Niger trigger (odonus niger) in a reef.... a flight of fancy

[matttaylor]

So about a week ago after seeing Ed's beautiful pair of blue jaw triggers i decided i wanted to attempt keeping a trigger in mine. I'm on a very limited budget due to being on unemployment, and trying to save money so i can join a gym in preperation for joining CHP. So, one day i'm out looking at a few lfs and i come a cross a 2" niger trigger. The more i looked at it, the more i wanted to get it. In addition to incredibly striking neon blue markings on it's fins and the slight hint of red teeth the price was within my budget $24.00.

Now don't go off assuming i'm insane for putting a niger in my reef. I've seen it done before, and just like angels and blue tangs, it's all about the right individual. So just to see what would happen, i had the lfs employee put a glass shrimp in with the trigger. Suprise, it wasn't interested.

Initially, the blue tang, scopas tang, and tomini tang all jumped his butt and chased the trigger around. This dimished over the next several hours, and as of right now, i have this swimming around and being a model citizen:

You'll have to forgive the graniness of the pics. My tank glass is scratched really bad, and i havent scrapped the coralline in a week or so. Once i figure out how to take pics of such a fast moving fish i hope my pics of him will turn out better.

This little niger hasen't bothered the cleaner shrimp, in fact it has been cleaned on several occasions. I also haven't seen it go after any inverts / corals either. It's really fun to sit and watch his swimming behavior, and i have never seen any other fish swim as fast as this guy. Just like other triggers it's almost like he is watching me and trying to figure out why i'm looking at him. I hope that this guy will do well, and continue being fasinating for a long time to come. If anyone has any experiance or comments, i'd like to here it.

Matt

 

[reefer334]

I have Triggers in my reef and they are percect citizens including my Niger.

 

[boviac]

Very cool! When I get my 125 up I want one and hope I get the same temperment you guys have with your triggers.

 

[D&KSac]

That is awesome to hear my wife and I look at them all the time but everyone at the lfs i go to say "NO! there bad in reef's" would love to put one in and see how it does when i get my bigger tank.

 

[mrbncal]

I have had a niger in a reef before and he was well behaved. Kept the bristleworm population in check. He would show up somedays with bristles around his mouth. Never went after anything else.

 

[matttaylor]

It's actually good to hear others with the same experiance. One of the other reasons for my decision was the slightly upturned mouth. It's very similar to the blue throat and cross hatched. Whereas if you look as the huma huma's, queen's, etc. the mouth is straight out and forward. I figured there might be enough similarity to warrent a try. I heard a few stories where the niger would eat shrimp and crabs, but those seem to be the abnormailty. Most niger's seem to do well, as long as they are fed well.

 

[juaninsac]

We have a pair of adult Odonus niger in our big reef tank. While they do not bother any corals, they do become quite aggressive with age. In addition, they grow very large and are incredibly active fish that need a lot of swimming space. I would not put one in anything smaller than around 300 gallons long term.

 

[dieselgrk]

how about clams?....once i set up my 22o im planning on having a school of 3-5 but am worried about my clams!

these fish are one of my favorites

 

[reefer334]

Mine have never touched my clams,although I had a blueline trigger in one of my reef tanks and it was nibbling at the xenia.and checkingout the hermitcrabs.But my Niger never touched anything!!!

 

[bored4long]

triggers rock

triggers rock

Matt,
Congrats on the addition. I felt the same way when I saw Ed's blue throat triggers. Those fish are awesome. I hope to have a male blue throat one day.

 

[matttaylor]

A quick update since i've had some interest from others...

The niger is still well behaved, and doing well. Other than one damsel added after it, there have been no problems. I added 2 damsels one afternoon, and the niger proceeded to eat one of them, the other is his best buddy. I have watched the niger being cleaned by my cleaner shrimp, and he gets along well with all 5 of my tangs. I keep him well fed and he has been growing steadily.

In my opinion, careful observation and careful selection are the 2 most important things to consider when selecting a niger for your reef. If you are someone who qt's everything, then i'd recommend placing a shrimp in with them for verification. Otherwise you may run into problems.

Since he has only been with me for a short time, only time will tell how he does as he ages. I'll update as things progress.

 

[Unarce]

That's great! What tangs do you have?

 

[matttaylor]

yellow, Blue, Scopas, Tomini, and the new guy an Acanthurus Pyroferus aka mimic or chocolate tang

 

[matttaylor]

It took a while, but here is a pic of all of my tangs and the trigger going after some nori. I'll try and get a better pic tomorrow after the lights come on.

 

[Unarce]

Nice! Do they group together a bit, or just pretty much go their own way?

 

[matttaylor]

They usually swim seperately, but several times each day they school up and go grazing together. Suprisingly enough the Tomini is usually the most aggresive. When i added the pyroferus the Tomini relentlessly chased him for 3 days. The yellow was actually the buffer and would get in between the two to "keep the peace". The Scopas chased the pyro as well, but not for nearly as long.