My second foray into keeping a Harlequin Tusk fish is going much better. A year ago my first jumped out of my clam tank after having been tank hopped around from the main tank because of a belligerent parrot wrasse. Despite there size and literature that defines them as rather easy to keep and hardy I have found that they are anything but. Not because they are difficult to get to feed but because of there disposition. They are like the guy that sat in the back of the room in school and didn't say much, made good grades and just generally went about his own business. The Harlequin does not seem capable of establishing a territory when placed in a community tank. If pushed around in the least it will retreat to a secluded place, not really hiding, and just stay, and stay and stay to his demise. I kept my new Tusk in quarantine for two weeks where he was quite happy and eating good, but once place in the main tank he acted just like I described above only it was the purple tang that kept him in one place. Not really harassing or focusing on him, it just seemed that the presence of a belligerent tank mate leads to this behavior. I put him back in the qt tank after a 30 second fresh water bath due to a touch of ich and he is now quite happy alone without other fish. I will post again when I do some reading and research to find out what information there is on its behavior in the wild.
Norman gave me a great link for information on the Harlequin Tusk fish. Wet Web Media seems to be a really great place to find information on just about everything. A lot of members love it. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishes/wrasses/choerodon/faciata.htm
After several days back in the quarantine tank the tusk started acting very funny. He would dart around and looked more and more pale each day. After three days he was swimming upside down and had stopped eating the previous day. Sadly, he died and was fed to my carpet anemone over the next week. A very expensive meal. It seemed as if was suffering from a neurological ailment of unknown origin. I always suspect cyanide as reports of tusks from the Philippines is dismal. I spoke with several vendors at MACNA in Pittsburgh with little answer as to how you go about guaranteeing that a tusk came from Australia.
I was sorry to hear about that chris. I lost a blond nasso a few months back with nearly the same signs and symptoms. I suspected cynade as well.
