Triggers in a reef?

[Heath Biggers]

I have had a medium size clown trigger with multiple hard and soft corals for 10 months. No problems at all.

 

[cumbeje]

Mainly frozen for mine.

Do they need something special to keep their teeth down? I feed my fish frozen mysis ect....

 

[SPR1968]

Does anyone successfully have triggers in a reef and if so which ones do you keep?

I've got a pair of blue Throat Triggers and they are real characters!

If you look up my build thread below there are some videos of them 'nesting' or trying to!

 

[HB AL]

Do they need something special to keep their teeth down? I feed my fish frozen mysis ect....

I've never worried about that, just make sure the food particles are big enough or they will not even look at them.

 

[joshg]

Blue throat most docile or maybe even a niger. I've successfully kept both in a reef tank.

 

[Lisavet2000]

Sargassum trigger

How big is your Sargassum? I have one and its been with me for five years and she is still only about 4in. She just doesn't grow. I was just wondering if this is nornal?

 

[HB AL]

How big is your Sargassum? I have one and its been with me for five years and she is still only about 4in. She just doesn't grow. I was just wondering if this is nornal?

Thats my 1st sargassum its about 4 inches now. From lots of experience he seems to have the kind of scales where it would be a slow grower, if that makes sense. Unlike a blueline, queen where they grow fast. Some fish also stop growing to the size of the tank unlike some fish that just keeps growing. Maybe thats as large as yours is gonna get in that size tank.

 

[Lisavet2000]

Thats my 1st sargassum its about 4 inches now. From lots of experience he seems to have the kind of scales where it would be a slow grower, if that makes sense. Unlike a blueline, queen where they grow fast. Some fish also stop growing to the size of the tank unlike some fish that just keeps growing. Maybe thats as large as yours is gonna get in that size tank.

Well my Sargassum is in my 150g with coral. Its been there ever since I got it. Eats like a pig, just doesn't grow.

 

[HB AL]

Its probably the kind of fish that stops growing do to the size of the tank, not a bad thing in my opinion. Only way to test the theory is to throw him in a tank double the size and see if it grows a couple more inches.

 

[UNCFAN]

I get large shrimp from the grocery store and feed mine. He eats about half of a large shrimp each time I feed him. He also eats pellet food that I feed the other fish in the tank.

 

[UNCFAN]

Mine has not grown any large then the day I got him.

 

[HB AL]

Many years ago when i had a large clown, blueline and queen they gorged on raw grocery store shrimp along with squid, sardines and anchovies that i had leftover from fishing trips. If we didnt get bait that day i would jig up some mackrel to bring home, had a little freezer in the garage to store all there food fresh from the ocean, never bought food for those suckers in 10 years. They were in a 200 and the only ones that kept growing were the blueline and queen, the clown leveled stopped after about 5 years. They were the only ones in the tank as the ate my groupers and lion fish one day. The lfs looked at me in disbelief when i showed up with the 3 buckets with those suckers in them, it was a sad day.

 

[HB AL]

Just last week i was at the lfs and they had someone bring in a niger that was around 12 inches long, have to say that was one of the most beautiful big triggers i have ever seen. Daughter is going away to college in a couple months and i think im gonna set up the 150 i have sitting in the garage in her room and go with a straight trigger tank, man i love triggers, glad there are reef safe ones, i dont think ive had a tank without triggers in 30 years. Gonna throw some acro and monti frags in there and see how it goes with the " coral eaters ".

 

[CanadianReefer]

Sargassum is my favorite but not easy to find and I never had luck past a year with them. Blue jaws are generally safe. I had a niger for a year or so, was a model citizen, then overnight became extremely aggressive. I came home from work and found every fish in my tank in corners breathing heavily and the niger was just going from one corner to another taking out chunks of them. Was a bad day. I have also seen people keep Picasso's in their reefs with success. Any trigger may or may not eat your inverts but generally they leave your coral alone.

Are you in Canada? They have a Sargassum for sale at JL aquatics. They may ship to the States too. No clue.

 

[CanadianReefer]

I had a large crosshatch Trigger in my last reef, it was a 565 gallon tank and the crosshatch started chasing and eating my blue chromis!! LoL

That's not what I want to hear! I'm on the lookout for a male crosshatch as we speak, and he will be housed with some smaller fish ... How big was yours??

 

[XNavyDiver]

I had a Queen come up from behind me when diving in Bimini and took a nickel sized chunk of skin and hair from the back of my skull. Knocked my mask off and gave me a scare for a second. Didn't hurt till I got back on the boat, then, ouch.

 

[HB AL]

Im in socal so our lfs has or can get anything. They have a small 4 inch female crosshatch i was looking at just the other day along with a bigger male. Its selling for 499$, if the smaller one woulda been a male i think an impulse buy would have occured.

 

[HB AL]

I had a Queen come up from behind me when diving in Bimini and took a nickel sized chunk of skin and hair from the back of my skull. Knocked my mask off and gave me a scare for a second. Didn't hurt till I got back on the boat, then, ouch.

Yup they gotta be the meanest trigger you can get.

 

[lion king]

Every time I see a post like this I crack up, other than a X species and hit or miss on a niger and M species; none of the other triggers will ever be reef compatible in the long run. I hope the ones with clowns and such post when that trigger makes kindling out of their acros. I've seen triggers live in a reef for as long as 3 years as a model citizen, then when they mature; havoc. I warned a friend and had to crack up right in his face when his clown trigger did about a $1000 of damage in his reef before he got him out.

 

[AtulR]

I'd say the only Triggerfish I'd trust in a reef would be Crosshatches or Bluethroats. I've seen both of those do extremely well in reefs, and may only take a couple of invertebrates here and there.