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

 

[sinasster]

what is your salinity/specific gravity?

he may just need some time to acclimate himself to the new home.

 

[rmaurin]

Hi sinasster,

Specific Gravity is 1.0215.

I think you may be right, he may just need some time to get used to his new home.

I did a Google search and found out why these fish are called Trigger's. If they are scared, they will swim into a crack/crevice and lock themslves into position by "Trigger"ing their top fin. This holds them in their hiding place so predators cannot pull them out.

Even though my Trigger is not in a crevice, he is laying on the bottom of the tank against the live rock. His top fin is in the upright position.

Rich

 

[wayne]

I hope you're saving up for a much,much larger tank, both for their soon to be size, and the size will be required to dilute aggression. Don't assume they'll grow to the size of the tank - they won't stop.