Triggers in a reef

[lion king]

We can argue about tank size and the base of all of our unethically choices by keeping them in a glass cage at all. My choice in the word unethical has to do with putting aggressive triggers in small tanks with improper tank mates. These guys are not fin nippers; they rip, and tear, and gouge. I've seen triggers grab a blenny or whatever by the tail and grind them up like going through a meat grinder. I've seen fish get disemboweled by triggers; and when they take an eye, they take half the face. That's what happens when that cute 2"trigger matures in a small tank with improper tankmates. And that info is out there, so yeah, it bothers me when people encourage this type of decision.

 

[TMB]

I have to agree with @lion king on the severely aggressive nature of triggers. As a kid my parents kept many salt tanks in the home. One in particular that started as a 240 gallon fish only system, ended up with only 3 fish after some number of years. Those fish were Niger Trigger, Queen Trigger, and a Clown Trigger, all grew to the ~12” size.

These huge Triggers were incredible in decimating other fish “just for fun”, and could lift and move huge rocks and throw them around the tank.

To this day I love those 3 triggers, but refuse to get them because I don’t want to dedicate a large aquarium to them alone.

 

[HB AL]

I had a beautiful queen trigger that after years together killed every fish in the tank.

 

[TMB]

@HB AL I know it sounds strange to say but I wouldn’t be surprised if you possibly ran into my dad back in the day if you’ve been in this for 30+ years. He frequented any and all LFS in the South Bay Area, we lived in Redondo Beach.

 

[ShadowR55]

I had a beautiful queen trigger that after years together killed every fish in the tank.

I guess you could say it got trigger happy

 

[Mpal771]

niger triggers are good as well
BUT
I have clown trigger, niger,
humma and undulated in mine

You are awesome! Each trigger is unique in terms of when it will turn if purchased as a juvenile. AN earlier post regarding a Niger being kept in check by a blue tang wont last forever. You keep doing what you do brother-that is an amzing photo

 

[HB AL]

@HB AL I know it sounds strange to say but I wouldn’t be surprised if you possibly ran into my dad back in the day if you’ve been in this for 30+ years. He frequented any and all LFS in the South Bay Area, we lived in Redondo Beach.

You never know but I mainly made the rounds around OC, mostly just here in HB area as they would get ya any type of animal you wanted.

 

[HB AL]

I guess you could say it got trigger happy

Even killed the snowflake eel, my wife still trips when she sees a queen at the lfs.

 

[Hogan]

I have a pair of cross hatch triggers. They sometime go after hermit crabs (not supper aggressively) but leave the cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, conch, clam, banded shrimp, and all corals alone. There is 1 fairy wrasse that the male doesn't like for some reason and sometime he will chase it, but the wrasse is much small and just darts among the rock and the trigger gives up.

 

[64Ivy]

And I once had a pair of Crosshatches (6”-7”) in a 500g reef that went totally berserk as soon as they hit the display. While the female would frantically pace back and forth, frightening everything in her path and making ME a nervous wreck, the male killed both a Flame Hawk and Green Chromis (bit him in half while I watched) apparently just for the heck of it. Couldn’t get them back to the LFS fast enough. And if I ever try Crosshatches again, (I actually like Crosshatches), it’ll most certainly be one at a time, if not just one, period.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

You really want to talk ridiculous and unethical, its unethical to remove and keep any fish from the ocean in our glass box, even a large tank, add in also the mortality rate from ocean to your tank, probably 100's of thouasands
. But ive been doing it for 30+years so i guess im unethical. Im not gonna post up the 14 fish i have in my 92g cuz you might have a heart attack. By the way havnt had a fish die in the 2.5 years my current tank has been set up and i dont quarantine, just float and plop but i do buy them all from 1 lfs. Attacking people for what YOU THINK is an inadequate size tank for the specimen is just plain rude. Sounds like some posts i read on another website, but this is the only one i post on cuz the community here has got a different vibe(good thing).

It seems like you and 'Lion King' have differing views on the topic. Just wanted to add my $.02. In my very humble opinion a niger, hippo, and 12 other fish in a 92 gallon tank seems a bit concerning. Who knows, these 12 other fish might just be mollies, but that is a lot of fish in a very confined space. Add the fact that nothing has been quarantined makes me very nervous. I truly hope you have continued success with the setup, however I would highly encourage you to look into a larger setup and adding a QT.

 

[HB AL]

Ya it’s not for everyone, a good lfs really helps with having healthy specimens. I added my last fish well over a year ago, all the fish are healthy and have there pecking order. Crazy part is it was gonna be a fowlr when I started it almost 3 years ago but has transformed from small frags to a full blown cluster of corals, go figure. Fish are happy though. Here’s a pic for some perspective.

