Clown trigger in a reef tank?

[sunken3]

all the clowns I have had never went spaz I had a queen trigger that was pure evil and would attack everything . the oldest clown trigger I have had lived to about 15 years and was so tame you could pet it . They are very curious fish and love attention .Grumpy is in a 300 gallon and has a humma ,niger and blue throat as well as an undulated that are all full grown will post a pic when I get home. Grumpy and the niger hang out together .in all the years of keeping triggers the only problem besides the evil queen was they would rearrange the tank to there liking and nock over a frag ,but still not bothersome . If you approach keeping triggers in a reef like a puppy your mind set is good if you are OCD about your placement of things and aqua shaping ,stick to a clown fish lol.

you must have a really long drive.. still waiting for those pics..

 

[Erikhsf]

Is he picking on any of your snails or shrimp??

I would be more worried about thoes clams has he niped at them at all yet???

 

[Bpfor3]

That's what my clown trigger did. Started taking chunks out of the clam mantles. He was good until about 3-4". I tried.‍

I would be more worried about thoes clams has he niped at them at all yet???

 

[Sean Clark]

Clown triggers are amazing animals. I would say that if you want to keep them long term then the tank should be tailored around keeping them.

 

[wareagle]

Is there any clean up crew that's safe around them ?

 

[Sean Clark]

Is there any clean up crew that's safe around them ?

Just you, and even that is questionable.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

@HB AL can you give us an update on your trigger? How has it been for you?

 

[lefkonj]

Small specimen sure, large specimen they will go after anything but cleaner shrimp

 

[wareagle]

Just you, and even that is questionable.

You guys almost had me going to the LFS to pick one of these up.

 

[Sean Clark]

You guys almost had me going to the LFS to pick one of these up.

You can do it but replacing clean up crew all of the time gets expensive.

 

[wareagle]

Yeah, I'm using $4.00 snails plus shipping.

 

[Sven The Elder]

I had a very small Clown Trigger in a reef back in the mid 80's. God he/she was gorgeous! He was not vicious in the least, but he was extremely curious and had to just give everything he saw a little nip, as if to see if it was tasty. Christmas worms were too interesting so they had to be quarantined. On the other hand, I've read a few of the above posts mentioning Queens and an Undulate. I have not had a Queen because I know they are bad news, but I did have a spectacular Undulate named Attila the Hungary, he lived up to and beyond his name. As mentioned by others, he was a designer, if he did not like the setup of the tank, he would change it. He would pick up rocks and move them and set them down, back up, look at his work, then move in and adjust it a few times before being happy and leaving it. He was one of the most interesting fish I've ever had, you could pet him and literally lift him out of the water. If anyone other than me neared the tank, he would rush towards them and snap his teeth while changing his coloration to a darker green and brighter orange. You could hear the snapping teeth clear across the room. His favorite food, besides hot dogs and live fish (please excuse me, we were in college and he got clean seawater constantly so water quality was not an issue) was frozen peas. I would let them thaw just a little and then toss a few in the tank, he would take it in, mull it around in his mouth for a second and then spit out the pea with the outer skin perfectly removed. He would then just go ahead and eat both skin and pea. Eventually we donated him to the Waikiki Aquarium. They put him in a 400 gallon tank with a bunch of other aggressive fish. They were a little concerned that he was smaller than the rest of the bad boys but soon discovered that he cleaned out the tank. Eventually they moved him to the black-tip reef shark tank since they felt they could not dedicate a 400 gallon tank to one fish. He did not have the same experience in that tank. In short, Triggers are fantastic fish and loaded with personality, but each species and each individual is different, your mileage will vary. The biggest concern I have is not that they are mean or really want to eat anything in particular, but they have a tendency to use their sense of taste as one of their prime and first used senses.

 

[HB AL]

@HB AL can you give us an update on your trigger? How has it been for you?

They are all doing great!

 

[Duncan62]

I have a simple question, will a clown trigger eat any specific type of corals? I have all types of corals, shrooms, zoas, lps and sps? As I already have a Sargassum and Bluethroat my cleanup crew snails and hermits have trained themselves(if that’s even possible) to only come out at night as they hide while the lights are on and I only see them when the lights have been off and I flash a flashlight in there. Over the last 30+ years I’ve owned virtually all types of triggers so I’m well aware of each trigger types of tendencies as far as aggression, personalities etc. Hopefully someone has 1st hand experience with a clown trigger in a full blown reef tank.

Anything with a shell or spines will be killed. Mine never harmed a coral but everything else is fair game. To me it was worth it at the time.

 

[McPuff]

Did you say undulated triggerfish with other fish?

I'm amazed by anyone who keeps one of these and doesn't experience lots of death. :0) I had one about 20 years ago and it was vicious. Very shy, very pretty, but downright deadly.

@HB AL love to see the posts with your triggers.

@Sean Clark very cool to see another Michigan reefer keeping triggers!

Right now I've got a humu and assasi in a 75 gal "lagoon" that is connected to my system. They live peacefully with a clown, azure damsel, and a two spot bristletooth tang [and each other!]. They are in with LPS, softies, mushrooms, SPS and gorgonians. They do not touch any corals. They'll nip at anything that I put into the tank but that's just what triggers do. Taste everything!

I just added a niger to my display tank and after a week it's finally starting to venture out a bit more during feedings. They are SO shy at first.

I've been considering putting the two Rhinecanthus into my display for a while and probably will do that eventually. Just really can't come to terms with them eating all my snails.

 

[alton]

Definition of a reef safe fish? Not sure there is one, I sold a Purple Tang once back to my LFS and they placed in a special clients tank, and in a couple weeks it destroyed several hundred dollars worth of coral. So it was placed in an eel tank by the client. My Regal angels that I have had for years in reef tanks decided a few months ago to start chomping down on my SPS to where I no longer have SPS. No issues with LPS.

 

[Manny’s Reef]

They are all doing great!

So the clams are missing in this updated video. Safe to say the trigger got the clams?

 

[HB AL]

No, sold one the other started gaping so I pulled it out, cut it all outta the shell and fed it to the fish. They all ignored it while it was alive, I was surprised they didn't eat it when it was alive.

 

[ID-Reefer]

Any update? I have 200 gal. mixed reef that is SPS dominated. Have a blue Jaw that has been a model citizen and would really like to add a small juvenile Clown Trigger. No clams but I do have a long spine urchin, two cleaner shrimp, a good sized harlequin shrimp and probably 3 dozen snails and a couple conchs. I have several wrasses who take out at least a snail or two a week so Im used to that. Have always loved Clown triggers and thinking about giving it a try.

 

[HB AL]

Any update? I have 200 gal. mixed reef that is SPS dominated. Have a blue Jaw that has been a model citizen and would really like to add a small juvenile Clown Trigger. No clams but I do have a long spine urchin, two cleaner shrimp, a good sized harlequin shrimp and probably 3 dozen snails and a couple conchs. I have several wrasses who take out at least a snail or two a week so Im used to that. Have always loved Clown triggers and thinking about giving it a try. If your sps, acro dominated and the corals are more important they will start biting at them but I don't care, I keep red monti caps along with other but the clowns and hawaiian black like to only bite the red caps, havnt figured that one out yet, but things are going well. Here's some pics I took the other day. I'm in Vegas right now and watched the feeding frenzy at the Mirage casino tank, and just shot pics and vids for an hour in awe as they've really got some large rare fish. Im uploading the vids and post a link to the frenzy. Heres a couple fish i havnt seen diving or at a lfs.