Picasso Triggerfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The Picasso is one of the more outgoing and food-motivated triggers, quick to recognize its keeper and beg at feeding time, but it is genuinely aggressive: it will harass, injure, or kill smaller and slower tankmates, and it grows bolder and more territorial with age. It is not reef safe and will eat snails, crabs, shrimp, and small bivalves on sight, and it will happily dig up a sand bed or knock over loose rockwork. Feed a varied carnivore diet including something hard-shelled, like clams or crab, several times a week to help wear down its continuously growing teeth. It is not venomous, but it can bite hard enough to break skin, so keep hands out of the tank during aggressive moods and take care during maintenance.

In the wild

Lives in shallow lagoons, tide pools, and reef flats across a huge range spanning the Indo-Pacific and parts of the eastern Atlantic, typically from the surface down to about 50 meters. It patrols sandy patches near reef structure and blows jets of water into the sand to uncover buried prey. In the tank it wants a long aquarium with a sand bed to rearrange, solid rockwork wedged in tight so it cannot be toppled, and open swimming room.

Good to know

Rhinecanthus aculeatus is a triggerfish in the family Balistidae, reaching about 30 cm, named for the bold tan, black, and blue face markings that read like an abstract painting. Like all triggerfish it has a locking first dorsal spine that a second small spine holds erect until manually released, letting it wedge into a crevice and become almost impossible to pull out. In the wild it is an omnivore, eating algae, worms, mollusks, sea urchins, and small fish as it forages over sand and rubble.

Did you know

Despite the trade nickname, this fish is not the true Hawaiian state fish, humuhumunukunukuapuaa: that title belongs to its close relative the reef triggerfish, though the two are so often confused that the humu name has stuck to the Picasso as well.

Related species

• 

  Wedgetail triggerfish

  Rhinecanthus rectangulus

  11.8 in (30 cm)106 gal (400 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Undulated triggerfish

  Balistapus undulatus

  11.8 in (30 cm)180 gal (680 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Bursa Triggerfish

  Sufflamen bursa

  9.8 in (25 cm)125 gal (473 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Crosshatch triggerfish

  Xanthichthys mento

  11.8 in (30 cm)106 gal (400 L)70–79°F (21–26°C)

• 

  Niger Triggerfish

  Odonus niger

  11.8 in (30 cm)180 gal (680 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Clown Triggerfish

  Balistoides conspicillum

  19.7 in (50 cm)300 gal (1,135 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)