Harlequin Tusk pair

[Largeangels]

Anyone have experience with pairing Harlequin Tusks? In all my years I've never kept Harlequin tusks. LFS started getting in some non Aussie tusks that looked really good. Got one that is about 4.5-5". Full QT with copper then Prazi. Then got another just a tiny bit smaller and full QT, then put into acclimation box in one of my tanks with the other HT. No agression whatsoever. The one in there would swim up and hang out and the one in the box showed no aggression or stress. Would feed tank and into box and both were eating side by side. So after a week I released the other one and they have been getting along great and most of the time hang out in the same area of the tank. The one with the least black in the back is the dominant one. I've tried to search but haven't found anything about why some have a lot of black on the back end and others don't.

 

[cdemoss01]

Anyone have experience with pairing Harlequin Tusks? In all my years I've never kept Harlequin tusks. LFS started getting in some non Aussie tusks that looked really good. Got one that is about 4.5-5". Full QT with copper then Prazi. Then got another just a tiny bit smaller and full QT, then put into acclimation box in one of my tanks with the other HT. No agression whatsoever. The one in there would swim up and hang out and the one in the box showed no aggression or stress. Would feed tank and into box and both were eating side by side. So after a week I released the other one and they have been getting along great and most of the time hang out in the same area of the tank. The one with the least black in the back is the dominant one. I've tried to search but haven't found anything about why some have a lot of black on the back end and others don't.

Look very nice! Watch for aggression. you've tempted me to get a pair now!

 

[Zionas]

Nice! Not a fish many think in terms of pairs. But like other Wrasses I believe they’re protogynous hermaphrodites. Hope it goes well.

 

[Largeangels]

4+ months later and they still are getting along great. The bigger one is definitely the boss and has grown more than the other.

 

[OrionN]

Can you observe and see if there is any dimorphism in this pair?

 

[Largeangels]

Not really. The only thing so far is that the smaller one seems to show more black at the back covering up the stripes as seen in the picture. But shows it less now. The larger one has grown more, both in length and girth than the smaller one.

 

[PP2019]

Out of curious how much you pay at LFS? Do they eat pellets or only frozen? Thanks

 

[OrionN]

My HT eats pellets. He really loves pellets.

 

[Largeangels]

I've seen non Aussie HT at anywhere from $175-275 depending on size and LFS. Mine gladly eat any type of meaty foods, pellets and flake food.

 

[OrionN]

I am envious that you got a pair. I love to have breeding units of fish in my tank.

 

[Zionas]

I haven’t seen captive bred ones in a while. Wonder if Bali stopped breeding them (hope not) or if it’s just not spawning season.

 

[Largeangels]

I also prefer to have pairs whenever possible. I think it was just the right timing of getting them fairly soon after they came to the LFS. When one was done with QT another one showed up. Plus luck.

 

[OrionN]

There is a LFS here in Corpus Christi called Tropical Fish Haven. Several years ago, may be 10+, they got two HT in and put them in tanks right next to each other, almost the same size. One nigh the larger one jumped to the other tank and promptly killed the smaller one. I think the owner find the smaller one dead, beat up to dead, the next morning. Knowing this, I never try to pair this species. I know that Bali Aquatic breed HT so they got to get them pair up and breed. I just never have a chance to do this.

 

[Largeangels]

The one thing that stood out to me from day one and still does is that the dominant, and now larger, is that the dominant has very little black on the back but the smaller has a lot more black filing in between the stripes. The below picture is what I mean.

When I put the second one in the specimen container it was obvious there was no aggression and they seemed to like hanging out together. Even when I was feeding.

 

[Joj]

Had one aussie 7” harlequin tusk (HT) back about 2 years ago. Awesome docile fish with personality and beautiful coloration. Lost him in vodka dosing accident . So Feb this year, got a small 4” indo HT and its also docile and does great but coloration is not as nice as my last 7” larger aussie HT. So i picked up another nice 6-7” aussie HT this past 2 weeks to see if they can co-exist together. In QT, i put up a mirror and the new aussie HT it’ll open its mouth and try to attack its own reflection so i was a bit worried introducing it to my 500g fowlr DT with my indo HT. But the last 2 days after putting it into my DT, both have done well. They dont care about each other and there is no aggression from either one or opening of mouth. One isn’t running or hiding from the other.

Its still too early to tell atm, but hopefully they’ll work out as one isn’t smaller that the other…otherwise ill have to remove the smaller indo HT.

 

[OrionN]

keep us update.

 

[Joj]

4+ months update with my 2 HT. One 7” Aussie and one 4” Indo. No aggression between either or the big one towards the small one. During feeding time, the large one is a very aggressive eater (towards all fish), snapping up pellets, clams as they hit the water. It will chase the small indo from time to time but stops about an inch from the small one. This chase happens here and there and last for a second only and it doesn’t prevent the small one from roaming around the tank freely. I consider this a success and hopefully will last. This probably works since i have a bigger tank?