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View Full Version : Is a trigger reef safe??


BLKTANG
12/12/2006, 09:39 PM
A Humuhumunukunukuapua'a trigger.

BLKTANG
12/12/2006, 10:12 PM
Anybody???

jpslickorocks
12/12/2006, 10:42 PM
what in the $#!? kind of trigger is that?

BLKTANG
12/12/2006, 10:57 PM
Its Hawaii's national fish.

U may have heard it caled a Humuhumu Trigger.

BLKTANG
12/12/2006, 11:00 PM
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n159/ttpimp/200px-Humuhumunukunukuapuaa.jpg

LisaD
12/13/2006, 12:04 AM
The only triggers I would consider reef safe would be blue throat, sargassum and crosshatch. And they may prey on inverts. My blue throat has never bothered a coral.

bureau13
12/13/2006, 08:39 AM
Those types of triggers are almost universally considered not to be reef safe. Which is to bad, I would love to be able to keep them.

jds

jpslickorocks
12/13/2006, 10:18 AM
I agree. Some of the most beautiful triggers are not reef safe. The ones they are reef safe are beautiful as well though. I have a pair of blue Jaw's and they are spectacular. They have not harmed a thing. I keep them very well fed so they are fat and happy.

Triggerfish
12/13/2006, 02:39 PM
just to include my blue throat experience,,it attempted to eat just about every fish in my tank.

willjeff
12/13/2006, 02:43 PM
My blue throat has dined on some peppermint shrimp, but hasn't touched a coral in over a year.
Triggers are my favorite, and there are always the exception. I remember going to Tropicorium (LFS) and they had a pair of clown triggers in one of there look down reefs. It was a very large set-up and if it did pick on corals it wasn't probably affecting a specific coral, just sampling here and there.

Angel*Fish
12/13/2006, 03:07 PM
To me, the phrase "not reef safe" doesn't present a proper picture ....Once I had a Humuhumunukunukuapua trigger. He was loaned to me to rid my tank of a mantis.

He ripped through every invert in that tank like a bull in a china shop. No apologies - he'd look you straight in the eye & then take a chunk out of the live rock to see if he could find any morsels that thought they were safely hidden.. The most entertaining thing to watch was his way with worms. He'd suck a worm up like spaghetti, then send it shooting straight out a couple of inches & slurp it back in.

"Not reef safe" by anyone's standards. Huma humas make your live rock & sand want to to jump out of the tank - lol -

That said, he was probably the coolest fish I've ever known :D

Wolverine
12/16/2006, 09:21 AM
Some report that they will usually leave large cnidarians with strong stings alone, but IME that's not the case. We had one obliterate a large anemone and large elegance coral in the store where I used to work (no, I didn't put them in there together).

Dave

Angel*Fish
12/16/2006, 10:36 AM
Even the magnet cleaner was afraid of the trigger

Serioussnaps
12/16/2006, 11:17 AM
humu humu is most definitely not

possible safe: pink tail, niger, crosshatch, blue throat

and thats only possible

Atomikk
12/17/2006, 02:10 AM
I would like to add my personal experience with a Humu Humu trigger.

I have a full blown reef, with inverts, fish and coral. My Humu has never killed a healthy fish, nor has he ever nibbled at a coral. I have SPS, zoos, LPS and mushrooms. Not one. He does pick at very small snails, but anything big he wont touch (that is as long as its not turned over).

He will eat out of my hand, and anything I give him. Personally, he is reef safe in my tank.

bureau13
12/17/2006, 01:24 PM
Wow. How old/big is it?

jds

boomsticks
12/18/2006, 09:27 AM
I have a picaso or Huma huma and he is very well behaved. Eats like a pig but lives right next to a feather duster and my acros and hasn't touched them. However he did scare the pep shrimp into the sump where he currently resides.

Atomikk
12/18/2006, 05:32 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8771128#post8771128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bureau13
Wow. How old/big is it?

jds

He is about 2.5" big. Big and fat. Eats ghost shrimp, flake, pellet, nori, anything i give him.

thriceanangel
12/18/2006, 09:06 PM
Ahhh a wee lad! Just give em time.

Charlie97L
12/20/2006, 03:38 PM
depends what "reef safe" means to you.

a lot of people don't keep ornamental shrimp... if so, that opens up to more triggers.

the only ones that definitively won't eat shrimp (from what i've researched) are crosshatch and sargassum. they may kill them though, they just won't eat them. sargassums are white and look albinoish, and crosshatches are HUGE and need several hundred gallons to survive.

jmaneyapanda
12/20/2006, 03:57 PM
actually, sargassums can get just as big, if not bigger than crosshatches. And they will certainly eat shrimp. I keep a pair of crosshatches with 5 cleaners and about 2 dozen peppermints (or so, I never really see them all) with no worries. However, my male crosshatch finds green chromis very very tasty. Go figure.

