Wanting a Huma Huma, need some info...

Your tank is on the hairy edge of being too small for a picasso (I'm assuming you mean Rhinecanthus aculeatus and not R. rectangulus, as both are referred to a humuhumunukunukuapua'a in HI).  They are fairly slow-growers tho, so if you get a smaller fish (shoot for 3" or so), you'll probably be OK for awhile.  They will eat snails and ornamental crustaceans, as well as bristleworms and pretty much any other critters they can catch, so having a CUC with them around can be tuff.

Also, if you do decide to go with a picasso, make it the LAST fish you add because once they become established, they will generally beat the snot out of any newcomers.  Once I added the picasso to my tank, that was it...it wouldn't tolerate anything else.

I do love triggers tho...very interesting fish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hallzy 

Oh i almost forgot, my other MAIN concern with the Huma is my coral. Most places that I read say they will not bother any coral, but a few here and there say they will nip at them. Does anyone have any experience with a Huma and coral?

hello there. i too love the huma huma triggers. My advice will be the same as Mr. Saxman's, the small er the better. they are tough yet beautiful fish and may indeed nip at some of your corals, so don't be suprised. I know a person that has a trigger, named 49.95 (Lol..) and so far he hasn't nipped at anything, he is also 2.5 inches. the smaller the better chance you get a good one. Oh and yes..... make sure there well fed, less chances of them nipping then. If you do get one post pics. I want one too but have many corals......

Now, I'm not an expert, but from what I have read, triggers and lions dont mix - something to do with triggers nipping the lions fins. Sax would be the one to answer that.

T

FWIW, lionfish and non-planktonic feeding triggers don't mix well, and I think a fuzzy would be a prime target.  Then again, my picasso died from the result of envenomating itself on my volitans' dorsal spines while trying to swoop in on some food meant for the lion...oops!  The USUAL case is that triggers nip off the lionfishes' spines and kill them.

Granted, this was like 20 years ago when nobody really had a good handle on which SW fish were truly compatible...

I kept a humu from about 2002 - 2008, and he was a fantastic fish to own. While he would eat smaller snails/ hermits, the large ones in big shells were safe, as he couldn't get a marble size shell in his mouth to crush.. He was very cool, and over time while I was out of town on work for 300+ days of the year, my mom came over to fed the fish daily (we live 3 blocks apart) - the fish became very friendly to her, actually allowing her to "pet" him daily. He suddenly died one day  - tottaly unkown cause, no ich/disease - had a fat belly. was rather crushed by the loss...And he was very pretty, all those colors & lines..... these are the good times...

However, if you've ever owned a dog that chewed up the garden hoses, dug holes all over the backyard, tore up the flower garden, and buried anything YOU like - then that's alot like owning a humu.....that darn fish constantly moved the substrate from under rocks allowing them to fall over. He'd tip over corals & frags and bury them. He'd move smaller chunks of liverock around - bang them against the glass......He actually broke a submereged glass encased thermometer, shattering it. . . he'd take mouthfulls of substrate and spit them out over corals - even covering them sometimes - rocks too. He seemed to prefer a "dish" shapped bottom of the tank, as he kept the substate VERY low in the tank center, but kept it 6"+ deep at the ends/sides.......It was HIS tank, and I was just the feeder......you can beat a dog when it rips up the backyard, but you can only laugh at a mindless fish destroying "your" ideal habitat. I never saw evidence of mine eating coral - he just buired them, flipped them over and covered up with sand.

They can be a fantastic fish to own, but IME - they tend to do their own thing in the tank, owner be darned.  I've NO plans to have another

I 100% agree with tangrules!

hahaaha Tangs Rule: My Humu does the same thing with sand...he spits it all over the darn place!

I actually just picked up a Huma yesterday. I put it in with my Niger and they seem to be getting along. They're both really small still (around 2") and I have them in a 300g. So far, the Huma has been nipping at the LR and has found a place to wedge itself for the night. I really hope they can coexist for the long haul. 

I have had 3 humu humu triggers over my 18 years of keeping saltwater fish. They will destroy your inverts, they can become aggressive, even with there owners, i have been nipped several times while cleaning the tank, Humu Humu's are very hardy and very social i never had any problems with them health wise, good luck

I have had a total of 3 Humas also 2 were Pussy Cas ONE however was the Spawn of Satan I swear.  But then again the one that snapped my Ex wife bought so there might be something with that purchase.  I am looking to get one just know this Forget the CUC mine killed even the largest snails Shrimps crabs I could find.  I had a Gorilla Crab that even my SFE would not mess with and and the Huma huma ate it in 2 seconds flat.