Baby Humu In 125 Gallon With Coc

I just went to my LFS and I found 2 Baby Rectangle Triggers, or Humus. They looked to be one inches long, about as big as my Occelaris Clownfish. I am planning to get a 5-Foot 125 or 100 gallon tank and I really want a Humu. Here in Hawaii, I've seen them in tanks of this size and they seem to be doing fine. Can I get one? Also, will It eat my hermit crabs and trochus snails? I'm not keeping corals, but I still want to see if the little guy will be safe around my COC.

 

Any invert in the tank will be killed that's for sure.

 

Humu Triggers get a foot in length and are an aggressive fish to boot. Forget about inverts with one in your tank as they will be eaten. About the only invert I could recommend for most Triggerfish is a conch snail (cleans your sand bed). Beyond that any invert will become lunch for the trigger and it will be a jerk to smaller, less aggressive fish to boot. The recommended minimum for a Humu is a 180 gallon tank (which is a big 6 foot tank). The folks who have them in smaller tanks could keep them for a while but would have to rehome them before they got full size. There is no trigger I could recommend to be kept long term in anything smaller than a 6 foot long tank. You can also rule out the longnose yellow butterflyfish, any tang except for the smallest bristletooth varieties, and any foxface except the One Spot.

The only semi-reef safe triggers are the blue throat or the red tails and they still need a 6 foot long tank.

 

I did a size error. The tank is 6 feet. Anyways, I still don't think I'll be getting a trigger. That's a shame because they were such smol little fish!

 

It's a bit of a risk with inverts still but a blue throat or red tail might work if it's a 6 foot 125. They still get big though and might be aggressive.

 

I saw some baby Niger Triggers at the LFS too. I don't think they are good for a 125, however. I might TRY the baby humu, but maybe rehome it when it gets big. It's just too adorable!

 

If I keep the zebra hermits in the 10 gallon, will a Strawberry, Porcelain, or a large Halloween Hermit do well with the humu?

 

As stated above all inverts are food for the trigger. The conch can usually bury in the sand to get away from one, but that's the only invert I can recommend. Also you are going to need to change up your stock list with the triggerfish. Triggers aren't just semi-aggressive, they are flat out aggressive, which means that any fish that is generally peaceful will likely be bullied withone in your tank. Also, if you are dead set on a Humu Trigger, you could switch to a Bursa which would be a better choice as they stay a bit smaller and could work long term in a 6 foot 125. The Bursa looks very similar to the Humu:

Bursa Triggerfish

A Tang would probably do okay with a Trigger, but the Longnose Butterflyfish or any Butterflyfish is out the window as they fare very poorly with aggressive fish. You would have to get rid of the Chromis and Clown Goby as well. The Foxface would probably be okay because of it's venomous spines. If you are basically going without inverts in this tank and bigger and more aggressive fish, I would look into the Thalassoma Wrasses. The Blue Head is stunning as an adult and would do well with bigger and more aggressive fish (a jerk with peaceful fish and inverts though).