Niger Trigger in a 175? Will go on a shrimp-killing rampage?

[Humuhumununu]

Will a Niger Triggerfish go on a shrimp-killing rampage in a reef tank? I know that species will go after inverts when they get larger. And while I'm on the topic of the Niger Triggerfish, I would like to know if it will attack my Lawn Mower Goby, Long-Nose Hawkfish, or my Bicolor Dotty Back. They have their individual territories/shelters in the 175 gallon tank, and the larger inhabitants are all vegetarians, so I'm concerned that a fish from the Trigger family (which are notoriously known for their aggressiveness) might cause more damages than the price of that actual Niger Trigger. The main reason I'm talking about this on the forum is because my local fish dealer has the Niger Trigger on the Reef Safe Side of the store, but I know these triggers can get large and aggressive ( I had an iccident when I was diving in Hawaii. I ran in to a school of about 20 +, which I didn't know they did school in the wild, and apparently as a large group they have a large territorial, so naturally when I got within about 30 yards, they turned toward me and a few of the larger ones in the group tried to scare me off or something, so they started to nip my fins.) Long story short, if they are that aggressive to a large diver, what would one be like when it gets to be the largest in my tank, with a few other large and small fish in a penned in environment? The best answer I get from my local retailer is that they simply don't know, and yes I have checked about 6 different forms of compatibility charts.

 

[ErinCahir]

I had one in a 150 without any instances of aggressiveness towards any fish.
He left my cleaner shrimp alone, but would go after my peppermints (and ate a couple). Snails and hermit crabs he ignored.

 

[Humuhumununu]

You said that the fish ignored the snails but ate some of the shrimp? My friend has one in a 250g, and he did the opposite. It completely ignore any shrimp, but it always tried to eat a snail, even though it couldn't. I wonder if what inverts they go after is pre-determined by what they are fed by the dealer?

 

[Bifferwine]

Niger triggers are one of the triggers considered "reef safe-ish" -- the others being the pink tail trigger and the crosshatch trigger. They are normally pretty passive and will not attack other tank inhabitants. I had a pink tail for many years, and he never bothered a thing. They are such pretty and unique fish -- even if they did eat my snails or crabs, I'd still say they are worth having in a reef!

 

[ErinCahir]

You said that the fish ignored the snails but ate some of the shrimp? My friend has one in a 250g, and he did the opposite. It completely ignore any shrimp, but it always tried to eat a snail, even though it couldn't. I wonder if what inverts they go after is pre-determined by what they are fed by the dealer?

They'll typically leave any cleaner species alone (skunk, fire, coral banded... the ones with the long white antenna).