help me choose a trigger fish

Myles

New member
I'm trying to decide between a blue throat and the sargassum trigger. Are there any differences between them as far as chances of being a trouble maker with tank mates. I like them both so would prefer the more mellow.
Myles
 
How big is your aquarium?

I don't come across sargassum triggers too often at the store so I can' say I have any experience with them. I currently have a M/F pair of blue throats and they're everything I hoped for. This has been my only long term success with blue throats. I had a single male a few years ago and he ended killing a couple of fish. I got a second lonesome male and he starved to death. Any small fish are fair game, though my first blue throat killed some fairly big fish compared to him. None of the blue throats I have owned have ever bothered any of the inverts in the tank.

Just remember that blue throats, much like any other fish, vary upon the individual personality of the fish. Some don't mind being in a glass box and some go crazy.
 
Sargassum trigs wont lose their coloring like blue throats will in a tank. I have a red tail and my buddy has a blue throat, i would take the red tail over the BT anyday. Both are mellow
 
Sargassum triggers are TOUGH. I once found a 3" one at the beach, on top of a pile of seaweed, with skin like scaly leather from how long it'd been out of the water. He moved when I picked him up, so I got him in a bucket and he started breathing. Five minutes later, he was swimming circles in the bucket, and he darted off like a little arrow when I put him back in the ocean.
Well- I'm pretty sure it was a sargassum trigger. It was a triggerfish of a kind that I've found living in sargassum.
 
How mellow is mellow? I've got a juvenile H. chrysus (yellow coris wrasse) that it sounds like I should be worried about if the triggers will attack small fish.
Myles
 
I have a blue throat, he is always out eats a lot and doesn't bother anyone. I hear most are shy but this one was swimming a lot at the lfs so I took a chance. He is a great fish.
 
It's a big tank-10ft by 2ft. Rollins4miles fish killing bluethroat is giving me second thoughts. Any similar experiences with the Sargassum or are they better behaved.
Myles
 
I had a blue throat in my tank and he was great, no issues with any clean up crew, corals, or other fish. He ate mysis like a champ, amazing how he could eat so much food.
I only removed him from the tank because he was blowing all the sand out of the corners and covering all my corals on the sand bed.
 
Why? Pls elaborate. Thanks.

There are so many trigs to choose from and imho and ime of keeping trigs for 30 years, they are both pretty boring...bt are okay but can be painfully shy to the point they are seldom seen, even by their owner and the males also have a habit of losing their coloration...sargs are okay too, but imho are kinda boring...
I am fascinated with trigs, love their personalities and coloration and they are they are the reason I moved to Hawaii in 88, I wanted to study trigs...I have kept every trig avail but if I were to come up with a list of trigs that I really enjoy keeping, they would both be on the bottom...
 
pinktail, niger, crosshatch, goldenheart....

+1 on the Pinktail

I had a lonesome Pinktail once before and if I ever had to get a single trigger again it would be this guy. My Pinktail had a puppy dog personality. I could pet him and he'd love to swim through my fingers.

I can't wait to see some pictures of this tank. A 10'x2' footprint? Sounds awesome!!!
 
There are so many trigs to choose from and imho and ime of keeping trigs for 30 years, they are both pretty boring...bt are okay but can be painfully shy to the point they are seldom seen, even by their owner and the males also have a habit of losing their coloration...sargs are okay too, but imho are kinda boring...

I am fascinated with trigs, love their personalities and coloration and they are they are the reason I moved to Hawaii in 88, I wanted to study trigs...I have kept every trig avail but if I were to come up with a list of trigs that I really enjoy keeping, they would both be on the bottom...


I have a black Hawaiian and a clown trigger in different tanks, and have kept BT in the past. I love triggers as well. Sorry to high jack this thread a bit but I think it's still on the same topic. What's your list of desired triggers?
 
Golden hearts from what I'm reading, are not considered reef safe. Has anyone ever kept on in a reef? Not concerned with the cuc, or smaller fish, just the corals.
 
I was mostly considering the bluejaw and sargassum out of concern for the safety of the other fish-in particular a juvenile 4inch Tripletail Maorii wrasse and a 2 inch yellow coris wrasse. How are the crosshatch, niger, and pinktail with tankmates?
Myles
 
ime, no trig can be trusted...gh have worked in some reefs but others report their trigs turning every upside down...
most of the trigs we mentioned are known as mellow but I had a crazy female bt and had many pinktails, one for 10 years, that were mellow, the last 1 I had was insane...
comes down to the individual fish...make sure have a plan b, lol...
 
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