My new tank

you broke 5k posts recty! hahahaha great tank as always any updates or is everything the same? i might have to go a new route with my 55 now cause of your tank lol. any plans to upgrade soon?
 
you broke 5k posts recty! hahahaha great tank as always any updates or is everything the same? i might have to go a new route with my 55 now cause of your tank lol. any plans to upgrade soon?

A 55g would be a cool tank to have a couple small triggers in, you'd just have to find homes for them as they got bigger.

I just added a Sufflamen chrysopterus, or Whitetip trigger, to my tank. Both of the blennies and the undulated are still alive, plus a couple hermits and an urchin. This whitetip was in the same tank as the undulated for about 8 months at the Petco and they never fought, so I figured I would bring it home and see how it does. It's quite a bit smaller than the undulated but they swim around together like old friends, it's cool to see.

If these two triggers do decently together while small, I think I might add one more which puts me right about at my limit for bioload on the smaller tank, keep adding slow growing triggers and then I'll pass them off as they outgrow the tank. It's funny how many people here in Anchorage like triggers, they are easy to sell.

whitetip001.jpg
 
A 55g would be a cool tank to have a couple small triggers in, you'd just have to find homes for them as they got bigger.

I just added a Sufflamen chrysopterus, or Whitetip trigger, to my tank. Both of the blennies and the undulated are still alive, plus a couple hermits and an urchin. This whitetip was in the same tank as the undulated for about 8 months at the Petco and they never fought, so I figured I would bring it home and see how it does. It's quite a bit smaller than the undulated but they swim around together like old friends, it's cool to see.

If these two triggers do decently together while small, I think I might add one more which puts me right about at my limit for bioload on the smaller tank, keep adding slow growing triggers and then I'll pass them off as they outgrow the tank. It's funny how many people here in Anchorage like triggers, they are easy to sell.

whitetip001.jpg

nicee!, but s. chrysopterus is the halfmoon trigger, although commonly mixed up, white tip is a different sp.
 
oh wow . that trigger is nice.. hope it all turns out well, and your undulated doesnt remember the bad times and only remembers the good times at petco... man im finally starting the cycle in my tank cant wait to post some pics of my own
 
nicee!, but s. chrysopterus is the halfmoon trigger, although commonly mixed up, white tip is a different sp.

Nope, not as far as I know anyway, feel free to prove me wrong ;)

Halfmoon/Whitetip are the same trigger, Sufflamen chrysopterus.

You're probably thinking of Sufflamen albicaudatus, commonly called a whitetail trigger.

They are really close but apparently different enough to science to be considered different. I believe mine is a whitetip but it could easily be a whitetail.
 
I read up a little more, Sufflamen albicaudatus, the whitetail, is endemic to the Red Sea and is expensive and rare... so definitely not the fish I got, I'm pretty sure mine is a Halfmoon/Whitetip, Sufflamen chrysopterus, as it was cheap :)
 
which petco is this? i need to check it out asap lol! well turns out im going to change things (move my fish from 75 into 55) so i was thinking of a few triggers for the 75 lol. sorry to hijack, looks good how long is it now?
 
It's been the one down on Mountainview that has had the best deals, I've gotten almost all of my current fish there.

I really wouldnt buy much there besides triggers as all their fish have ich, either quite active and the fish is almost dead or at least in their gills and will lead to a problem down the road. Triggers are just nice because they are tough and can handle disease and can handle treatment if needed, so I dont mind buying them.
 
A couple more pictures of it, mainly trying to catch the tail in the shot and clear defined to make sure I can identify it correctly.

whitetip005.jpg


whitetip004.jpg


whitetip003.jpg


whitetip002.jpg


Based off my research, I'm still thinking it's a Sufflamen chrysopterus, or Whitetip trigger. I sent in a question to WWM just to confirm it though.
 
A couple more pictures of it, mainly trying to catch the tail in the shot and clear defined to make sure I can identify it correctly.

whitetip005.jpg


whitetip004.jpg


whitetip003.jpg


whitetip002.jpg


Based off my research, I'm still thinking it's a Sufflamen chrysopterus, or Whitetip trigger. I sent in a question to WWM just to confirm it though.

ooooh i see, sorry you're right, you can tell from the tail pattern

i want one too, but they're hard to find in my area and i want one with the blue jaw :)
 
Mine will develop the blue jaw as it gets older (if it's a male, it may stay pretty pale and female).

The 2nd striped blenny died today. He's been looking funny for a week and not really eating. Both the remaining blennies swim around together and seem to be just fine, but the 2nd one just stares at food and the other one really chows down. I tried feeding flakes last night for the first time ever in a marine aquarium and the triggers plus the one blenny loved it, the 2nd blenny just followed it around a little bit then went back to being calm again.

Anyway, dead today. He was alive this morning and dead when I came home. Not a bite mark on him, I was afraid maybe the undulated did him in, but he didnt. I still have not yet seen even a dirty glance from the undulated towards either of the blennies, so that makes me happy.

stripedblenny003.jpg
 
Which trigger? The undulated I dont expect to ever get bigger than 6", even that is pretty big for most people's experience of an undulated in captivity.

The halfmoon is probably right about the same max length, WWM states up to 8" but normally in captivity fish dont grow as much as in the wild, so I'm betting right around 6" max. Still too big for a 40g tank like I have, but being a nice slow grower means I can probably keep it for years before passing it on to one of the trigger crazies who live in my town.

