Any experience with Blue Jaw Triggerfish in Reef Aquarium?

[marti224]

I am thinkning about getting a blue jaw triggerfish for my 150 gallon reef aquarium (mostly soft corals), and was wondering if anybody had experince with this fish in a reef tank.

 

[aday2remmbr]

it will eat your cleanup crew and most mobile inverts but other than that pretty ideal and peaceful.

 

[xcorallusx]

I have a pair in my tank and they havnt touched any shrimp, hermits or snails. It will be fine and I doubt it will eat your inverts if you have any, just feed it regularly.

 

[xcorallusx]

They are jumpers so make sure you have a screen top

 

[marti224]

cool...thanks for the advice

 

[Amoore311]

I had mine in my 180 Reef and he was completely fine with all corals and inverts. They do need large tanks though. 6' long I would recommend as the minimum.

 

[aleonn]

BJT's are the most reef-safe of the triggers, but may go after new ornamental shrimp. I had one in my QT tank before one of the RC'ers brought up that they may eat some of my smaller fish. Some people had good luck with mixing BJT's and small fish, but I just didn't want to take the chance.

 

[nivekid]

Tagging along. Are they peaceful? Would they bother a mandarin in a 6' 125 Gallon?

 

[TruespeedEM1]

I had a BJ male in my tank for awhile and it did perfectly fine. It was actually killed by a Tomini Tang, go figure

 

[Amoore311]

My Blue Jaw was with a mandarin, juvenile lyretail anthias, 2 very small clowns, and a dragonface pipe fish..... amongst other larger fish. Again, for reference, this was in a 6' 180 gallon tank.

He paid no attention to any of the fish what so ever.

I will also echo the comment about the "jumping"..... Definitely put a screen top on the tank. I rescued my guy twice from carpet surfing before I wise up and put a screen top over the tank.

 

[marti224]

sounds like a great addition to my aquarium. Thanks for the input

 

[boxer385]

i have a male and female no problems Sps dominate

 

[Wolverine]

Tagging along. Are they peaceful? Would they bother a mandarin in a 6' 125 Gallon?

A 125g isn't really big enough long term. These fish swim a lot, and they need a lot of room.
Usually they'll be peaceful, but you'll occasionally get a more aggressive one, so be prepared to remove it if necessary.

 

[nivekid]

A 125g isn't really big enough long term. These fish swim a lot, and they need a lot of room.
Usually they'll be peaceful, but you'll occasionally get a more aggressive one, so be prepared to remove it if necessary.

Isn't a 150 the same length, or sometimes even shorter than the 6' 125g. I thought most 150s are 4'x2'x2'. Some sites list the BJT as good for 75 gallons. Obviously they are in the business of selling fish though.

 

[djze]

i have a male blue throat & a pink tale in a 180 mixed reef with all kinds of inverts , pipe fish and lots of small fish never had a problem they are model citizens

 

[Wolverine]

Isn't a 150 the same length, or sometimes even shorter than the 6' 125g. I thought most 150s are 4'x2'x2'. Some sites list the BJT as good for 75 gallons. Obviously they are in the business of selling fish though.

Yes, it depends on the dimensions, but I also don't think a 150 is big enough. A 75g is definitely too small if you want to keep this fish for a long time. As you noted, those sites are trying to sell fish; they want to look responsible without overly restricting the potential buying pool.

 

[Amoore311]

Rockscape and footprint are very important, not necessarily total gallons.

For instance a larger cubish tank 4' x 2' x 18" for instance could work based on how the rock is used. If you pile the rock along back of the tank the fish isn't going to have nearly enough room to swim.

If that same tank was aquascaped to allow the fish more "3 dimensional" swim space it would more than likely be fine.

 

[deepblue68]

never had a problem with mine with inverts or corals.

 

[Wolverine]

Rockscape and footprint are very important, not necessarily total gallons.

For instance a larger cubish tank 4' x 2' x 18" for instance could work based on how the rock is used. If you pile the rock along back of the tank the fish isn't going to have nearly enough room to swim.

If that same tank was aquascaped to allow the fish more "3 dimensional" swim space it would more than likely be fine.

In general, yes, the rockscape and dimensions are important. In this particular case, it's still not going to give enough room for that fish.

 

[albano]

I have a pair in my tank and they havnt touched any shrimp, hermits or snails. It will be fine and I doubt it will eat your inverts if you have any, just feed it regularly.

+1...same experience with mine...6 months, no problems (450g DT)