Humu Question(s)

[rudy63]

I'm thinking of converting my 72g bowfront FOWLR into a semi-aggressive tank. This would be my first attempt at raising this species and just want to make sure I have the right environment and equipment for them...Question #1: Can a humu live comfortably in this size tank?
Question #2: Given their semi-aggressive nature, what are a few good tankmates you can recommend, if any?
Question #3: Has anyone tried butterflies with triggers and, if so, what results did you see?
Question #4: How much LR would you recommend?
Question #5: What type of clean-up crew/algae control critters can you house with this type of tank?
Thanks in advance for any help/insight you can provide...just trying to do my homework before I jump in head first.

 

[mckevinfang]

Question #1: Yes (known to be very agressive as they mature make sure to get a smaller one than all your other fishes)
Question #2: since the tank is not very big i would only suggest 2 or 3 other fish maybe a foxface a dwarf puffer and a dwarf angel
Question #3: no i personally haven't. yet if the butterfly doesnt try to defend him/herself then it will keep getting picked on and eventually die.
Question #4: i say plenty of rock work 72 gal maybe 80-90 lbs of LR
Question #5: definetly no shrimps or hermits you can try to put in an assortment of snails but triggers are messy eater so have a good protein skimmer and filter.
hope this helps!!

 

[srfisher17]

SWF.com lists the Huma as a "semi-aggressive" fish. I did a quick check of 3 other online dealers; they all say "aggressive". I agree with them; I've seen a 2" huma terrorize a tank full of fish several times its size. There are exceptions, of course, some play nice for years. These are beautiful, personable & hardy fish--but don't stay the cute little guy at the lfs very long. If you're going to center your tank around a Huma, IMO, I'd chose only bigger, robust, non-whimpy tankmates. I'd never attempt any butterfly with one. An aggressive wrasse or a med puffer might be a good tankmate. Like mckevinfang said, the right dwarf angel might work, if he has enough places to hide.Humas can reach 10" or so; so you don't have a lot of room. I don't mean to sound negative, these are great fish and seem to be in plentiful supply; but, IMO, they are certainly one of the more aggressive commonly kept triggers...at any size.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Humu humu are very intreguing fish to say the least . But they are Aggressive they are not on the fence of being mean or not they are terrorists in the truest form . I would honestly only go with other aggressive fish . A Harliquen tusk would make a good tank mate . But I would try to keep it to one or two other fish to keep your space at a primium . I would not atempt anything like a buterfly they are to mellow to stand up to a humu. I would add just enough rock in the tank to offer cover . To give you a lbs# is missleading as different rock styles weigh different amounts .
I wish you good luck with your plan . If you have more questions feel free to ask and we will all try to help the best we can .

 

[rudy63]

From the sound of it, it appears that 72g is enough room for a Humu, but only just. And, tankmates may be hard to find. This is ok, as I was anticipating him being the centerpiece of the tank. What I don't want, though, is to add mates that will be miserable by his presence and attitude. Plus, I know they like to roam, so I don't want to overstock it either.
With the LR, regardless of tankmates, what type of aquascaping has everyone done in the past? Do they prefer a lot of caves or just one conglomerate off to the side?
Also, has anyone tried Humu's with urchins? Any success? I want to combate algae naturally, but all the critters I've had in the past that have been successful (i.e. Crabs, Snails, Gobies), seem to be Humu food.
I appreciate all the honesty, I'm enough of a realist that if it seems like it won't work with my current set-up, then I won't do it. But, I have always loved these fish and if I could make it work, I would like too. Thanks to all of have posted thus far, I knew I came to the right place for advise.

 

[nls82580]

humu's and urchins dont mix I myself have a humu a snowflake moray eel (which would be an idea for you) and a stars and stripes puffer they are all still small so they are in a 55gallon... but will be moved up in due time.. Keep in mind with humu's they like to rearrange your sand bed and will bite at aquarium tubing

 

[usirchchris]

Huma's and urchins definately do not mix...My experience...I had three urchins in a tank, so I decided one day to pull one, and put it in with my huma. With in a few days all of its spines were a good 1/2" shorter. I am glad he did not go full force and kill it...it lives to this day

. I have mine (the huma) in with a couple of puffers and a domino damsel. He was picking on my porcupine puffer which is a good three to four times his size. They are getting along much better now, but the huma will be in its own tank shortly. He is a monster when he wants to be. Make sure if you do get one...to get a coarse substrate. They love to move sand constantly, and if you have fine substrate like I do it will get all over your rock.

