Niger Trigger

[catfisher]

I've heard they can make great reef fish, anyone have any experience keeping them with small fish and inverts?

 

[Flavum]

Ive heard of them being Coral safe with alot but im sure there not invert safe. I doubt any trigger could hold back from chomping on a tasty shrimper.

 

[catfisher]

I only have 2 cleaner shrimp and one peppermint shrimp(a type of cleaner)...I heard they won't bother the cleaning variety...I'm a little worried about him going after my purple pseudo. I know many times it depends on the fish, hopefully I will get a nice one.

 

[Flavum]

I think your right....now that I think about it I seem to remember a video of a niger opening his mouth to be cleaned by a skunk. hmmm well I still woudlnt put it past him!

 

[catfisher]

I actually got the idea from an article in one of my fish magazines(forget which one)...the author tried it and said the only problem he had was his Powder Blue Tang attacking the Trigger. The article pretty much said the Niger Trigger didn't bother a thing.

 

[kirkaz]

My 2 cents having owned one for about five years and having a second in my new tank...Niger's are wonderful non-aggressive fish as juviniles, unfortunately they do grow up to be large aggressive Triggers as adults. Please remember this fish gets to 20 inchs in the wild. The 2 inch Niger you bring home will be a very very very different fish from the 8 inch, red fanged monster he will become in 3 or 4 years.....Your 8 inch trigger may not eat your corals, he may even spare your clean up crew, this doesn't mean he won't kill your {fill in the blank small fish} just for the hell of it.

No Trigger is without risk, but Sargassum and Bluejaw are much better choices in a reef tank IMO.

 

[ccampbell57]

I second what Kirk said about the Sargassum and BlueJaw.

Nigers are great fish, but they are in the top half of aggressive triggers when they get bigger they will show some of their colors.

 

[snorvich]

+1 I would stick with the planktivores but even these are not immune to snail munching.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I had a pink tail that was a model citizen. My sargassum (his replacement) ate 2 skunk cleaners and 2 fire shrimp (you do the math $$$) within 72hrs of being added to the tank.

My friends niger is a notorious rearranger. Loves to grab stuff and move it around the tank. Not a problem unless he drops an acro on another acro. Then.......kaboom. One or both can be lost or significantly damaged.

It all depends on what you're willing to risk. You may get lucky, but then again, it could be a nightmare. Choice is up to you, just be willing to take what could come your way. It's not the fish's fault for doing what triggers do. :thumbsup:

 

[Wolverine]

Nigers are very unpredictable in the "reef safe" category. Some of them are great. Some of them will wipe out whatever moves. The problem is, the only way to really find out is to put one in your tank, so you have to be prepared to get it back out if you're going to try.

 

[catfisher]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12909745#post12909745 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
Nigers are very unpredictable in the "reef safe" category. Some of them are great. Some of them will wipe out whatever moves. The problem is, the only way to really find out is to put one in your tank, so you have to be prepared to get it back out if you're going to try.

On a different subject, what is the best way to get it out if it misbehaves? Please don't tell me that I will have to remove all of my live rock...I have 2 damsels I wouldn't mind getting rid of as well...

 

[jda]

Unless you can train it to eat out of a fish trap while in QT/isolation, then you might have to take all of the rocks out.

I have seen them more on the aggressive side after they grow a little bit. They can be as agressive as most triggers when they get bigger.

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12910858#post12910858 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by catfisher
On a different subject, what is the best way to get it out if it misbehaves? Please don't tell me that I will have to remove all of my live rock...I have 2 damsels I wouldn't mind getting rid of as well...

There are a few different ways to do it. One option is fish traps. You can get them at a lot of stores, or, if you have a good relationship with your LFS, sometimes they'll loan you one.

If you're not in a rush to get the fish out right away, you can put the food in a specimen container or net (the former preferred for most fish) when you feed the tank. After several days of this, the fish will swim right up into it when you're feeding.

You can go fishing. Drop some food on the line and put it in the tank with a barbless hook.

With those you can get most fish, but sometimes you end up having to tear apart your reef anyway.

Dave

 

[jda]

I have had very good success with getting fish to enter and eat out of a trap. However, it can take a few days. They will all usually go in once they get hungry if you put some tasty mysis in there and don't feed the tank otherwise. Damsels, skunk clowns and fish that can eat off of the reef will not usually go in.

Keep in mind that, in the few days that it can take a fish to get the gumption to go into the trap, they can do a lot of damage - especially since they will be hungry. I have found that if you get them eating from trap while in QT/Isolation, then will often go into the trap within minutes if you put it in the main tank.

 

[catfisher]

I just got the Trigger today, it's very small. It's less than 2 inches. Would you suggest putting it right into isolation or should I put it in the display considering it's size. I usually don't quarantine(I know, I know...)but with my cleaner shrimp, I haven't had much of a parasite problem other than occasional ich...