Trigger fish????

[rush]

So my friend is getting rid of his niger trigger fish which is presently in a tank with a bunch of clown fish, and angel, a blue tang and a bunch of corals and anemone. I was wondering if I should risk getting him, he is very nice and I have more than double the tank size than him (his tank is over populated) mine is a a 120. I currently have 4 clowns,solar wrasse, convict tang, yellow tang, royal gamma and an anthea as well as some shrimps and a reef lobster. Should I try him or skip him?

I have watched him feed him by hand and he is fine. He never touches any of the corals or fish. Only thing he does is sharpen his teeth on the live rock.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

a trigger is still a trigger if you asked me .. one day he might snap and you might come home to half your stock nailed and dead

 

[rush]

a trigger is still a trigger if you asked me .. one day he might snap and you might come home to half your stock nailed and dead

well apparently my friend made his trigger him a cave to nest in, and his tang beat him up and took over it, so not sure how aggressive he is...

 

[pat8you]

What kind of trigger is it? He should be fine with most of your fish. The only one i would worry about is the royal gamma. You should assume if you get it that your shrimp and possibly even your reef lobster will be trigger food pretty quickly. Your tank is pretty well stocked right now so adding an aggressive fish as one of your last should be ok. He will be the new kid on the block and less likely to be aggressive.

 

[rush]

So my cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp will most likely get eaten up? the reef lobster too? (could he not mess up the trigger himself lol?)

 

[bix]

What kind of trigger?

 

[Dary421]

I've got two triggers,..a picaso trigger which seems to get along with everybody and a rectangular trigger which is one mean s.o.b....
On the other side, they are real characters and a trip to watch their antics,....but, if I were in your shoes I'd use a lot of caution trying to introduce one into your established setup.

 

[rush]

What kind of trigger?

IT is a niger trigger.... very nice looking fish.... what do you guys think?

 

[mr_X]

the niger is among the most peaceful of the triggers. the blue throat, and the pink tail are in the same grouping. some folks have them in reef tanks.
i simply wouldn't put it in your 120 because you already have 3 fish that are going to be fairly large soon.
also, they do tend to hide a bit more than i would like.
i would also be concerned for the inverts.

 

[rush]

Well in my friends tank his cleaner shrimp actually cleans the niger like my shrimp does to my yellow tang. So he is obviously a nice niger trigger. I think I am stubborn haha I wanna give him a try, he is a nice fish! If my fish get too big I will just have to get another tank or an even bigger haha

 

[mr_X]

then you answered your own question. good luck with it.

 

[pat8you]

You should keep us updated on how it does in the tank. I don't have much experience with triggers in my own tanks so it would be interesting to hear how is does. They are really great looking fish. Pictures when you get it too.

 

[Dary421]

You're going to love the triggers.., just looking at'em gotta make you laugh,....they eat from your hand and they seem more like the personality of having a dog rather than a fish .... Enjoy your terrier, Dary

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I put a baby niger trigger and blue jaw in my 150 reef.

All were getting along great. The triggers are definately characters. Our blue jaw spits at us when he wants food.

That being said, our niger was returned to the store. One day I was watching as he chased and nipped at our two percula clowns. Their fins were all tore up, and he was really going after them.

We aren't sure what happened, but he took a liking to them. He was immedately caught and returned to the store for in house credit.

The blue jaw remains and is a model citizen.

If you deciede to go that route, keep a close eye on them. They may change over night. Our niger was in the tank for almost 8 months before he got aggressive for no reason.

 

[julmaro]

Yeahh...they spit at you when really hungry and also bite if you get your finger too close to the food. I have always wanted a clown trigger but wont' risk my corals and the other fishes.

 

[mr_X]

the clown or undulate would be the two triggers i would highly suggest against for a peaceful community tank/reef. these are the most aggressive of the triggers, and as they get bigger, they get worse.

 

[rush]

Ok so I will try the niger trigger I think. I will keep a close eye on him, if he does start any beef with my fish I will be selling him real quick lol

My tank is peaceful and would like to keep it that way.

Thanks for everyones input, I will keep you updated as soon as I get him.

 

[julmaro]

Why don't you try the Sargassum Trigger the colors are very nice and are very peaceful, shy, and will not bite at the corals or other fishes.

 

[rush]

The niger triggers are fairly calm as well... I am getting it for free, so why not ?

 

[rush]

Ok so update

I havent been on a while, been busy buying a new condo and with work.

I have decided to skip the trigger fish. What I have done instead is a guy near my house took down his 120g so I bought most of his fish and corals.

This is what I bought:

6 inch regal tang, 4 bangai cardinals, six line wrasse, huge frog spawn, a very nice anemone, couple bird's nests, and a few other corals.

I will post pics up shortly. My tank has a lot of fish and corals now, I am running out of room. When I move April 1st I will reposition all of my LR and make the tank more presentable so to speak.

Now that I have about 20 corals and roughly 15 fish.

yellow tang, regal tang, 4 bangai's, 4 clowns, royal gramma, solar wrasse, six line wrasse, anthia