niger trigger

eric18

eric18

Member
a couple of days ago i bought a niger trigger at my lfs (about 3 inches) But it seems very shy. It swims around but when ever i come near the tank it darts into a cave. This alos makes feeding hard since he stays there fot about a 15 minuites. IS this normal. Any advice would be appreciated. (and he's in a 75 not a 30)
 
makofury

makofury

Member
Hey, I've had 3 nigers since I started saltwater tanks, and for some reason all of mine were pretty shy too compared to other triggers that I've had. At first they would hide in my rock structure anytime I passed by the tank, however, as far as feeding goes, I always gave my triggers guppies to help them get used to eating....and usually after my niger would hide, and a guppy would fall into the tank, he'd dart and take it out...but it just took some time for mine to get used to the tank so I wouldn't worry. Hope this kinda helps.
MakoFury
 
eric18

eric18

Member
thanx i just hope i can finad guppies small enough for him. How lng did it take for you to ween him onto to normal food
 
makofury

makofury

Member
It really did take much time at all before he ate normal food, I used the guppies to tempt him out of hiding to make him more bold, in about three to four days he was swimming around and wasn't afraid of me, and after about a week he would always come to the top of the tank waiting for food. It shouldn't take more than a week for him to be bold and he should be eating anything after a couple of days.
MakoFury
 
blueberryboomer

blueberryboomer

Active Member
I think most fish are a little shy in the beginning. It is pretty normal for them to hide for a few days when you come to close to thier new home. I wouldn't feed it guppies to get him to come out, he will eat when he feels comfortable. If you start to feed live food you may start another problem. He may not eat anything but live food. I would continue to feed like normal, it sometimes takes a day or two for these guys to come out and eat. We added a dogface puffer on Tuesday and he swam behind the rocks for the first couple of days and would not eat, last night when I feed them he came out and chowed like a pig... Lisa
 
vinnie t.

vinnie t.

Member
My Niger Trigger I just got is about the same size and i feed him formula 2 and he is bold and agressive. at feeding time he chased my clownfish into the courner of my tank and the clownfish was trying to jump out of the tank. mine comes out when i come over like i'm going to feed him and hides when anybody else comes over.
 
pufferlover

pufferlover

Active Member
Live brine works well to get a new fish to eat and I too have a smaller Niger and he loves his live brine and live blackworms (they are a lot safer in my mind then live feeder fish).
 
guppie

guppie

Member
Please don't feed him live guppies, I don't think I would like that. Feeding live fish is a bad habit to get your fish into. Aside from the sport of huntting down their meal they get nothing from it. You will have a real hard time getting them to eat anything else after that. I have always had good luck feeding mysis shrimp to fish that are hard to get to start to eat, it has worked well for me for many years. Good Luck
 
trigahappynigerog

trigahappynigerog

Member
I have an 3"undulate trigger and a 1"valentini puffer in a 30g had a 2"emperor snapper but traded him for a niger because the snapper was too aggressive at feeding time.I had alot of fish to chose from but i knew whatever it was when i added it wouldnt last so i picked the niger. the valentini i thought he was fish food but the undulate doesnt bother him. the niger has no chance he hides all day because of the undulate only comes out at feeding time. i feed them live guppies,feeders,damsels,brine but they love the frozen krill the most.
 
trigahappynigerog

trigahappynigerog

Member
the 30g is the undulated home small tanks will increase their aggression when he gets larger the small puffer is fish food when he gets another inch im going to put diferent bigger fish to see what happens. the niger is already in the 55g right now and should be getting a 200g in about six months. i dont always feed them live but their diets consists mainly on live. i try everything urchins,hermit crabs, and cheap corals.
 
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