New Fishes

[fraservet]

I was beginning to think I would never find the fish I wanted for my tank, but in a small shop at the back of a garden centre I found them....

A Harlequin Tuskfish - about 5 inches and great markings (Australian). I know these aren't that hard to find, but this was about half the price I have seen in other LFS. Didn't even hide when I put him in the tank, and happily ate small pellets with the other fish almost straight away.

A Miniata Grouper - it's tiny, 1-2inches, but stunning. Went straight into the rockwork in a crevise that looked too small even for him (or her). I have had a good look at it, and am fairly sure it actually is a miniata - there are a few similar species that are often mis-sold, but this one has a good number of blue spots. My only concern is that I have read that juveniles have a light orange background and this one is more or less adult colouration - perhaps the orange is at a very small size?

I may be able to get some pictures in the next few days - how do I go about posting them?

 

[Fishy411]

good find. Yur fish sounds like a miniatus grouper to me. it might just be a darker shade than most. kind of like with people how some start losing their hair before others.

 

[Navarre]

The grouper as a lovely fish! Grows large though, 100 gallons is recomended not seen one in any of our shops down here though

Grouper

 

[fraservet]

Well, he's in a 88 UK gallon, 105 US gallon tank at the moment.
I tend to use litres instead of gallons to stop any confusion, but most books and web sites seem to be US based, so I assume the recommended tank size is usually US gallons?

Anyway, by the time he gets to that sort of size, I will hopefully have a tank 2-3 times as big. (these fish apparently grow very quickly so it may not be that long).

Having watched him again, I would say he is more like 2-3 inches. He is quite shy, but as feeding time came out in the open and ate a good amount of shrimp.

The tuskfish and my dog-face puffer had a tug of war over a whole cockle! There was no aggression involved thankfully. The tuskfish won eventually.


Edit - the grouper in the link above has quite dark areas on his body. Mine is more similar to this one - although not as deep in the chest. I believe the colour varies considerably with mood and also with surroundings as a means of camouflage.

http/www.personal.psu.edu/users/a/m/amr2...fish_wspots.jpg

Edit 2 - for anyone who doesn't know, this is what the tuskfish looks like (although I think mine has thicker orange bars towards the tail than this one)

http/wetwebfotos.com/media/medium/1/916_...taAUST3.tif.jpg

Again - if anyone can help with how to upload photos - or direct me to where it tells you - I would be grateful (I'll have to find my camera first though)

 

[Navarre]

Stunning fish

 

[leon]

Again - if anyone can help with how to upload photos - or direct me to where it tells you - I would be grateful (I'll have to find my camera first though)

this one was the only one that would let me upload onto this site

up load here

 

[Fishy411]

it is actually usually called a tusk not tuskfish but it doesnt matter that much. What else do u have in the tank?

 

[fraservet]

At the moment there is

Miniatus Grouper 3"
Harlequin Tusk(fish) 5"
Dogface Puffer 4"
Porcupine Puffer 3"
Niger Trigger 2 1/2"
Masked Rabbitfish 4" (attempt to have some sort of algae eater that will not get eaten)

There has been absolutely no sign of aggression from any of these fish towards each other (which is more than I can say for my supposed community setup, where they are all out to get each other!).

By the time these fish get to be BIG, I will be getting a much bigger tank.

 

[fraservet]

thank you leon, I have now managed to upload some pictures.


This is the only picture I managed of the grouper (Mini) - very camera shy

Niger Trigger (Nigel) - colour not accurate

One nosy Porcupine (Porky)

Harlequin Tuskfish (Quin) - colours much brighter in person

With the Masked Rabbitfish (Bugs)

Dogface Puffer (Spot)

Porky and Nigel swimming into the sunset fin in fin

Accidently resized the pictures smaller instead of lowering quality. Will hopefully get it right next time.

 

[Navarre]

good looking fish you have there. Love that Niger!