Now that he's settled into the tank and out and about more, I can get some decent pics, probably within the next day or so. He's awesome! Eating like a pig.
fwiw, I'm a harlequin tusk nut. They're by far my favorite fish. A couple years ago I had a 14" adult australian tusk that unfortunately decided he'd like to go exploring the carpet. :-( I cried after that one. So yes, they do get fairly large, but I figure I've got a few years to worry about that, and by that time I'll have talked my wife into letting me get a bigger tank. heh
I know it's a little off-forum, but because someone asked, here are brief details of the tank, which is running as a reef:
*75 gal with 30 gal sump running ecosystem mud filter, sump lighted 24/7 with 2x64w halogen 'plant lights' (cheaper the better!)
*Approx 100 lbs live rock, mostly figi; 3-4" DSB-primarily sugar-sized aragonite
*Lighting - 2x175w 10K MH, 1x96w 50/50 URI VHO, 1x96w actinic URI
*Inhabitants (invert): scroll coral, toadstool leather, various green buttons, colony of yellow buttons (I'll get pics of them too...they're amazing!), various mushrooms (mostly orange), 1 gigantea anemone (16"-18" oral disc), cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp
*Inhabitants (fish): juvi harlequin tusk (!!!!), 1 male blue-jaw trigger, mated pair maroon clowns, lineatus tang, coral beauty angel
I know it's a super-heavily loaded system. Get this...I feed 1-2 large prawn shrimp (one diced, one whole to the anemone) soaked in selcon, plus a huge pinch of various mixed flake foods (mostly prime reef and formula 2) *every day*. What's more, I cannot get algae to grow in the system. The caulerpa in the ecosystem sump keeps dying off, and I have to scrape the tank walls about once every three weeks! I know there are a lot of skeptics with regards to the ecosystem, and I was one, too, but it's running like a charm so far! All the fish are fat, healthy, colorful, and getting along great (although the female maroon takes a run at anybody (including me) that strays too close to the anemone)
As for the tusk being aggressive, you can see I've got a pretty aggressive tank, with some inhabitants that are not traditionally considered 'reef safe'. I decided with this tank to take some risks, and they all seem to be working out great. When I added the tusk, he swam down, took a nip from a leather coral I had fragged, then swam around picking at the food I had added at the same time. He hasn't touched a thing he's not supposed to since then. Honestly, I think that first nip was more out of nervousness than anything else. He's been extremely well-mannered since then.
As soon as I get some good pictures, I'll post them.
-John
