Clown Trigger Owners

Recently I have noticed that my Clown Trigger becomes very "clear/white" in color while he's hanging out in my tank. I've tried to get a pic to show you all but soon as he sees me coming he starts swimming around and gets all his color back. Is this part of their personality or should I be worried? Has anyone else that owns one seen this?

 

They only turn white when they're stressed. How big is your tank?

 

Does it happen at all times of the day or at night? Being stressed is not the only reason they turn white. My niger and many of my fish turn really white night or if ther out of the light as well. I wouldn't worry to much. Just keep him fed with a wide variety of foods and feed daily to keep him happy.

 

It's a 55gal upright but he's still relatively small. I am going to trade him out once he gets bigger. If this may be the reason I'll do it sooner. Sux cause I really like the guy. I almost want to get a bigger tank for the sole reason being to keep this guy. With that being said would a 120gal even be big enough?

 

It seems to happen in the early evenings. I feed him three times a day. He gets everything from the pellets, sea weed, clams, feeder shrimp, squid, and mysis shrimp.

 

No, unfortunately, a 120 is not nearly big enough. A 120 is just a taller and wider 55 :-/ These guys really should be in tanks around the 300 gallon size.

It baffles my mind why LFS insist on getting large shipments of baby Clown Tangs. Both of my LFS currently have between 20-30 of them in stock, and on sale. Yet there are probably only a small handful of tanks in my area that could even house an adult.

 

Yes I was a newbie. You'd think a simple question like "What size tank do you have?" would have been the first question my LFS would have asked me. Live n learn I guess. I also don't want to just dump him back in there; then he goes to another small tank. My girlfriend would shoot me if I start talking about getting a 300 gallon tank! Maybe I can donate him somewhere when he gets bigger?

edit: I still am a newbie! Just have enough common sense to ask how big a fish gets these days before I buy it. And now I plan on asking here before purchasing anything else for my tank.

 

At least you are learning and asking the right questions now to be a responsible hobbyist I just bought a decent sized Foxface last night and was never asked what size tank I have. For all they knew, I could have only had a nano :-/ Sad, but most LFS top priority is making the sale, and not on responsible husbandry. This is not true across the board, but happens more time than not from what I have seen.

 

Here's a pic of my 55gal and my Clown Trigger in the middle of the tank as a size reference. Does he look like he's out grown my tank? I know my CC is dirty but I'm switching over to live sand in a day or two..

 

Well, while he is not yet "big", boy does he look big compared to the clowns and damsel! Is about 3.5-4" now?