New harlequin tusk. How and what foods should I feed

J-DOGG · Feb 22, 2020

Hello this is my first post, so thank you in advance for any responses. I just acquired a harlequin tusk and have it in quarentine. I tried to feed krill and silversides using a feeding stick bit it was not intrested.. i am curious if anyone has any tips to try to get it to eat and not creating a bunch of uneaten food and fouling up the tank .

Peach02 · Feb 23, 2020

I’ve fed some mysis and brine and they ate some of it, it may take a few days to eat since it just came in

Mmun · Feb 23, 2020

J-DOGG said:
Hello this is my first post, so thank you in advance for any responses. I just acquired a harlequin tusk and have it in quarentine. I tried to feed krill and silversides using a feeding stick bit it was not intrested.. i am curious if anyone has any tips to try to get it to eat and not creating a bunch of uneaten food and fouling up the tank .

I have one. They will eat anything. Give it a couple of days. Shy at first

PilotOfSubmarines · Feb 23, 2020

clams on a half shell! they will investigate and should love them!

exnisstech · Feb 23, 2020

Mine also eats anything including pellets and flake. I would not feed with a stick as the stick is probably scaring it. Drop a muscle or clam in for it (I get then from the grocery store). I would be more concerned with it eating than fouling the water. In a QT it shouldn't be to hard to net or siphon the un-eaten food

jlanger · Feb 23, 2020

Congrats on a great fish!

My tuskfish loves the LRS frozen blends! The variety of meat choices are great and you can see what the fish really prefers at first, but intimate it will eat all of it.
Don't try getting it to eat with larger chunks of food. They are a shy fish that might be intimidated by big chunks and the feeding stick. Once settled in, they'll eat just about anything.

Good luck!

J-DOGG · Feb 23, 2020

Thank you everyone..

J-DOGG · Feb 24, 2020

PilotOfSubmarines said:
clams on a half shell! they will investigate and should love them!

So I got some , abou

exnisstech said:
Mine also eats anything including pellets and flake. I would not feed with a stick as the stick is probably scaring it. Drop a muscle or clam in for it (I get then from the grocery store). I would be more concerned with it eating than fouling the water. In a QT it shouldn't be to hard to net or siphon the un-eaten food

thank you.. about how long should I leave uneaten food in?

jlanger said:
Congrats on a great fish!

My tuskfish loves the LRS frozen blends! The variety of meat choices are great and you can see what the fish really prefers at first, but intimate it will eat all of it.
Don't try getting it to eat with larger chunks of food. They are a shy fish that might be intimidated by big chunks and the feeding stick. Once settled in, they'll eat just about anything.

Good luck!

about how long should I leave a clam on the half shell in before I take it out? I put one in yesterday and the fish was not really interested .. i only left it in for a half an hour

OrionN · Feb 25, 2020

Very beautiful fish. Is your fish from the Philippine or Australia?

J-DOGG · Feb 25, 2020

PilotOfSubmarines said:
clams on a half shell! they will investigate and should love them!

So I got some , abou

exnisstech said:
Mine also eats anything including pellets and flake. I would not feed with a stick as the stick is probably scaring it. Drop a muscle or clam in for it (I get then from the grocery store). I would be more concerned with it eating than fouling the water. In a QT it shouldn't be to hard to net or siphon the un-eaten food

thank you.. about how long should I leave uneaten food in?

jlanger said:
Congrats on a great fish!

My tuskfish loves the LRS frozen blends! The variety of meat choices are great and you can see what the fish really prefers at first, but intimate it will eat all of it.
Don't try getting it to eat with larger chunks of food. They are a shy fish that might be intimidated by big chunks and the feeding stick. Once settled in, they'll eat just about anything.

Good luck!

about how long should I leave a clam on the half shell in before I take it out? I put one in yesterday and the fish was not really interested .. i only left it in for a half an hour o

OrionN said:
Very beautiful fish. Is your fish from the Philippine or Australia?

It is a Indonesian . I didn't have a preference . I just really like the species.

ScottR · Feb 25, 2020

Is it in copper? If in copper, it may not eat for awhile.

J-DOGG · Feb 25, 2020

I dosed today with paraguard. It doesn't seem stressed by it , it has been flashing so I figured I would try what I have read is not as harsh as other treatments . It has no visible signs of parasites or wounds of any kind. But I know they are sensitive when stressed so I am trying to be careful but also proactive .

J-DOGG · Feb 26, 2020

J-DOGG said:
So I got some , abou

thank you.. about how long should I leave uneaten food in?

about how long should I leave a clam on the half shell in before I take it out? I put one in yesterday and the fish was not really interested .. i only left it in for a half an hour

Thnks for the tip.. he is still shy of clams and krill. But he went after some mysis shrimp. So thats what I will continue with until he is more comfortable.