 

[kelley5454]

I have a humu in my tank these are the facts I can give you about Bandit over the last 6 months.... note that they all have their own personlaities.
1. He is in a 55 and seems happy but has not grown much (I have a nice 150 awaiting setup now)
2. He has only eaten one tank mate and that was a neon goby while in quarantine.
3. He has a huge appetite so I feed a combination of formula two, trigger food and marne quisine.
4. He has lots of tanks mates who he gets along with although we had to do a plexiglass separator when we got smores our lawnmower blenny. There was something about this fish bandit did not like. They get along ok now.. our separator had holes big enough for the blenny to pass through but too small for bandit...
5. His tanks mates are (note they are moving to a tank 3 times as big so you might not want this many fish.)
Bandit (the humu)
Pink wrasse (it has stripes but is not a fairy wrasse)
2 gold stripe clown fish
1 lawn mower blenny
2 green chromis
1 yellow tail blue damsel
1 neon goby
1 royal back dotty
a few crabs but I wouldn't recommend this with a humu
a few snails
thee was a gbta but it died after I installed the metal halide
They have all been getting along well but I can't stress how much of a help the divider was when I got the blenny, for some reason my humu hated him.. he tolerates him now and doesn't chase him too much, at any rate they have all been together over 6 months now...I hope this helps....
Kelley

 

[clownfish11]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
http:///forum/post/2581589
SWF.com lists the Huma as a "semi-aggressive" fish. I did a quick check of 3 other online dealers; they all say "aggressive". I agree with them; I've seen a 2" huma terrorize a tank full of fish several times its size. There are exceptions, of course, some play nice for years. These are beautiful, personable & hardy fish--but don't stay the cute little guy at the lfs very long. If you're going to center your tank around a Huma, IMO, I'd chose only bigger, robust, non-whimpy tankmates. I'd never attempt any butterfly with one. An aggressive wrasse or a med puffer might be a good tankmate. Like mckevinfang said, the right dwarf angel might work, if he has enough places to hide.Humas can reach 10" or so; so you don't have a lot of room. I don't mean to sound negative, these are great fish and seem to be in plentiful supply; but, IMO, they are certainly one of the more aggressive commonly kept triggers...at any size.

i saw it happen in person..i was at a LFS in naples, FL and i was going through the tanks and i come to a huma WITH!!!! small little baby puffer not sure what kind...and well lets just say taht trigger scared the puffer so bad he like died....and then he like bit him..it was crazy i knocked the freaking thing off but it was to late....

 

[krazykarel]

Get him as small as possible. I have read anecdotal evidence stating, if
the humu grows up with the fish it will tolerate them as he gets bigger and will not kill them.

 

[kjr_trig]

I think Huma's can be wonderful fish, I may have just been lucky, but I had one for 5 years and he never showed the slightest aggression toward another fish, all he did was swim from one end of the tank to the other all day long until I would walk up to the tank, then he swim over and stare at me as if to say "FEED ME!!". Like with all Triggers, just plan your tankmates with caution.

 

[emeralcrab]

My humu humu is so far a model citizen. His favorite buddy is a blue tang. My blue tang is more aggressive then Roy is. But I got them both together when they were like 2", if even that. So they have been raised together. They live in a 150g with a three spot domino, porcipine puffer and a naso tang. I will have had them 2 years this July.

 

[rudy63]

That really surprises me about urchins. I was figuring that they would have been one of my best bets against algae on the rocks. But, I guess that's why you ask the question, rather than just trying it.
So, with urchins out of the picture, what kind of clean-up crew are people using with triggers? Or, are we just depending on our protein skimmer?
Also, any suggestions on aquascaping for triggers? Do they prefer cavework or just a conglomerate off to the side?

 

[crashbandicoot]

Triggers are not ppicky as far as rock work just give them some shelter and they will be happy .
You can get hermit crabs that are baseball sized and they are pretty much triger proof .