Picasso trigger

[Juggler]

Alright i have a 180 with lots of fish

5 tangs
a tiny niger trigger
a small orange spotted rabbitfish
and a large flame angel

i just added a four inch picasso trigger.

the very first day he chased around the niger trigger but it seems to have subsided. i cant take him out of the tank because there is way too much rock. he is larger than the rabbitfish, niger, and flame angel. is there a substantial risk to him being in the tank? he also digs alot and clouds the tank. just cant catch him.

 

[prime311]

There's a risk with any trigger, but a small Humu as the last added seems a bit unlikely, most of those types of issues happen as they get bigger, not at 4". It may have just been an establishing dominance thing, keep a close eye on the situation for now. Long term though, as Trigs get older and bigger, they get more territorial and more aggressively guard their turf. If the tank is crowded in any way then you could be looking at a pretty big problem.

 

[Juggler]

so he wouldn't go completely insane overnight and kill all of the smaller guys right? or is that something that will be hanging over my head?

 

[Juggler]

he was eating nori and when the tangs swam up he chases them away.

 

[prime311]

I would think you'd see some telltale signs of aggression (missing fins, fish hiding more then usual, etc..) for a short while at least before it became a huge problem. Its a trigger though, so it could go either way.

 

[LauraCline]

It will probably be ok once they sort out the pecking order. One thing I've learned though is to just watch fish closely because although most species do have general behaviors, there will always be one that acts totally different than expected. My very first fish was a Royal Gramma. I chose it because they are supposed to be fairly easygoing community type fish. I guess nobody explained this to the fish because it was a demon that terroroized everything in the tank. On the other hand, I've also seen a purple and yellow tang together with no agression at all which is not usually the case.

 

[Juggler]

i will watch them. thanks for the advice. i think he is just very food aggressive.