HELP: New Trigger is not happy

[rmaurin]

Hi All,

Need your thoughts.

I have a 30 gallon saltwater tank. It has gone through cycle via Damsel's and live rock. I have been measuring all parameters (pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Specific Gravity). At the 4 week period, Ammonia and Nitrite are both 0. pH is 8.2. Nitrate is 10 ppm. So I went and purchased 2 beautiful fish this afternoon. A Bursa Trigger and a Stars and Stripes Puffer. They are buddies who were in the stores tank for a week. I felt confident that the fish are OK since I seen them eat at the store.

I brought the fish home and put them into a bucket with their water. Every 5 minutes I would remove some of their water and add some water from the tank. After doing this a few times, I put them into the tank with as little of the original water as I could. Both looked happy for about 10 seonds.

Here is my worry. The Puffer looks as if he is happy. He is swimming around discovering his new home. His tail is bent around him. I guess he is still scared. The Trigger is not happy and I am concerned I may have hurt him somehow. He is laying on the bottom of the tank propped up against the live rock. He is looking around. You can see his eyes moving. He is breathing. Not heavily, but what appears to be normal.

I am concerned. Is he just frightened? Is this normal behavior? My marine book (Fenner) states that the Trigger will act weird when introduced into a new tank and will come around. But this guy looks like he is sick.

Please. Your comments.

Thank you.
Rich

 

[William]

Hi Rich, I've got my thinking cap on - I'll get back to you! In the meantime hopefully one of the salty mods will see this

 

[Great Lakes]

Rich, I haven't had a trigger, but the marines are vey shy fish at best. If I am not mistaken, most triggers are live caught, and it is quite a shock for them to adapt. What size tank were they in at the lfs? And how long did he have them?

 

[black_bullet]

Sounds like typical Trigger behavior when added to a new tank to me, triggers when small are also shy. I hope you plan to get a much larger tank in the future for these fish since the Trigger will get about 10" and the Puffer will get about 12" or a little more. Atleast a 125-150G tank is recommended

 

[whacky]

Again while i havent kept a trigger of any kind i am only speaking from what i have read, Triggers are shy fish try turning the lights out this will help reduce stress, You will need a bigger tank in the long run you may even find the small tank size is contibuting to the stress level