Aussie Tusk coming Friday!!!

[Ben jammin]

I've been on the lookout for an Australian harlequin tuskfish for months, at both my LFS and online. I've hardly seen any tusks at all in that time and all the ones I've seen have been Indonesian. I checked LA's Diver's Den today and upon loading the page saw this beautiful AHT on the top row so I snapped him up. :bigsmile:

He's a bit bigger than I had in mind at 6-3/4", but I have a 270 and he's coming from Divers Den so should be well adjusted and eating. Everything I've read says they are pretty mild mannered so the size should help him avoid bullying from some of the more aggressive fish I'll be adding later. At least I hope so. This fish has been on my bucket list since I was last in the hobby 15 years ago and I never had a big enough tank for one, so I am psyched to finally be getting him. Can't wait for Friday morning!

 

[Ben jammin]

So my tusk (already named "Raymond") arrived this morning. Gorgeous fish, even without seeing him in the light yet. I did a slow drip acclimation (about 1.5 hours cause there was so much water in the large bag) before introducing him to the tank. He swam around for about 10 minutes, bumping his nose into the walls of the tank and even the sand, seemingly testing how much space he has or being very clumsy, don't know which. Then he parked himself at the base of my live rock, on his side, tail underneath it as far as he could get, and he hasn't moved for several hours. I had to go to work but my daughter called and said she thought he was dead cause he wasn't moving, but his gills were moving very slowly.

I know wrasses sometimes act dead after shipping, and I am assuming he is doing just that and will eventually become more active. My dragon and red coris both hid under the sand for several days before I saw them. But I was curious if anyone has had a tusk or any wrasse that isn't a sand burier behave similarly upon introduction?