I think both fish are a little stunted, the lady at Petco told me a couple days ago they had the undulated almost a year and the whitetip for like 8 months. They apparently didnt grow the whole time, they were fed just the bare minimum to keep them alive, not enough to spur on any growth. Time will tell if they are at a small adult size or if they will start growing now that they are on a regular, healthy eating schedule with good food.
 
Well, the trigger bug has bitten me again, and good. I was offered a deal on a queen trigger and a pineapple trigger that I just couldnt pass up. For now, they are going in separate small tanks until I can judge their aggressiveness individually, but the plan is to eventually keep a couple triggers in a big tank again like I used to do and enjoy.

I'm starting small this time, last time I bought a 11" niger trigger and my other triggers were all 5" or bigger except the pinktail. This time not a single one is over 3", the undulated and the queen are right about 3", the pineapple and the whitetip are about 2". I'm hoping growing up together will help keep the aggressiveness down, although in the end I think I'll end up just having the queen trigger and one other in the big tank and have to get rid of the other ones, but that is years down the road.

Tell me this isnt a gorgeous fish... who could pass this up?

queent001.jpg


queent002.jpg


The queen trigger is doing amazing, the pineapple is not. It's basically unresponsive, if I push it with my acclimation drip tube it will try to right itself but then floats back up to the top sideways.

pineapple002.jpg


Triggers are tough and since he's going in to a separate tank for now that wont have other competition for food and space, I think I'll be able to bring him around as long as he lives the day. The weird thing is it's like he is blind, I can wave my fingers right in front of it's face and it's eyes dont track me or move at all.
 
Well, the trigger bug has bitten me again, and good. I was offered a deal on a queen trigger and a pineapple trigger that I just couldnt pass up. For now, they are going in separate small tanks until I can judge their aggressiveness individually, but the plan is to eventually keep a couple triggers in a big tank again like I used to do and enjoy.

I'm starting small this time, last time I bought a 11" niger trigger and my other triggers were all 5" or bigger except the pinktail. This time not a single one is over 3", the undulated and the queen are right about 3", the pineapple and the whitetip are about 2". I'm hoping growing up together will help keep the aggressiveness down, although in the end I think I'll end up just having the queen trigger and one other in the big tank and have to get rid of the other ones, but that is years down the road.

Tell me this isnt a gorgeous fish... who could pass this up?
.

hahah so your back into the game, how is your white tip and undulated doing together so far.. but man thats a beautiful looking queen...
how's your pineapple?. i hope you were able to bring him back
 
. I tried feeding flakes last night for the first time ever in a marine aquarium and the triggers plus the one blenny loved it, the 2nd blenny just followed it around a little bit then went back to being calm again.
]
wow 1st time? what would you feed them?.
 
hahah so your back into the game, how is your white tip and undulated doing together so far.. but man thats a beautiful looking queen...
how's your pineapple?. i hope you were able to bring him back

He looks like he is doing really good now, swimming actively and has eaten pellets. I attempted feeding both the queen and the pineapple about 4 hours after acclimation and they both ate greedily. The pineapple is a much slower eater, he eats good but he doesnt dark through the water like a bullet, the queen is like a Ferrari in scales. I'd liken the pineapple more to a Ford diesel ;)

Both are great fish, I hope the pineapple recovers fully from the shipping ordeal but I'm thinking he will.

As far as feeding flakes go, I've never fed them before. I either feed fresh seafood or else pellets. Rarely I feed mysis and brine shrimp, probably like once a month on that. My main staple is pellets. I just thought I'd try flakes because I got a free small container of them and the blenny wasnt eating anything else well at all so I thought why not try it.
 
Some good news, the striped blenny has started eating pellets. He doesnt like Formula One pellets or NLS pellets, but the Formula Two pellets he eats. He kind of sampled one (barely fits in his mouth, he has to crunch it then spit it out and eat the smaller pieces) and then started attacking the rest. So that's good, I was afraid I'd have to keep feeding mysis to keep him alive. I'll still feed mysis but I'm going back to not feeding it much.

The tank I had the pineapple in went into filter failure. The pump got very loud, very hot and even when I cleaned it, it stayed that way. I'm not surprised, I've had that cheapo HOB filter for like 4 years, so I definitely got my use out of it. It's been sitting dry for 6 months, maybe some internal part finally rusted or gave out, who knows.

So into the 38g the pineapple went, he seems to be loving it. I wasnt too worried about aggression coming from him since he's the smallest fish in the tank (maybe tied with the whitetail but I think he's a little smaller) but wow, he has "little man" syndrome. He wants the other two triggers to know who is boss. The undulated could really care less and just ignores him, same for the whitetip. He's only been in there about 4 hours so really I cant judge his long term attitude, but I'm not too worried about it.

I'm thinking of selling the undulated. It's started just pacing the side of the tank nonstop except at feeding time or if I'm moving around. I'd like it to go to a bigger tank. It's funny, I originally got an undulated because I heard they like caves and are OK in a smaller tank. This one doesnt like caves, always hangs out in the open and doesnt seem OK in the smaller tank.

Here's some pictures of the pineapple checking out his newest home...

pineapple005.jpg


pineapple004.jpg


pineapple006.jpg
 
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