Niger triggerfish reef safe?

[naesco]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

That's the strange part, I've seen the Niger hang around the cleaner wrasse and hold its gill out so the cleaner could give it the royal treatment. Last night I was just watching the fish when before I could do anything the Niger came along and bit a chunk right out of the belly of the Wrasse, it squirmed as it sank but there was no chance of survival and certainly no guessing as to who the culprit was.

Than you are right nigers can't be trusted with small fish.
The cleaner which was it's friend turned into sushi!

[ALang]

Ugh-oh! I just added a niger into my reef. It has clams and cleaner shrimps.
So far he's good, but he's only a couple of inches long. He's "rooming" with the cleaner shrimps in the same mound of live rocks. He gets the "kiss" marks from my large algae blenny ( I think that the blenny wants to evict the trigger).

So feed him frozen clams?? Like mussels, to wear down his teeth?
He's eating flakes (Formula One and Two), pellets, mysis and nibbles on the romaine lettuce that I left for my tangs.

I am now praying to the fish gods for a good trigger.

[viperfish]

All I can say is be aware as it matures, one common statement that I have heard from quite a few people is that its not that the Nigers show signs of aggression, but have a tendency to snap at random and kill a fish or invert. IMO if you choose your tankmates carefully you will find the reward that comes with owning one of these beautiful fish far outweighs the risks. Like I said earlier I wouldn't part with mine for anything.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

All I can say is be aware as it matures, one common statement that I have heard from quite a few people is that its not that the Nigers show signs of aggression, but have a tendency to snap at random and kill a fish or invert. IMO if you choose your tankmates carefully you will find the reward that comes with owning one of these beautiful fish far outweighs the risks. Like I said earlier I wouldn't part with mine for anything.

the problem lies when they get older they start seeing other sources of food and as they get bigger they get more cocky and are willing to go a little further like stated above mine would snap at small fish generally around feeding time i think food motivates their behavior more than aggression mine ate cleaner shrimp and gave my puffer a hard time around feeding time.mine out grew my tank but i would of had to remove him or the smaller fish.i think they are beautiful and def worth putting in and i plan to own another once my new tank is up.they do get to be a big size mine was about 7" and still showing signs of getting bigger