Triggerfish
The Triggerfish family of fishes is sometimes brought into the marine aquarium trade. They all have very distinctive triagular body shapes with an over enlarged head to body ratio. Most of them have a head that takes up as much as one third the size of their overall body size. They are large, bold and aggressive marine aquarium fish that require large aquariums to do well over the long run.
They are called triggerfish after their first two upper and lower spines that can erect and lock them in place when they seek shelter within a cave or rock structure. Once secure, they are said to be near impossible to remove unless the rock itself if removed to facilitate removal.
They all mostly require larger aquariums as the largest of them can reach a length surpassing three feet in length.
On average however, they are mostly within the one to two feet length bracket. They have specially designed mouths that are designed specifically to crush the thick armor of crustaceans. They also feed on a variety of sea urchins, snails and smaller fish that they manage to catch.
They are all extremely hardy and adapt well to life in captivity. They will soon learn to eat anything offered, including any marine aquarium shrimp you may have such as fire or cleaner shrimp. Because of this, they are not considered invertebrate safe in reef. Triggerfish can also move substrate and live rock around to suit their needs so don't be surprised to notice that your rock scape looks a little different the next day.
They are largely an aggressive species that will defend its territory violently if necessary. They have also been known to bite the fingers of a few owners now and then. Such bites are usually painful owing the pressure their strong jaws can exert.
Lastly, triggerfish are known as very intelligent fish that have their own characters. Some find these traits endearing will others think they are too much trouble. They are normally seen in large fish only aquariums along with other aggressive species of fish. Only those with the largest aquariums in the range of hundreds of gallons or more can adequately rear the larger species that are sometimes brought in such as the Titan Triggerfish.
