Another Rescue: Picasso Trigger

[Mpal771]

thats a cool little guy! Not the right family of trigger for the reef but, the perfect center piece for a fowlr! Tons of personality, intelligence $ appetite. At that size, the 15g is fine until Christmas and the 90 will be great for him! They will learn, watch, respond and even get board. I used to put empty hermet crab shells in the tank just to see him stalk them and flip them over...any sea shell really.

I've had 3 Picassos over the past 20 years. The only problems one could ever have is
1.) overstocked tank with larger triggers
2.) tank contamination ( accidental environmental or chemical fouling)

In the first instance, they will retreat, hide, waste away or show signs of disease due to stress.

So that's how I lost my first two. The last one I had for 4 1/2 years and a custom aquarium supplier bought it from me for a 600g install. I got to visit him once in his new home!

Be mindful that most aquarists desire changeover time and most triggers are hearty enough to long outlast our ever changing hobbyists appetites. Stay plugged into the fowler community for when that little guy outgrows your 90.
Best of luck with one of the best fish in the hobby!

 

[lucyretz]

thats a cool little guy! Not the right family of trigger for the reef but, the perfect center piece for a fowlr! Tons of personality, intelligence $ appetite. At that size, the 15g is fine until Christmas and the 90 will be great for him! They will learn, watch, respond and even get board. I used to put empty hermet crab shells in the tank just to see him stalk them and flip them over...any sea shell really.

I've had 3 Picassos over the past 20 years. The only problems one could ever have is
1.) overstocked tank with larger triggers
2.) tank contamination ( accidental environmental or chemical fouling)

In the first instance, they will retreat, hide, waste away or show signs of disease due to stress.

So that's how I lost my first two. The last one I had for 4 1/2 years and a custom aquarium supplier bought it from me for a 600g install. I got to visit him once in his new home!

Be mindful that most aquarists desire changeover time and most triggers are hearty enough to long outlast our ever changing hobbyists appetites. Stay plugged into the fowler community for when that little guy outgrows your 90.
Best of luck with one of the best fish in the hobby!

Thank you so much for your response! Shells are a wonderful idea! He definitely isn’t like any regular fish and seems almost playful, I’ve been thinking about if there’s some sort of toys I could buy for him. I know a friend who has a freshwater flowerhorn and she buys plastic bird toys for him to play with (rings, mirrors etc.) for now I’ve just been throwing him live feeder shrimp to chase and stalk

 

[lucyretz]

*CONTENT WARNING FOR LIVE FEEDING GHOST SHRIMP [emoji494] [emoji317]*
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Update:

He definitely eats good here. I’m not a big pellet/flake food person. My reef tank gets frozen and live mysis and brine mainly as well. He loves chasing the ghost shrimp around and going in for the kill. For dinner I’ve been tossing him frozen mysis to try to get some weight on him, he loves it.

 

[Forsaken77]

I used to have a Picasso, Niger, and clown triggers all living together peacefully. They are awesome fish with great personalities.

Always wanted a Queen trigger, but way too aggressive, along with the Undulated.

I didn't find my Picasso aggressive at all as long as he was with similar sized fish. They would chase down goldfish and live shrimp at lightning speed.

When you go to move him, you may have to take a rock with it. Because once those suckers lock themselves into a rock to hide, there's no getting it out until it feels safe.

It looks like they weren't even feeding the poor thing, and babies need more food.

 

[Forsaken77]

Thank you so much for your response! Shells are a wonderful idea! He definitely isn’t like any regular fish and seems almost playful, I’ve been thinking about if there’s some sort of toys I could buy for him. I know a friend who has a freshwater flowerhorn and she buys plastic bird toys for him to play with (rings, mirrors etc.) for now I’ve just been throwing him live feeder shrimp to chase and stalk

The best "toys" for him would be live shrimp, lol. He'll love chasing it around and ripping it to shreads for dinner.

 

[DSC reef]

*CONTENT WARNING FOR LIVE FEEDING GHOST SHRIMP [emoji494] [emoji317]*
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•
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•

Update:

He definitely eats good here. I’m not a big pellet/flake food person. My reef tank gets frozen and live mysis and brine mainly as well. He loves chasing the ghost shrimp around and going in for the kill. For dinner I’ve been tossing him frozen mysis to try to get some weight on him, he loves it.

He looks awesome and much happier. We used to gut load our ghost shrimp with reef roids for extra protein. You could see it in there bellies. Not sure if it's helpful for the trigger though. Glad he's doing good.