Undulate Triggerfish tankmates (Yes, I know what you're thinking)

[Earl Karl]

I have a 125 gallon with a juv. Snowflake Eel (over a foot long, only 1" diameter) and a Neon Velvet Damselfish (around 2-3"). My friend gave me a 3" female Undulate Triggerfish. Would these fish get along? I'm expecting the Damselfish and Triggerfish to fight (probably going to move the Damselfish), however, I am hoping that the Triggerfish doesn't harm the eel (maybe a few nips, but hopefully not serious damage). A lot of macroalgae and live rocks to create territory.

 

[lion king]

Eventually the undy will kill the snowflake. My experience at that size you will start to see an increase in aggression as she matures. Hopefully you'll pull her before it goes too far. That size tank usually nothing will survive with an undy once they reach 5 or so inches.

 

[Mal11224]

I can't say for sure but I have the following in my tank and I know my trigger is king, but he behaves.
Niger trigger
4 clowns
2 anthias
Magnificent foxface
Yellow tang
2 mandarins
Six line wrasse
One big happy family. The trigger is about 5 inches long.
Good luck. Anything is possible.

 

[Earl Karl]

Wow, thanks for the fast replies. It's a shame how aggressive these beautiful fish are. I would have never thought a triggerfish would pick on an eel though.

 

[Earl Karl]

However, are there any other triggerfish that can live in a 125g? Like the Undulate, I like triggerfish that stays in it's territory rather than swimming all over the place. Had a bad experience with the Black Durgon zipping everywhere, ripping the macroalgae out of place.

 

[lion king]

I have a 125 as a juvi trigger tank now. I have a clown, niger, aND blueline living with a passer angel and jeweled moray. They are just approaching 3" now. I probably have a couple more years before the blueline goes to a bigger tank. The undy and niger are 2 different animals. Some say the blueline isn't that far from the undy, but I've raised this one from an inch. Some have had luck with the undy in very large tanks, I rehomed one into a 1000g.

 

[sdcosta]

I currently have my redtail trigger living in my 125, but I plan on upgrading to a bigger tank at some point (he is pretty small right now). He is a great tank citizen... he only picks on gobies unfortunately. Current tank mates with him are a scribble rabbitfish, Yellow belly regal tang, christmas wrasse and gold midas blenny

 

[Earl Karl]

In my experience, Undys are one of the slowest growers I've seen. I have another one alone in my 90g that is 11". Took him over 9 years to grow to that length (still see some growth), had him since I was 11. However, I never had one with tankmates (for obvious reasons). I was hoping that one would get along with an eel, but I guess not. I'm still going to try, but if I see one swipe at the eel, I'm taking it to the lfs. Hopefully one swipe doesn't kill it.

 

[lion king]

In all likelihood youll see a progression in aggression. That's what happened with my undy, I watched his aggression grow and decided to pull him before it got too far. He never chased anyone but if anyone came to his side of the tank he would attack. He was so vicious in his attacks I decided to give him to the bar I was hanging out in. He quickly became a favorite and lived many years in that tank.

 

[Earl Karl]

Thank you for all the answers, I really appreciate it. So glad that there are forums like this one. However, one last questions. Does gender of the undy make a difference for their aggressiveness? I know that females are smaller than males, but I don't know how that affects their behavior. Eventually, I would have to pull it out, however, I would like to keep it long as possible.

 

[lion king]

I'm not sure about gender. But you know with the eel basically living in a cave and probably only coming out after dark if well fed. They may get along for really long time. That would be great.

 

[Earl Karl]

Hopefully, I do have a lot of live rock and macroalgae. I hope that helps. However, if it doesn't work out, I can always give it away. Or set a new tank for it. Thank you for all the answers.

 

[MUSBFRANK]

The only thing you should put with an Undulated is a Kraken, other than that, good luck!

 

[Earl Karl]

So it's been a day since I put the undy with the eel. So far so good. They're getting along really well. For now. Hope they can keep this up. They eat well together. What's funny is that the undy don't mind the eel snatching the food out of its mouth. They sleep together in the same den, so my guess they're good for at least a few months. Time will tell since then.

 

[Irish Reefer]

Had a 1.5' snowflake, dwarf fuzzzy lion, collector crab and porcupine puffer. Added a 2in undy and roughly 48 hours later everything was dead, everyone had holes in their heads right between the eyes. I swear I saw the undy smiling. Hopefully you have better luck than me, I'll never own another one of those murderous little psychos again.

 

[lion king]

I know a week isn't that long, but how's it going. You see you have sort of inspired me. I am "considering " setting up another tank for an undy; problem is I already have 5 tanks. An undy was in my 1st tank more than 30 years ago, I am very bothered by after all this time they are still overly available. More than 25 years ago their reputation had become well known that you could not keep these guys is almost all home hobbyist setups. Even though there are now 3 lfs that have one, and at any given time you will find a few around town; and the 2 largest online retailers always have them in stock. WHY?

My plans are a 80g; I'm analyzed your setup with an eel and thought that it may work. I have a jeweled eel in another tank with triggers and really enjoy him. I've wanted a fimbriated also, so my thought is to house the undy with a fimbriated. Of course I will get them both small and knowing how the undy grows I'll at least have a few to several years if any problems ever do occur.

 

[welsher7]

In my experience, Undys are one of the slowest growers I've seen. I have another one alone in my 90g that is 11". Took him over 9 years to grow to that length (still see some growth), had him since I was 11. However, I never had one with tankmates (for obvious reasons)...

We need pictures of the 11" undy..... It sounds like a beast.

 

[Mfreddy]

Put a dragon moray in with him.

 

[madweazl]

On another note, the damsel will be in there forever with the trigger; they're like roaches LOL. We had a 15" queen trigger with a green moray (best I can remember) named Mickey (lost an eye when he was young) for years (10+). This was in a shop I used to work at (600g display I think it was); the trigger chewed up the acrylic so bad you could barely see in the tank but there were never any issues between it and the eel LOL. dang she was mean lil sucker!

 

[Earl Karl]

Update: Well it's been 2 weeks now. The Undy and Eel are doing great. I just feed the trigger first and and then the eel. No conflict. Unlike my previous 11" Undy, this undy is growing pretty fast. She is now 3.5 inches, she already grew .5" in 2 weeks! My previous 11" undy grew .5" in a year! However, I do not have the damsel in. I decided I just wanted the undy and eel only. However my undy is very timid. Everytime I walk up to the tank, she immediately hides until I drop the food in. I think a damsel would definitely work, but it's better to just showcase my beautiful undy. I just kinda wish it doesn't hide on me, I even see the eel more than the undy in fact lol.
P.S. if you want me to try the Neon Velvet damsel with the undy, just give me a heads up.