Niger Trigger Shy?

[jgabbsxx]

Hi all!
I have a juvenile (2 1/2 inch) Niger Trigger in my tank (40G) that I purchased 6/7 months ago. He has a favorite hiding spot in one of my rocks and in turn, he loves that corner of the tank. I rarely see him swimming around unless there is no movement in the room that the tank is in. Are these triggers known to have this shyness? When he is out and about, the friendliest fish in the tank. Do I just have a broken triggerfish? LOL

Any input would be great!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Hi all!
I have a juvenile (2 1/2 inch) Niger Trigger in my tank (40G) that I purchased 6/7 months ago. He has a favorite hiding spot in one of my rocks and in turn, he loves that corner of the tank. I rarely see him swimming around unless there is no movement in the room that the tank is in. Are these triggers known to have this shyness? When he is out and about, the friendliest fish in the tank. Do I just have a broken triggerfish? LOL

Any input would be great!

Typical behavior for a young Niger. Fyi he will quickly out grow a 40 gallon. I have a 90 and mine uses every bit of the tank and I wish I had a bigger tank. I'm about to re-home him

 

[jgabbsxx]

Typical behavior for a young Niger. Fyi he will quickly out grow a 40 gallon. I have a 90 and mine uses every bit of the tank and I wish I had a bigger tank. I'm about to re-home him

Thats what I thought! & He will be getting into a bigger tank soon, still finalizing the size of new tank that can fit in the house!

 

[KrisReef]

Hi all!
I have a juvenile (2 1/2 inch) Niger Trigger in my tank (40G) that I purchased 6/7 months ago. He has a favorite hiding spot in one of my rocks and in turn, he loves that corner of the tank. I rarely see him swimming around unless there is no movement in the room that the tank is in. Are these triggers known to have this shyness? When he is out and about, the friendliest fish in the tank. Do I just have a broken triggerfish? LOL

Any input would be great!

Stop scaring the fish, he's hiding from YOU!

In time he will come running, but that may happen faster if you always move calmly through the room where the tank is and say "hello (Mr or MS.) Triggerfish as you pass through, and especially as you add food into the tank. Animals respond to noise and movement, and to random acts of kindness. If you come busting into the room just passing through or to catch a glimpse of the shy fish that fish will stay where it feels safe from the craziness that it sees going on outside of it's cell.

Be mindful, and eventually it will say hello everytime you pass, and hopefully not bite your hand when you are working in the tank. These fish are naturally territorial. I have been attacked twice in the wild while snorkeling. Respect your trigger and it will be a great friend.

GL

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Stop scaring the fish, he's hiding from YOU!

In time he will come running, but that may happen faster if you always move calmly through the room where the tank is and say "hello (Mr or MS.) Triggerfish as you pass through, and especially as you add food into the tank. Animals respond to noise and movement, and to random acts of kindness. If you come busting into the room just passing through or to catch a glimpse of the shy fish that fish will stay where it feels safe from the craziness that it sees going on outside of it's cell.

Be mindful, and eventually it will say hello everytime you pass, and hopefully not bite your hand when you are working in the tank. These fish are naturally territorial. I have been attacked twice in the wild while snorkeling. Respect your trigger and it will be a great friend.

GL

Mine comes running when I come into the room. He gently eats out of my hand. But when young was very scared and hid.

 

[jgabbsxx]

Stop scaring the fish, he's hiding from YOU!

In time he will come running, but that may happen faster if you always move calmly through the room where the tank is and say "hello (Mr or MS.) Triggerfish as you pass through, and especially as you add food into the tank. Animals respond to noise and movement, and to random acts of kindness. If you come busting into the room just passing through or to catch a glimpse of the shy fish that fish will stay where it feels safe from the craziness that it sees going on outside of it's cell.

Be mindful, and eventually it will say hello everytime you pass, and hopefully not bite your hand when you are working in the tank. These fish are naturally territorial. I have been attacked twice in the wild while snorkeling. Respect your trigger and it will be a great friend.

GL

He earned his name as "Spooky" because of this haha! Thankfully he is not territorial on tank cleaning days and has not threatened to bite me, yet.....

 

[littlefoxx]

My huma huma was shy at first but now I can pet her while she eats our of my hand! Its super cool.

 

[KrisReef]

Mine comes running when I come into the room. He gently eats out of my hand. But when young was very scared and hid.

Nice! Do you talk with your fishes? They are very intelligent and they learn from their experiences with us what to expect.

My first “attack” in the wild was in a lagoon in Rarotonga where previous snorkeling divers had “trained” these fish to expect a frozen pea to be provided from people swimming in their lagoon. I figured that out after the aggressive trigger fish attacked me for swimming through the lagoon and not having any peas for them to eat.
More recently, a trigger smashed into my head with such force that I thought I had carelessly swam into a rock in about 3 feet of water. I looked up expecting to see a reef and I was surrounded by sand? I realized that a fish had attacked my head, probably protecting its nest on a nearby reef that I had just swam past. The hit was so powerful that I completely expected to see a boulder reef but there was only water in front of me? I left the area, once was enough.