How to take care of saltwater angel fish/ niger trigger?

Question

Hi i am currently looking into buying either a saltwater flame angel fish and/or a niger trigger. i have heard that they are both hard to take care of. what makes it harder to take care of them? do they eat specific food? can they live together, and along with damsels, a puffer, 2 tangs, and a cardinal fish? i have a 95 gallon tank and it has been running for about 3 months now.

Thanks in advance from a new marine aquarist

Answer 1

I cannot help with the angel, I do not have one, I do have a niger trigger, it is not hard to feed, gut loaded ghost shrimp, mussels, shrimp, flake food and occasional guppies. mine lives with damsels and cardinals and I have no problems, they are shy at first and will hide alot, make sure you have a lot of rock for it to do so, 2 tangs in a 95 gallon is a bit much, but I do not think you will have a problem there either.  what kind of puffer?  I have a Porcupine puffer and have no problems, if it a gsp or some other smaller puffer, they are nasty fin nippers and may not be a good idea....the rest of my stock is a humahuma trigger  6 damsels, 4 clowns, and a few gobies, they all do well together, just remember, 95 gallons does not go far when you have fish that normally like 125+ gallons to live in.  (tangs, not the trigger) they are a beautiful fish, good luck.

Answer 2

By flame angel I'm assuming you mean a Dwarf Flame Angel (Centropyge loricula). With flames, it's not that they are hard to take care of as much as they simply don't ship well. What this means to an aquarist is that the fish generally enters our tanks rather stressed and not willing to eat. Combine that with some aggressive or territorial tank mates, and you find a situation where the mortality gets rather high on this species. If you can locate a good healthy specimen and quarantine it on it's own for a couple weeks to allow it to settle in and begin eating, you will have a species that can be a great addition to a fish only tank. Caution should be used as far as reef inverts go, as this species can be hit or miss as to how reef safe they prove to be.

As for the Niger Trigger, they are another great species for a large fish only tank, but be aware of their location when your working in the tank, as they have been known to nip on their human keepers. Though primarily a planktivore in the wild, this fish will readily take smaller meaty fair such as brine shrimp, mysid shrimp and the like in home aquaria.