Rhinecanthus triggers will become destructive- ie biting and tasting everything from the cord to the powerhead to the $200 acropora colony. If you keep one in your reef, yo will be dodging bullets until one finally hits target.

Angel*Fish
12/20/2006, 04:06 PM
However, my male crosshatch finds green chromis very very tasty. Go figure
Sorry, but that hit my funnybone :lol:

jmaneyapanda
12/20/2006, 04:23 PM
it was the wierdest thing. One morning, my wife had left to go to work like 5 minutes before, and I kept hearing this tapping. I thought she was tapping on the window of our front door because she forgot her keys or something. So I got up, looked, no one, no noise. So I went back to bed. well, this happen twice, and the third time, I was plenty annoyed. By this time, the actinics had turned on- and lo and behold, 3 chromis heads lay in the sand, like some medieval marker, and the crosshatch hot in pursuit of one of the four remaining chromis, chattering his teeh, grunting, and "clacking". Only one survived that day, and I was lucky enough to catch him to give him away. At first I was just like, "thats neat", then I quietly started cheering for the chromis to outrun the bloodthirsty killing machine, and finally, I feklt really really bad for the chromis. Whats wierdest is that he never bothers the other small fish I have (clowns, mandarin).

Angel*Fish
12/20/2006, 04:52 PM
and the crosshatch hot in pursuit of one of the four remaining chromis, chattering his teeth, grunting, and "clacking".
then I quietly started cheering for the chromis to outrun the bloodthirsty killing machine

You paint a very "trigger" picture! I love triggers, but I just can't handle the carnage - lol

Glad you were able to save one of the chromis's!

jmaneyapanda
12/20/2006, 05:16 PM
yeah, i love that fish though. at night when the actinics are all thats on, he "works off" his food from the day, and RACES back and forth as fast as he an, and actually creates water slosh. i awesome.

the salvaged chromis went to s 375 gallon, so he got rewarded well for my home cooked version of survivor.

ddongbap
12/21/2006, 03:23 AM
I've added a small female Blue Throat trigger into my reef tank. No problems so far. All she does is hide in a big Marshall Island rock chunk I have in my tank.

And too add; HumaHumas' that I've experienced have tried to run at any/all of my other fish.

slandis3
12/22/2006, 01:48 AM
has anyone ever kept a pink tail in a reef tank? I have a 120g with a small blue hippo tang, a six line wrasse, a mandiren (spelling), a fox face, and some green chroums. I would love4 to get a pink tail but im not sure about how safe he will be.

I like Triggers
12/22/2006, 01:56 AM
I have a 5" Humu and he does not eat corals. It likes to harass and sometime kill peaceful and passive fish. He did eat an anenome one time. I keep him with green star polyps and he doesnt eat them, and he never touched my zoanthids, bubble coral, or frogspawn.

jda
12/22/2006, 09:44 AM
There are 2 type of rhine triggers, ones under 4-5 inches and ones larger. They really change their disposition as they grow. It is good that they grow slowly. If yours doesn't like to "eat" live rock, then it isn't too mature yet. Just wait.

Both of my xhatch were perfect citizens. So were my bluethroats. I have had good luck with pinktail and durgeon, but many have not. The durgeon really look nice under halides.

cybertec69
12/22/2006, 04:53 PM
Humus are the NASTIEST triggesrs out there, no other fish should be in there with them, unless it's another trigger that can fend for itself, but I would not takethat chance.

slandis3
12/22/2006, 04:57 PM
I think im going to try a blue jaw. My lfs has one thats pretty laid back. I give him a try after christmas.

Angel*Fish
12/22/2006, 05:52 PM
Just had to share this, the first trigger I ever met was one in a lagoon at my hotel in Cancun. He would stick his nose out of the water and catch food like a dolphin. That was ~25 years ago & unfortunately I was throwing chunks of bread at him :rolleyes:

But even the ignoramus that I was at the time had enough sense to be truly amazed and in awe of any piscine with that kind of behavior. They must be really intelligent -- for a fish that is ;)

Wolverine
12/30/2006, 10:38 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8807643#post8807643 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jda
There are 2 type of rhine triggers, ones under 4-5 inches and ones larger. They really change their disposition as they grow. It is good that they grow slowly. If yours doesn't like to "eat" live rock, then it isn't too mature yet. Just wait.


There are actually 7 species of Rhinecanthus triggers. I see 4 of them fairly regularly in stores.

Dave