Undulated Trigger

[CaptianPaulie]

That's kind of like the frog and scorpion fable; an undy is an undy, it is his nature. There really shouldn't be much conflicting info on the undy, they are a terror, period. At 2" you are fine for the most part, but dividing a 55g will just make him more mad. I have literally seen women in tears when they witnessed what an undy did to the other fish in their tanks.

Yea my girlfriend can relate lol the undy didnt kill the panther grouper but i brought it back to the LFS so in her head it died lol

 

[Nezmo]

At the size yours is, they all have those lines. I would think the differences likely don't show up until they are more mature. This presents most obviously with the bluejaw triggers as well. Definite sexing is likely not possible until they over 4".

I'm not sure about juveniles, I shoot underwater video, and I've seen a lot of Undulateds on the reef, especially in Fiji. The source I checked said that the main difference between the sexes were those extra lines on the face. My own personal observations are that the males are larger, more of an emerald green in body color, and missing the lines on the face, with more orange around the mouth. The females were smaller, had a more bluish body color, had the extra lines, and had more bluish color around the mouth, and had more blue lines on the body, where the males had more orange lines. If you want to see the difference, check my attached video from our Fiji series, you can see the undulateds at 8:34 to 9:45. The male shows up first, the female at 8:55.

 

[alton]

An old story but here it goes, I once set up a trigger tank including Clown, Undulated, Niger, Pink Tail, Huma Huma, and one more. They all swam about, the undy hid until feeding time. No one got in front of the undy at feeding time, he was king. When I decided to go in a different direction I sold him to my brother in law who had a 3" Niger for about a year, the Undy maybe was 1 1/2"? It took the undy two weeks to kill the Niger. Not that I would do this but he got so mad he refused to feed the undy for several months. To my surprise the Undy did fine eating algae in the tank staying fat and happy. After about six months it was sold to the fish store for $10, like I said this was a long time ago Nigers and Undy's where $10 to $20 back then.

 

[rkpetersen]

That's kind of like the frog and scorpion fable; an undy is an undy, it is his nature. There really shouldn't be much conflicting info on the undy, they are a terror, period.

Another story about my buddy Zack: One time I came home loaded up with new fish and corals from several stores. I started temp acclimating the bags, and was running out of room, when I thought I might warm up one or two bags in Zack's tank. Obviously I was never going to add another fish there, this was just to bring the bags up to temp. Well, the absolute moment the bag hit the water (I think it contained a yellow tang), Zack was enraged, like a switch had been thrown, and he attacked that bag viciously. I immediately pulled it out but it was already leaking like a sieve from several holes he's bitten in it. Mental note to self: Don't do that again.

 

[rkpetersen]

Where did this idea that lionfish have no predators come from? I know the concern for the invasive Caribbean lions there were no NATURAL predators, but sharks, eels and groupers are figuring it out. But in their native waters throughout the Indo-Pacific their are numerous lionfish predators.

I've even seen nimble fish that aren't lionfish predators per se still nip at the tissue between the venomous spines. Lionfish move too slowly to do anything about it.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Yea it just sucks because i love the way he swims and i felt so bad for him all by himself i never actually liked a fish more then him and ive had about 5 tanks and about 20 different kinds of fish throughout my lifetime. Ill prob end up trading him or maybe get another tank and keep him in by himself. Maybe start a reef tank eith other fish. Thanks for your words though i dont have any friends in the hobby and sometimes it feels like the pet store people are just trying to sell you fish. I told him he was going to attack him but he said try it lol

The way we would tell people about them when I worled at aquarium stores 1 fish 55 gallon tank and a lot of watet changes! Even in a well asatablisbed trigger tank like a 120-180 gallon set up with large triggers in it and a hand sized clown an little ungulated wiped out a good chunk of the inhabitants in about a weeks time. The guy was a regular an both the other manager an I had told him many times it was a bad Idea he ended up listening to a guy at another LFS that cared more about his bottom line than his "family." Needless to say Don quit shopping there. Hard way to learn he lost some nice fish.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Im gunna take your guys advice i was thinking damsels myself because of how fast they are. If it doesnt work out its only a 6 dollar loss instead of 40 or 50. The guy at the LFS said if he was in my situation he would do a puffer because they taste horrible and something about a toxin. Im gunna look into that a little bit and might give it a try in a few weeks. I might just get another tank and set up a reef tank for my living room and put my psychotic trigger in his own tank in the basement. If it didnt grow on me so much i would just see if they would do a trade but i love looking at him swim around. Thats why i made this post because i really want him to be the boss of my showtank. But if hes the only fish in there its not much of a showtank lol. Thanks guys

Don't do it man...

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Those are cool! I always wanted an eel too. All the LFS's in my area only really have snowflakes tho i would have to order online but im sketched out about that tbh

Almost any reputable LFS will special order livestock for you if you get to know them in my experiance. Some won't unbag them or offer a garuantee depending on the fish. But most will order special things.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Until the trigger kills the lion.

This...

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Yea when i put him in the tank all i had was an emerald crab that i havent seen im months and still havent seen it. And a serpent snake thats always so deep in my porous live rock thst i have to look for an hr to find him. But he found the serpent and took him out within 2 days. But i try feeding him often i have a small 20 gallom setup in my bacement where i keep rosie reds and ghost shrimp and i feed him mysis shrimp too. The guy at LFS said to start feeding him tilapia because its good for him and very cost effective so i might start doing that instead of the rosie reds. Im trying to make him less aggressive if possible feeding him fish to hunt is *** backwards lol

Trying to make an undulated trigger less agessive is like trying to make a pit figting pitbull a family dog and leaving your 2 year old home alone with it...

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Where did this idea that lionfish have no predators come from? I know the concern for the invasive Caribbean lions there were no NATURAL predators, but sharks, eels and groupers are figuring it out. But in their native waters throughout the Indo-Pacific their are numerous lionfish predators.

Triggers are not a lionfish predator. But just because they don't eat lions doesn't mean they won't nip them. Some triggers nip out of curiousity, some out of boredom, and others because they are jerks. Undulated triggers are known to be jerks. And while lions can be quite adept at defending against trigger bites, it is still stressful on the lion to constantly be "on guard."

While personal preferences are important, it is still important to properly care for the animals we house. Adequate surroundings and tankmates are important considerations for the living creatures under our care, more so than our whims.

The reason why it's called "husbandry"

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

If I was in your situation I would go with a lion and maybe an eel. You might be able to get a long spine urchin. I don't think they are on a triggers menu and they can defend themselves.

LuLz ummm that's a triggers prefered food in the wild! When they suck in water and blow it out thays how they flip urchins over to eat the insides.