shrimp, small fish and crab may have a problem.

I also havea yellow clown goby and the tusk hunts it relentlessly. I have a large tank with lots of rock so I don't worry too much about the goby.

Tusks won't go after fish for the most part. I doubt yours is actually hunting the goby. More likely just investigating it. Tusks are surprisingly reef-safe for as menacing as they look.

 

[Quigonsean]

Thank you for all the replies. Yes he will be small about 3" is whar I'm after small enough to try and "train" him what is food and what is tank mate. What I'm most convcerned for is the clean up/janitor crew I get when I stock this thing. Actually other then the Neon Cleaner Gobie I plan on getting all of them as small as I can but -still be in the safe zone, that is not likely to take a dirt nap because they where to small for really going into captivity without kickin' it cause of stress. BTW sorry if there are odd charactors typed, mny cat keeps tooling back and forth across my keyboad.

Once again thank you all very much.

Sean Ward

 

[Quigonsean]

Wow Sharky that is one gorgeous Tusk. Wow!!!!

Sean

 

[Anonymous]

T'anks! He was gorgeous, that's for sure. I had him in the 125, though, and he was just too big for that system. I couldn't keep the algae in check from the amount of food I had to put through there to keep him happy and fat. :|

 

[mojodeli]

I'm not so sure. I know Tusks don't usually go after fish but he is definately after my coral goby. If it sees him he will chase and chase until he can't find him. I've had the tusk for almost a year and the goby for two months. I see the tusk chase the goby nearly everyday.

Well, Tusk naturally eat crabs and such so there is no realy way to prevent this. The question is what do you want more?

I have a tusk and he's a model citizens save for a few porcelain crabs. He won't harm the corals but your shrimp, small fish and crab may have a problem.

I also havea yellow clown goby and the tusk hunts it relentlessly. I have a large tank with lots of rock so I don't worry too much about the goby.

Tusks won't go after fish for the most part. I doubt yours is actually hunting the goby. More likely just investigating it. Tusks are surprisingly reef-safe for as menacing as they look.

 

[Quigonsean]

Thanks like I said any and all experiences welcome. I am planning on putting him in last so I hope that helps avoid fellow fish predation. :? But we'll see.

Sean

 

[dsb1829]

I kept a tusk in a FO system for several months and ended up moving it into my reef for a short time thereafter. No shrimp or crabs, so I can't answer that one. It did however chase my clown goby into the overflow on the 180g several times. Curious or not, that goby feared for his life.

The tusk was about 4.5" and was for all intents and purposes a model citizen. I respected the fact that inverts were his food and therefore did not serve him up any $15-30 cleaner shrimp buffets. Call me kooky :lol:

I would say that if you hope to keep the fish with crabs and shrimp to follow others advice and get a juvenile tusk. With a bit of care and luck you just may be able to sway its pallette.

I see that Sharkky mentioned tank polution. Very good point. At 4.5" mine could easily take out a couple of cubes of formula one and still be hungry. That coupled with your other planned bioload could be a bit much for a 75g tank unless you have an oversized skimmer and good turnover from the tank to the sump.

 

[Quigonsean]

respected the fact that inverts were his food and therefore did not serve him up any $15-30 cleaner shrimp buffets

I'm still lmao over that one. We+ll I got an ETS s9kimmer a 20 gallon fuge the sump is 20ga but I keep 10 in it s9o that shoul+d help I think I f-igured out about 1300gph complete turnover excluding the skimmer that takes and returnd water to th-e s-ump.

The Tusk is the fish that drew- me too this hobby-+. btw How fast do they grow? Like, uh double size in a year or what?

Sorry for typo's my cat keeps tooling basck and forth across my keyboard. I should starrt whistling the Pink Panther theme as she does it. lol

Thanks once again for the experiences and advice.

Thank You,
Sean

 

[TrippingBilly]

I was hoping that adding a small tusk and raising him with shrimp and snails that were too big for him to eat would hopefully make him not see them as food as he grows. So far, no snails attacked; I don't keep crabs but I don't think he would eat them. I have seen him eat a bristle worm twice, and a spaghetti worm. I'm contemplating getting a cleaner shrimp soon. I'll post results if I do. Here is a pic of him. He was under 2 inches when I got him, probably not much over now.

 

[Anonymous]

Awwww, what a little cutie!!! I want to find one that small!

 

[Quigonsean]

Man he's cute. I found some great info in Advance Aquarist online where it was tried sucsesfully by adding him last, and putting and additions he might like to eat in after lights out and the Tusk falls asleep. Here is a quote from the article.

The Harlequin Tusk makes a great addition to the fish-only marine aquarium or a full-blown reef aquarium. They generally ignore sessile invertebrates, but large specimens are capable of eating small fish, shrimp and crabs. They usually ignore resident shrimp and small fish, but may misinterpret new additions to the aquarium as food. It’s best to add any new bite-sized fish or shrimp after the lights have gone out. This is good advice when adding any new specimens to an existing community of fish. It gives the newcomer a chance to gain its bearings and find a hiding place before having to deal with potential aggression from tankmates.

I can't wait to get mine.

Sean

Oh here is the whole article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/Fish.htm

 

[Len]

I love baby tusks Their disapportionately large eyes make them look cartoonish.