Trigger is a glutton

[torrancejones]

My humu humu trigger fish has this habit of hiding pieces of krill I give him in his special hiding spot. He will chew on the krill for a while (spitting it out, then eating it again, over and over). Eventually, he will take whatever he doesnt eat and hide in behind a rock (he always hides the food in the same place). Later on in the day, I will see that he has taken the piece of krill out of its hiding spot and is eating it once again (Im thinking about naming him Pig).
Of course, I am concerned about the leftovers decomposing in the water and ruining my water quality (since he is not eating all of the food, but instead hiding it). The obvious fix for this is to feed him less, but I am curious if other people with humu's have seen this same behavior? What did you do about it?
--Tor

 

[armageddon]

mine has a terrible time keeping down frozen krill. He is always spitting out some of what i gave him. It works out great because my niger is right there and happy to take whatever he doesnt' want.

 

[dreeves]

The shell will help the triggers keep their teeth healthy...their teeth continuously grow...and that is how they manage it.

 

[armageddon]

my huma huma files his teeth down on my LR. He is always biting at it.

 

[torrancejones]

Armageddon,
I have seen my trigger do this as well. I was trying to figure out if he was trying to:
A). Eat something on the rock (algae??? But I didnt think that triggers ate algae)
B). Sharpen his teeth
C). Just being obnoxious
I really like my triggers personality. Yes he eats really messy, yes he hogs all the food, and yes he definately has his own turf in the tank (where he chases other fish away from). But so far, he doesnt seem to hurt any of his tankmates and he certainly doesnt spit sand at me (like someone reported about their clown in another thread).
--Tor

 

[armageddon]

Yeah triggers are just great fish, especially huma huma's. I have some nice sponges growing on my rock and he will bite at them as well as just bite the rocks to file down his teeth, and to maybe get a small snack. If a new rock is ever introduced or one is flipped over he will just be on that rock like a rat on a cheeto.