Aggressive Fish....

[MnFish1]

So I bought a 4 or so inch harlequin tusk - who is friendly - healthy and beautiful. He doesnt do any of the 'bad things' that they are supposed to do - he doesnt kill shrimp, snails, crabs, etc. However - he and his beautiful blue teeth when he expects to get fed - literally attack he will jump out of the water to try to grab food from my hand - often hitting my finger...... Advice??

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Really nice fish.
I use a turkey baste or Julian’s think to suck up and then inject frozen into the water.

 

[MnFish1]

This fish - literally eats pieces of food that are quarter sized. lol. its actually pretty amazing. It was more of a funny poll - but - when you see a fish jump out 3 inches out of the tank to get food - its 'aggressive'. I am going to use some tongs

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Maybe a rim and net above the tank for 3 pointers or quick slam dunk not giving time for attack.

 

[Instigate]

So I bought a 4 or so inch harlequin tusk - who is friendly - healthy and beautiful. He doesnt do any of the 'bad things' that they are supposed to do - he doesnt kill shrimp, snails, crabs, etc. However - he and his beautiful blue teeth when he expects to get fed - literally attack he will jump out of the water to try to grab food from my hand - often hitting my finger...... Advice??

 

[OrionN]

I just drop the food into the water rather than hold on top of the water where he can see the food.
You are begging him to jump up and get it.

 

[Mariette]

I’d love to see a video

 

[MnFish1]

I’d love to see a video

Trying - I cant get video to upload - does anyone know how

 

[ccombs]

Maybe a rim and net above the tank for 3 pointers or quick slam dunk not giving time for attack.

Maybe the Lakers will sign him and they can make the playoffs.

 

[Instigate]

Trying - I cant get video to upload - does anyone know how

You've got to upload it to YouTube first.

 

[cracker]

Come on Man afraid of a lil fish with blue, razor sharp fangs ? Ok,Ok heck no I wouldn't him it take a chunk out of my finger either ! LOL Really can't hide the food, the tusk already see's you coming. I'd add food asap & take care it doesn't jump out in it's excitement . Very gorgeous fish by the way . I wonder if it would eat an urchin.

 

[MnFish1]

Come on Man afraid of a lil fish with blue, razor sharp fangs ? Ok,Ok heck no I wouldn't him it take a chunk out of my finger either ! LOL Really can't hide the food, the tusk already see's you coming. I'd add food asap & take care it doesn't jump out in it's excitement . Very gorgeous fish by the way . I wonder if it would eat an urchin.

Well - I only have 4 fingers on my left hand - so....

 

[ccombs]

Well - I only have 4 fingers on my left hand - so....

With this fish you might be down to three tomorrow....

 

[OrionN]

Well - I only have 4 fingers on my left hand - so....

All you need is two. The thumb and one other finger.

 

[cracker]

Too Funny Gentlemen ! On a serious note, Maybe throw a token amount of food at one end of the tank & while the razor fanged fiend is distracted, add the rest at the other ?

 

[Hemmdog]

I believe the jumping and biting is part of their behavior. I worked at a public aquarium after college, and everytime I would be doing maintence on the harlequin tusk tank I would constantly be getting bit, and pretty big bites, very painful. I had much more of an issue with these fish than any of the piranha or sharks in the entire aquarium. So beautiful but super crazy and mean. Only fish that is crazier is an arowana ime.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Get a cover so that his excitement doesn't result in you playing hot potuskfish (I promise its only slightly more fun than morays and ladders and if you disagree you haven't been bit by enough morays...). Get some smaller diameter pvc pipe, make a hole in the cover to put the length of tube through, secure it in place and voila! The food can go in and the fish can't come out!

 

[OrionN]

I target feed my Tusk. I have a small chopping block that I cut up the fish in. I took the whole tray to the tank and open the tank top. Then I throw one piece at a time to my Tusk. As soon as he finish one he would come back and I would feed him another one. You can see from my picture, he has this beer belly that is a lot bigger when he have his fill and does not come back to me. He really grow fast and looks beautiful with this feeding regiment daily. When I am on vacation, I always afraid of comeback and see that the tank miss a small fish or two, or my cleaner shrimp pair. So far this does not happen YET.

 

[MnFish1]

I believe the jumping and biting is part of their behavior. I worked at a public aquarium after college, and everytime I would be doing maintence on the harlequin tusk tank I would constantly be getting bit, and pretty big bites, very painful. I had much more of an issue with these fish than any of the piranha or sharks in the entire aquarium. So beautiful but super crazy and mean. Only fish that is crazier is an arowana ime.

He is actually very friendly - part of it is the 'fear' of the bite rather than the bite itself.

 

[sde1500]

The clown in my pic bites me every time my hand goes in the tank, which has been frequently recently as I've gotten a lot of new corals. Interestingly enough, it looks like it turned out to be the male even though it was the only clown for a year. The tiny one I got after it very quickly outgrew it, but they get along quite well. If I need to do a lot of work, I catch Whitey in a tupperware and cover it outside the tank to avoid the constant biting.

As for your fanged beast, I definitely wouldn't encourage the jumping for food. I highly doubt you could modify it's behavior, but definitely don't encourage it. Add the food quickly and broadcast it, or use forceps and get them into the water with food for it to take.