20141030 Species spotlight- Harlequin Tusk Wrasse

The Harlequin Tusk fish (Choerodon fasciatus) is one of the most beautiful fish in the aquarium trade. This is a robust, hardy, and colorful fish with lots of personality. The only catch is- they are "Not Reef Safe". Despite needing a large tank size to house this fish, I would consider this a beginner fish since they are hardy and robust.

Harlequen Tusk Wrasse

The Harlequin Tusk can get pretty big in the wild, but I have not seen any over 8" in private aquariums. They are very greedy eaters and would happily accept mysis, krill, small fish, feeder fish, you name it, they eat it! They are also quite disease tolerant, in the years I worked in the trade I have not seen one die from starving or illness. The only one we lost is- jumping out! Like all wrasses, this fish is a jumper. So you should have a good, heavy lid over the tank for them since they are very powerful.

To keep this fish, just make sure you have reef condition- water temperature no warmer than 82 no cooler than 76. Salinity should be Specific gravity range 1.022-27. They will grow big and need lots of swimming room, so I do not recommend keeping it in tanks smaller than 120G. Do not keep this fish with small, slow fish, any crustacean, or clams as the chance of them becoming food is high. The fish will do fine with coral and other larger, robust fish like tangs, angels, triggers, puffer, eel, etc.

20140930 Green Bubble Tip Anemone

Green Bubble Tip Anemone

I got this green bubble tip anemone two weeks ago. I have had lots of experience with rose bubble tip anemone (RBTA), but have never had a green bubble tip. To be honest I am a bit scared because I don't know if this anemone has the same light requirement and feeding habit as its rosy colored relative. This is why I have been hesitating to post about it to make sure it does well in my system.
I initially placed the anemone about 6" away from its current spot on to of the rock work. The anemone used the 1st hour of its stay here drawing around the rock to its current spot and has stayed there ever since. The anemone was not in very good health- the best way to judge an anemone's health is how sticky it is. I tried to offer it food for the first two weeks and none would stick. But the anemone had appeared to be doing alright- expanding and swaying under the light each morning.
Today I made another attempt to feed the anemone and the krill stayed! I must also mention, my 5" clarkii clown has been busy sharing her hosting duty between my other 6" RBTA and this GTA starting this week. So I think the anemone's stickiness must have something to do with the clownfish.
This has became one of my favorite corners of the tank as the GTA and the smaller RBTA flows with wave.
My feeling so far is they are hardy and very beautiful to look at, get yours here!