picasso trigger and friends
KS...@gnn.com
I have a 55 gallon tank which I cycled with a humu humu (picasso) trigger
fish. He has done great! He seems to be very healthy and extremely
personable. He's been in the tank for about 6 months and I would like to put
at least one if not more companions in with him. I am, however, concerned
about his aggresive behavior. From my reading, the triggers are among the
more aggressive of the salt water species. I used to feed him some live
feeders for a little bit and saw how he went after them. I stopped this
after I realized I was probably encouraging undesirable (if not unsocial)
behavior. I have since stuck to only frozen foods for him.
I recently tried putting a saltwater snail in the tank (hoping it would help
control algae growth on the glass) and the picasso keeps flipping him on his
back. I assume he is trying to get at him but the snail pulls back in its
shell.
Does anyone know, will he eventually give up on the snail before he kills it?
What can I do about some other species of fish for this tank? Am I stuck
with maybe just other triggers?
Chris
KS...@gnn.com wrote:
>
> I have a 55 gallon tank which I cycled with a humu humu (picasso) trigger
> fish. He has done great! He seems to be very healthy and extremely
> personable. He's been in the tank for about 6 months and I would like to put
> at least one if not more companions in with him. I am, however, concerned
> about his aggresive behavior.
Triggers are hearty, aggressive and powerful fish. They are not for a
community tank, and definitely not for a reef aquarium!
Humuhuma triggers (Rhinocanthus aculeatus, I believe) are among the mellower
of the triggers, but still a bit troublesome on occasion. While they may not
outwardly try to kill tankmates, they have a habit of "Tasting" everything.
Their jaws are powerful as they are used to ripping shrimp, lobsters and sea
urchins apart piece by piece. Their "tasting" can be pretty harsh :-)
> I recently tried putting a saltwater snail in the tank (hoping it would help
> control algae growth on the glass) and the picasso keeps flipping him on his
> back. I assume he is trying to get at him but the snail pulls back in its
> shell.
>
> Does anyone know, will he eventually give up on the snail before he kills it?
> What can I do about some other species of fish for this tank? Am I stuck
> with maybe just other triggers?
The picaso will harrass the snail until 1 of 2 things happens. The first is
that he eats the snail. The second is that he gets big enough to crack the
shell, then he'll eat the snail.
My picasso trigger is in a 45 Gallon tank with 2 lions and a large Melanopus
clown fish. It's a good match as he doesn't bother the clown and he gets
along well with the lions. All decorations are large (he likes to "rearrange"
smaller decorations) and everyone seems happy.
-Moose
Dean Efpatridis
I had one i our reef and he killed several clams and small fish. Had to
tear the whole reef down to get him out
Good Luck ;)
--
Dean Efpatridis
Invert-ual Realities Canada
http://www.interlog.com/~invertca/irc.htm
KS...@gnn.com wrote in article <5bgf5o$n...@news-e2d.gnn.com>...
> I have a 55 gallon tank which I cycled with a humu humu (picasso) trigger
> fish. He has done great! He seems to be very healthy and extremely
> personable. He's been in the tank for about 6 months and I would like to
put
> at least one if not more companions in with him. I am, however,
concerned
> about his aggresive behavior. From my reading, the triggers are among
the
> more aggressive of the salt water species. I used to feed him some live
> feeders for a little bit and saw how he went after them. I stopped this
> after I realized I was probably encouraging undesirable (if not unsocial)
> behavior. I have since stuck to only frozen foods for him.
>
Rob Donat
I've had my Picasso trigger (Pablo) for close to a year, and he [and
most] are largely unagressive as far as Triggers are concerned. I've
never seen him go for new fish (unless they were tiny freshwater feeders
placed in there for curiosity's sake). They seem to know the difference
between a feeder and a saltwater fish meant to be a roommate. These are
the fish I keep with him:
Yellow Tang, Porcupine Puffer, Snowflake Eel, Niger Trigger(s) [most
agressive of all my fish], Black Hawaiian Trigger, Lyretail Wrasse, Blue
Tang, Blue Faced Angel, Parrotfish, Naso Tang.
He even leaves the cleaner wrasse and tiny Bisselet (sp?) alone. Just
keep him well fed...
Hope this gives you some ideas on tankmates.
Rob.
Chris wrote:
>
> KS...@gnn.com wrote:
> >
> > I have a 55 gallon tank which I cycled with a humu humu (picasso) trigger
> > fish. He has done great! He seems to be very healthy and extremely
> > personable. He's been in the tank for about 6 months and I would like to put
> > at least one if not more companions in with him. I am, however, concerned
> > about his aggresive behavior.
>
> Triggers are hearty, aggressive and powerful fish. They are not for a
> community tank, and definitely not for a reef aquarium!
>
> Humuhuma triggers (Rhinocanthus aculeatus, I believe) are among the mellower
> of the triggers, but still a bit troublesome on occasion. While they may not
> outwardly try to kill tankmates, they have a habit of "Tasting" everything.
> Their jaws are powerful as they are used to ripping shrimp, lobsters and sea
> urchins apart piece by piece. Their "tasting" can be pretty harsh :-)
>
> > I recently tried putting a saltwater snail in the tank (hoping it would help
> > control algae growth on the glass) and the picasso keeps flipping him on his
> > back. I assume he is trying to get at him but the snail pulls back in its
> > shell.
> >
> > Does anyone know, will he eventually give up on the snail before he kills it?
> > What can I do about some other species of fish for this tank? Am I stuck
> > with maybe just other triggers?
>