 

[batfish5]

I have a 5" clown trigger in mixed reef with inverts , has never touched anything! Same thing with the 6" Navarchus angel in the same tank.I feed them once in the morning around 9:00 after the lights start ramping up on my 80 gal. tank.

 

[Stigigemla]

There is a buy & sell on my home forum (saltvattensguiden.se)
It is easy to see that nigers change behavor at 6 inches because thats the lenght they appear at the sell list.
Picassos often at 4 inches. Xanthichtys is very rare.
I have read somewhere a long time ago that the teeth of the triggers grow their entire life so they have to grind them off. If they dont have hermits and molluscs they go to live rock or heater or cables.
I have seen pictures from public aquarias where the staff grind off teeth of triggers and parrots manually.

 

[Stigigemla]

There is a buy & sell on my home forum (saltvattensguiden.se)
It is easy to see that nigers change behavor at 6 inches because thats the lenght they appear at the sell list.
Picassos often at 4 inches. Xanthichtys is very rare there.
I have read somewhere a long time ago that the teeth of the triggers grow their entire life so they have to grind them off. If they dont have hermits and molluscs they go to live rock or heater or cables.
I have seen pictures from public aquarias where the staff grind off teeth of triggers and parrots manually.

 

[eatbreakfast]

There is a buy & sell on my home forum (saltvattensguiden.se)
It is easy to see that nigers change behavor at 6 inches because thats the lenght they appear at the sell list.
Picassos often at 4 inches. Xanthichtys is very rare.
I have read somewhere a long time ago that the teeth of the triggers grow their entire life so they have to grind them off. If they dont have hermits and molluscs they go to live rock or heater or cables.
I have seen pictures from public aquarias where the staff grind off teeth of triggers and parrots manually.

Not all triggers have teeth that need to be worn down, just the ones with the fused jaw, not the ones with individual teeth. And as long as there is live rock they will keep it worn down themselves.

 

[lion king]

It seems like you and 'Lion King' have differing views on the topic. Just wanted to add my $.02. In my very humble opinion a niger, hippo, and 12 other fish in a 92 gallon tank seems a bit concerning. Who knows, these 12 other fish might just be mollies, but that is a lot of fish in a very confined space. Add the fact that nothing has been quarantined makes me very nervous. I truly hope you have continued success with the setup, however I would highly encourage you to look into a larger setup and adding a QT.

I am always in a moral dilemma about keeping fish at all, that's my burden. I've been around along time as well, way back in the day when salt water was like another planet. So we all did alot of trial and error. But today the info is out there, and easy to access. So to purposefully put a living being into a high risk situation of being fubar'd is just wrong, no matter which online community you frequent. I have many friends in many different aspects of the profession, and even today a friend that works at an lfs tells me about people that enjoy the bloodbath that certain triggers create. I always thought we here at R2R cared about the well being of life above anything else, even hurting someone's feelings.

Responding to post about the crosshatch triggers being aggressive and going back to the lfs, think about the fish involved with the incident. Crosshatch always come in rather large from collection, so you have to mindful of the tankmates in the tank they are going in. Going back to OP, I believe the Xanthichthys triggers to be a good community reef choice, as long as you are mindful of the what else is in the tank.

 

[Steve1500]

I am interested in a Niger for my 180 but I read that they may eat smaller reef fish. I have two clowns (2-3") a benggahi (sp?) cardinal 2" and a small springier damsel (1"). Three questions:

Will any of these be in danger if I get a smaller Niger? Especially that little damsel!

I may also be getting some dispar anthias. Not sure how big those will be but will they be turned into dinner?

Last question: I don't have the 180G up and running yet, but should I add the Niger at the same time as my tangs (yellow 3-4", blue 3", kole 3")?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am interested in a Niger for my 180 but I read that they may eat smaller reef fish. I have two clowns (2-3") a benggahi (sp?) cardinal 2" and a small springier damsel (1"). Three questions:

Will any of these be in danger if I get a smaller Niger? Especially that little damsel!

I may also be getting some dispar anthias. Not sure how big those will be but will they be turned into dinner?

Last question: I don't have the 180G up and running yet, but should I add the Niger at the same time as my tangs (yellow 3-4", blue 3", kole 3")?

Niger will be fine with the mix. If in question with niger, make it the last fish you introduce. They are acceptive of those in the tank already.

 

[Darryl]

should not have a problem at all! Don't forget to feed the niger seaweed and vegs that is a good portion of its diet and if you can get a smaller one like 2-3" you can have a good hand in his behavior . almost like puppies