When Tusks Attack!
 

I just witnessed my tusk suddenly snap and kill a damsel and then proceed to chase my clowns to their "anemone" and my Naso tang into a cave :(

He has been fine for the month I have had him. Actually my Hippo beats him up a little now and then. Kind of just reminds the tusk that he is boss.

But just now I was watching the tank and suddenly he chased a damsel into some rocks, cornered it and killed it. Didn't eat it or anything, just left it. The chased my clowns to their "anemone" which is actually hairy mushrooms and then chased my Naso into a cave at which point I intervened. He seems to have settled down now but this worries me.

I have heard of Tusks being aggressive before but usually they are quite docile.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g8...-psycho-02.jpg

I'm sorry to hear that :( "When good fish go bad"
That's not the first time I've heard of a tusk doing that.... I guess the teeth aren't just ornamental!

Damsels are pretty pushy, maybe he pushed him too far!

Thats a wicked pic!

Yeah thats kind of what I figured. Perhaps he wanted to punish all damsels so he went after the clowns as well but then when the Naso stuck up for them, the tusk didn't take that well and went after him :)

I don't know. I knew a Tusk was always a risk. Oh well. Hopefully he got that out of his system.

I bet we shouldn't have named him "Hades" :noidea:

:lol:


No.... try something like "Buttercup".... you don't hear of many serial killers named "Buttercup" ;)

until now

At least he has good taste and won't eat a cheapo damsel, what else do you in there for him.

Shortly after you got the Tusk from J&L I was in the store and the other tusk they had took out a Coral beauty angel. Jason McK witnessed it and I saw the after math.

Chris

oh man.
Thats one of the aussie ones from JL?


that sux big time.

Hopefully he comes around for ya.

Sorry to hear that. I know you were very excited to get that beautiful fish. This hobby has this very frustrating aspect that it seems impossible to keep everything you want at the same time. Can't have your clams and your angels too...Can't have your triggerfish and inverts...Can't have your Lookdown and coral gobies too...etc. etc.

I suppose this is the reason that multiple-tank-syndrome is such a problem for us!

every time I see how hard my two clown gobies are on my sps frags, I think about your lookdown brad....lol


This is a really beautiful tuskfish, I did a lot of reading on them after I saw them on Jls new and noteworthy and there is a good chance it will mellow out once everyone builds a pecking order...hopefully without anyone joining the damsel....


Heres hoping for the best case scenario.

+1, hopefully it works out... he is a beautiful fish!

Whoa! A Coral Beauty? Man I thought he may just stick to the small fish. I have to keep a close eye on him now.

Thanks! Yeah he was the Aussie species from J&L. I had wanted one for soooo long but now I am kind of unsure. For the most part they tend to be calm and peaceful (other than to inverts) but it sounds like the two J&L had are a little nuts. And he is only going to get bigger and bigger.

Yeah your right about that...it can be hard. I knew it was a risk but I never really thought he would kill fish. This morning they were all moved into the new tank and he seems much calmer. Actually all the fish do. Its amazing how differently they act in a bigger tank. Especially since its quite wide and they can really cruise around. The tangs and tusk are certainly using the entire tank and look at least a bit more natural than they did in my smaller tank. Hopefully this will help.

Thanks again...make sure you really think about it if your still considering :)

Thanks! He sure is. Might regret this one day but I am going to keep him and see what happens.

no way man.
I had convinced myself they were docile, or that I would by luck of the draw get a docile one and would add it last, etc, etc, etc...

At the very least, that's one beautiful fish you've got and very good of you to share the experience with it for the rest of us who's eyes are bigger than their tanks....

I assume we are talking about one of these??
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3Den%26sa%3DN

Yes the Australian one.

So far mine has been a model citizen. (fingers crossed) He too is an Aussie but came in on a later shipment from yours. He's been in the tank for a little over a week. I read a good article on these fish by Robert Fenner, who considers them mostly a good community fish. They tend to leave other fish alone and fish leave them alone. Trouble seems to come from live-food feedings, which can bring out the aggression in them. Have you fed it any live foods.
I hope yours calms down. Good Luck.

Hope, no live foods. He actually doesn't even eat inverts. Hes been fine for the month or so I have had him and just kind of snapped the other day. I have heard of it happening before, so I am not totally shocked I guess. Just disappointed.

Well, I sure hope our Tuskers toe the line. They are such cool fish. I'd hate to have to give him up, but I won't keep a fish killer. Eating a small fish for food is one thing, but attacking and killing just for the sake of it is no good.

I agree. It was amazing how quickly he killed the damsel! Basically just bit the damsel once and ripped in half.

How big is yours?

He's about 5"

Thats about the same as mine.