Niger Triggers and Cleaner Shrimp...

[sethsolomon]

So just picked up an absolutely gorgeous niger trigger at petco and dipped him and put him in my reef tank. Anyone have any experiences of niger trigger's eating cleaner shrimp?

This picture looks exactly the same as the one I got. I will post pics of mine once he becomes more social.

 

[jda123]

They are decent tank mates when they are small and if you feed them a lot. A 8" niger triggers is a holy terror in a reef trying to eat snails, shrimp and anything else. They will also accidentally frag your corals.

If you don't feed them enough so that they are actively growing, then they can also get quite nasty with their tank mates. To get an idea for how much they can eat, I had one at about 5" of body (7" with streamers) and it could take down a 6x6" sheet of nori and then still go after some mysis or squid.

 

[ReefCheif]

Triggers are like any other fish, case by case, sdome worse than others. In nature they do eat inverts, therfor there is the possibility for them to do it in captivity, Also, please remember triggers are the "sand makers" of the natural sea. They will eat coral skeletons as well, so there is the possibility of him taking a liking to your SPS. Again, just worst case scenerio. I have a 6" pink tail trigger who is an absolute model citizen, she polices the tank and make sure everyone else is on their best behavior, Ive even seen her feed my suncoral. They have great personalities and are wonderful fish for sure, just keep your eye on it until get a good idea of its behavior.

 

[ReefCheif]

They can also be trained, mine will eat silversides from my hand, she likes to be pet, and like I said, shes seen me feed my suncoral and seems to have learned it needs to be fed becuase every now and then she swims by it and spits mysis at it.

 

[Haulin Oates]

I loved my Niger! Him and the lunare wrasse made sure I couldn't have shrimp or more than a handful of crabs, so you'll have to lean on snails as your CUC, but I thought it was worth it!


Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things!

 

[SLewis]

as for all fish temperament depends on the fish itself. My Niger trigger is a very timid untill feeding time and when its feeding time he is the fastest and gets the most food. My Niger has never gone after the cuc, that usually goes to my clown trigger. but the things i have noticed with triggers is that their "anger issues" when they get bigger comes allot from smaller spaces to swim. They also become very "territorial" when they get to "breading size" so if they feel their territory is threatened they will most defiantly attack. as far as rock movement i have yet to see my Niger "re arrange" my aquascape, my clown and picasso are the culprits there.

 

[sethsolomon]

Thanks for all the input. So its not a total disaster I added a trigger to my tank

 

[jda123]

Nope. Niger, pink tail and hawaiian black are in the grey zone. You will see storied in the net where they ate coral of all type, shredded 'nems, etc., but you will also see lots of good stories. They are not safe like the Xanthichthys triggers, but also not total disasters like the rest Balistoides or Rhinecanthus. I do think that you will have issues if they fish grows too big, but you will likely need to get rid of it by then anyway.

Some of the nigers get red teeth which is pretty cool.

Your will likely be fine if you feed it well, IMO.