Blue-Chin Trigger

ssavader

Member
A few pics of my new favorite fish. I picked this guy up at my LFS after watching him for three weeks, worried that he was so disinterested at feeding time. Finally, when I saw him go after some food, I nabbed him. He spent two weeks hiding in the reef before he felt safe. Now he is out and about all the time.

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What do you feed him? How safe do you feel with him in your reef? I'm looking at one for my reef and I'm looking to find out more about them.

TIA. :>
 
Very nice fish. These are probably the best trigger you can keep in a reef. But as they get bigger they might eat shrimp snails etc
 
I'd agree with ReefTanks6. Mine quickly became my favorite fish in the tank (125g). He never touched any inverts and ate like a beast from the moment he entered the tank.
 
Mine was an excellent, likable fish with a VERY healthy appetite. (Watch your fingers!) Unfortunately, he became very unhappy in my 400 gallon reef and began to pace relentlessly back and forth along the 6 foot front panel whenever I was NOT feeding.

As the tank is acrylic, his rough skin and repetitive pacing began to scratch the acrylic very badly. I donated him to the local public aquarium and he will be living in their 12,000 gallon display.

I don't know if I just got a bad fish...or if he was captured too late in his life to adjust to captivity...or if this is how they begin to behave when they reach adulthood. (he was over 6")

Reef safe? Absolutely. Never touched a hermit crab, coral, clam and was peaceful to every other fish....but he was not happy in my 400 gallon. I can recommend them to anything but the absolute largest of tanks.
 
I got a pair back in January and both were about 2 3/4" and haven't goten much longer but grew very wide (fat). The female is pacing back and forth in the back as mentioned above when there's no food. It took about a week of hiding in between rocks as my PBT was nasty and since been swimming out in the open all the time. They eat pretty much everything from pellets, freeze dried to frozen and loves live mussels/clams on the half shell.

They don't bother any of the inverts and never seen them bother any of the new comers.
 
I just picked one up 2 days ago. It had arrived from Hawaii that very day. I asked the LFS guy to feed him and he said it would be very unlikely that he would eat. Well almost right away he ate 2 pieces of mysis.

He's in my QT now and has been eating brine shrimp, flake, nouri and krill. He swims out and about whenever anyone is around.

I really worry about his eating inverts but I've only heard good things about these guys. Lets hope we all have success with this beautiful fish in our tanks!!!
 
blue-chin? I am not familiar with this name. Would it be Blue jaw? I would really like to add one of these guys to my tank.
 
The scientific name is Xanthicthys auromarginatus- their common name is either the Blue-Chin or Blue-Jaw Trigger. A search of either common name will return the same fish.
 
I have one and he is my favourite. He is the most entertaining to watch and is very hospitable with new tank mates. I have an interesting story about him though. When we moved a few months ago I wasn't sure if he was going to make it. He Hid in a rock when we were taking out the rocks and putting them in bins. Do you think I could get him out? NEVER. He opened his fin and wedged himself so tightly in there. He ended up in a bin of water with no heater (was -32C that day...ya, no joke!) and I had used the rest of my heaters all up for other bins of fish. His water got cold and he sat in there for about 8 hours. When I put the rock he was in back in the tank...he swam out about 15 minutes later. They are hardier than you think! LOVE HIM!
 
That wedging behaviour is how triggerfish get their name.

When I donated the male, I took him to the aquarium in a vase that had about a 4" opening. He refused to leave the vase, even when it was inverted and drained of water. Even a gentle shake would not convince him to relax and fall out of the vase...

Needless to say...we just left the vase in the tank until he voluntarily gave us back the vase.
 
Untamed, good story. The Blue-Chin Trigger (BCT) in this thread was at the LFS in a tank with one of those ceramic castles. He swam into it when I first caught sight of him. I waited for 15 minutes and he did not come out so the fish store guy said he would take care of it. He lifted the castle out of the water- no go- the BCT stayed right with it. Next, the castle goes back in the tank and out the fish guy comes with giant pliers and starts breaking the castle into pieces! Only after the castle was in tiny pieces, did he finally swim out. Needless to say, I put a hold on the BCT and watch him for three weeks before I finally took him home.
 
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