Trigger feeding advice

siniang · May 4, 2018

Hi,

so, my small rectangle trigger finally moved in and since this is my first triggerfish, I welcome some feeding advice. He looks a little skinny/bony (while he still IS small) and I can clearly see bones(?) at his sides towards the head (hard to explain, where the belly flap starts - maybe the gill plate? Not TOO familiar with trigger anatomy yet), but I also don't want to overfeed him.

How much should I feed him (or her) daily? How often?

Trying to get a picture, but fishy is still shy.

Edit: Success. Not good quality, but I think you can see what I mean. Maybe it's just normal for a trigger his size, but I've never seen it this obvious in bigger ones, that's why I'm a little worried.

nautical_nathaniel · May 4, 2018

I would make sure that it is getting a few chunks of food at least once a day, is this the only fish in the aquarium? What are you trying to feed it?

siniang · May 4, 2018

nautical_nathaniel said:
I would make sure that it is getting a few chunks of food at least once a day, is this the only fish in the aquarium? What are you trying to feed it?

He's currently sharing the tank with a lawnmower blenny who moved in with him at the same time. I gave him/them mysis shrimp this morning. My last fish I had fed actual shrimp (like, frozen from the supermarket - of course thawed!) twice a day, but I've been told that he's still too small for those, so I was gonna go with mysis and maybe brine for a while. But I'm also not completely sure about how much (the last one I gave as much as she would it in one take and then remove the bits of shrimp she wouldn't eat)

nautical_nathaniel · May 4, 2018

siniang said:
He's currently sharing the tank with a lawnmower blenny who moved in with him at the same time. I gave him/them mysis shrimp this morning. My last fish I had fed actual shrimp (like, frozen from the supermarket - of course thawed!) twice a day, but I've been told that he's still too small for those, so I was gonna go with mysis and maybe brine for a while. But I'm also not completely sure about how much (the last one I gave as much as she would it in one take and then remove the bits of shrimp she wouldn't eat)

Brine has very little nutritional value compared to mysis, I would keep feeding the mysis twice a day for both the trigger and the blenny, but you may also want to offer some nori from time to time. I've seen triggers pick at it from time to time but it will be really good for the blenny's diet. You can also treat the foods with garlic, it will usually enhance the appetite of fish and get them used to eating prepared foods in an aquarium setting. You will also need to try and condition the trigger to being fed by you by feeding at or around the same times each day and being very careful not to bang anything against the tank or make any sudden movements around it.

cracker · May 4, 2018

Do You have a fish market near by? Is so try to get some squid, fish, clam he would love a clam opened & sat on the bottom. Maybe some head-on shrimp? feed the head ! Any meaty "seafood" food you could cut into small chunks You think would fit. He does look skinny.

BellaD · May 4, 2018

I had a Blue Throat trigger that LOVED squid tentacles. They're pretty slim and easy for the fish to slurp up if you cut them in pieces.

siniang · May 4, 2018

Thank you for your feedback! I will keep feeding mysis for now (is one cube fine or should I use two?) I also picked up some mixed frozen food that contains algae (in addition), for the Blenny. Should I give that in addition or instead of mysis once a day? Will look up name/take a picture when I'm back home.

Will pick up some Nori and will look for a fish market for some clams. Frozen shrimps from the store in small chunks is fine, too?

Man, now I'm really worried

I wanted a rectangular for so long. How fast should he be picking up weight given the above feeding scheme?

Otherwise he seems ok so far. Regained his color after being really pale after shipping yesterday, and already seems to be starting to explore the tank some more

BellaD · May 4, 2018

I have a little Humu Picasso Trigger that's pretty skinny but he's eating like a pig now that he's acclimated for a few days. As long as your little guys eating I wouldn't stress out too much. Triggers are hardy fish and once they get settled in it shouldn't take long for yours to fatten up.

siniang · May 4, 2018

Ok, so here's the other one I had picked up. It also contains mysis shrimp (in addition to lots of other things), so I think it should be good. Should I give this once and "just mysis" once a day or this one twice for a while until he fattens up (and I have more natural algae in my tank for the blenny?)

The blenny is definitely a little less skiddish and has moved caves at least twice, already. Humu is coming out of "his" cave, but still kinda hiding in the background. But I don't blame him, he's small and been through a lot these past day and a half and his new home is so much bigger than the one he had for the past 3 or so weeks. He doesn't look sick or doesn't behave sick, he's just really...narrow. But he ate his breakfast this morning, will have dinner in a bit and I have a hunch he'll be eating that, too

HB AL · May 4, 2018

I've kept many different triggers over the years and he is definitely really thin, I would feed him as much as he will eat and for the time being whatever he eats the most. Ideally multiple times a day till he's stuffed. It's gonna take some time for him to fatten up to the point where you don't see any bones and such. Mysis, krill, brine and carnivore pellets, again whatever he seems to like the most and as much as he will eat. Right now you ideally want to see a full belly after eating so he can build up fat and muscle.

siniang · May 4, 2018

Ok, he gets as much as he wants!

siniang · May 5, 2018

BellaD said:
he's eating like a pig

Well, from a fish which's name is literally "head with a pig snout" I'd expect it to eat like a pig ;Smuggrin

siniang · May 6, 2018

After he was eating a lot and passionately the first two days, he seems to have slowed down. He ate all mysis etc. from the cubes each time, but this morning he only munched on a few. Also, upon recommendation from a friend, I got krill, which he LOVED, yesterday, but now he only took like two bites and now ignores it. Is he just full?

Also, now I have tiny mysis scattered throughout my tank and I'm a little worried about my water parameters. Big pieces I'm collecting, of course, but I'm pretty sure I'm not getting all the uneaten mysis. Any advice?

HB AL · May 6, 2018

When you feed him thaw the mysis,krill, brine cubes first then just squirt a little in at a time, untill he seems full. If your just throwing the whole cubes in, i doubt he will eat the whole thing. Definetly syphon out the uneaten food asap.

siniang · May 7, 2018

Thank you for your advice. The two-formular cubes actually say "don't thaw", but I will do it more stretched out. Maybe cut it in little pieces or something. I'm surprised he doesn't seem to care for the krill anymore.

Of course I try ti remove all food that isn't eaten, but since he's such a messy eater, it gets thrown around the entire tank and ends up in really small pieces and under rocks/in crevices. Those are the ones I'm somewhat worried about.

HB AL · May 7, 2018

I would buy a different food for the trigger. Like cubes that are just one type of shrimp, like all mysis, all brine, all krill. As your not gonna need the whole cube at once you can just cut a piece off it and thaw it and just feed a limited amount in one feeding and you won't have a bunch of un eaten food to deal with. I feed my fish Hikari frozen cubes, mysis, spiraluna brine, ocean plankton, mega marine, krill etc. I have a lot of fish and feed them 8 cubes at once but use this dropper pictured to slowly squirt the 8 thawed cubes as they eat off the food so none really goes uneaten.

Mr. Limpid · May 7, 2018

Get the shrimp with the shells on, this will help keep there teeth filed down. Also claims on the half shell will help with his teeth too.

marco2 · May 7, 2018

I have a bonded pair blue triggers in QT for a little over a week I feed them iqf krill
They love it
But they also eat pretty much whatever I put in the tank