Harlequin Tuskfish Diet?

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revkkoolaid

Gambusia
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Apr 29, 2005
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I have a 5'' Harlequin Tusk. I have had him for about 3 months. He was a gift from a customer that had him for a year from a tiny juvenile.
I Just wondered if anyone had any comments on dietary needs concerning plant material. I read somewhere(not here) that someone's Tusk would actually eat Nori(seaweed) when it was being fed to his tangs. I know if any predatory fish will eat "plant" material it's nothing but beneficial and is somewhat ultimately "requried" for real longevity wiht most, like puffers & triggers.. I know tusks are primarily carnivores but I've seen everything from dogfaced puffers to peacock hinds and clown triggers at work woof down Nori from time to time but I also know if they do or don't eat Nori, as far as predators go, really just depends on the individual. So I'm not shocked mine won't eat it. Currently the only way he'll take any vegetable matter is spirulina infused brine shrimp. Any other algae/plant containing preperations he will spit out. LOL which is honestly the only thing he wont eat. He is in amazing condtion and his color just exploded within weeks of being feed his current regiment. His blue and green is really coming in!

anyways. . . I Just wondered how his current diet compares to those of you who have had your tusks for years.

His current diet consists of:
Ocean Nutrition Formula One Pellets
Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef Flakes
Omega One Shrimp Pellets
Hikari Cichlid Gold Pellets
vitamin/garlic soaked Red Drum filet
Bloodworms
Silversides
Spirulina Brine shrimp
Table Shrimp
Octopus
Mussels
Clams
Bay Scallops
Squid
and all my hermit crabs lol.

:revkkoolaid:
 
i once worked at a fish store and we would feed all of our harlequin tusks calurpa and they seemed to love it besides that it was mostly a protein rich diet for them, they also are pretty tame and can be had fed with time
 
your diet looks really good. another option to sneak him some veggies is to make a blender mush by blending 3 or 4 of his favorites up with some nori thrown in. then freeze into cubes or a flat pack and break off and feed it to him.
 
make sure you get permission from the wife before using the blender for this... it can strain a marriage if she is not expecting the blender to smell like fish for the rest of its existance.
 
Twitterbait;1172638; said:
make sure you get permission from the wife before using the blender for this... it can strain a marriage if she is not expecting the blender to smell like fish for the rest of its existance.
Click to expand...


Haha...Classic! Ive even heard of people offering Crawdads/Crawfish (bait and tackle store Im guessing). Those Tusks with do wonders with a cleaner shrimp if you can afford it.
 
hey thanks for the information just bought my Harlequin tusk had him for about one week I have been feeding him silversides raw shrimp and Omega Marine flakes I will be getting him some type of veggie since reading up on him
 
sounds fantastic!

does he take to nori or other algae at all?
 
the diet look's great just remember to give them some selcon in there food for extra vitamins and minerals and too help prevent disease and HLLE

mr.reef24
 
Hmm interesting old thread...I will be getting mine in tomorrow.

Hopefully he comes in looking good, and ready to eat...selecon, squid, krill, mysis, and silversides standing by. Plus NLS if he decides to take it.

The tank is full of caulerpa, so lets hope he doesnt decimate it, although hearing that they eat that was somewhat surprising for me.
 
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