Reef safe trigger fish?

[Guygettnby]

its been awhile since i have looked into this and i will be making a trip to the fish store pretty soon to look for another fish. what is the list of reef safe triggers again?

i know a niger trigger is on the list but i have been hearing bad things from others about them as of lately. like them eating cleaner shrimp and clams? can anybody confirm this?

 

[IFbettas]

Crosshatch, bluethroat, sargassum, pinktail, and niger. When they are regarded as reef safe it mostly refers to corals. Any trigger might go after shrimp, hermits, and crabs.

 

[problemfixer]

I bought a Black Hawaiian Trigger from someone who had it in a reef with a bunch of snails and a clam. I'm not sure if there was a shrimp in the tank though. I have it in a FOWLR.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Crosshatch, bluethroat, sargassum, pinktail, and niger. When they are regarded as reef safe it mostly refers to corals. Any trigger might go after shrimp, hermits, and crabs.

I had all but the pinktail & crosshatch at one time. The blue throat & sargassum were model citizens. My larger of 2 nigers was a problem and showed aggression towards other tank members and I ended up removing the nigers.

 

[Wolverine]

Xanthichthys triggers first (crosshatch, sargassum, bluethroat, etc)
Melichthys slightly less afe, but still pretty darn (pinktail, black durgon, etc)
Odonus niger less predictable. Some model citizens, some terrors.

 

[jetblacksdart]

I know I'll catch some flack for this, I keep a huma in my reef. This is just my experience, one day I'll probably have to move him, I know this. For now though he leaves corals and inverts (other than shrimp) alone. I've seen other reefs with clown triggers, humas and even assai in them. Just got to know that one day you may have to tear the tank down to get them out.:fun5:

 

[Wolverine]

I know I'll catch some flack for this, I keep a huma in my reef. This is just my experience, one day I'll probably have to move him, I know this. For now though he leaves corals and inverts (other than shrimp) alone. I've seen other reefs with clown triggers, humas and even assai in them. Just got to know that one day you may have to tear the tank down to get them out.:fun5:

There are some people who get away with those. I personally wouldn't do it, but if someone else wants to, that's their choice. I always recommend, as you noted, that they have a plan to get the fish out if necessary.

 

[Guygettnby]

thanks for the quick help as usual! all the fish store had was some really small niger's. i was really thinking about getting one but something told me to hold off and look for something else. i like my clams and the few shrimp i have at the moment.

 

[jubjub]

my niger was good but you have to make sure keep um fat, mine decided to eat my sand sifting star....other then that no problems with my fish or snails/hermits/clam etc

 

[mogley1]

I have had several bluethroats in different systems and never had a problem.

 

[padova335i]

hmmm think a pink tail will eat a display clam? like a crocea?

 

[joejoe1055]

love too know that one also

 

[MG21]

Sargassum all the way. I keep mine with shrimp, snails, starfish, even neon gobies. great fish.

 

[padova335i]

well i have a pink tail and hes 5 inches maybe bigger.. hes not eating anything yet (well besides food)

hes not touching my super ting perculas either, they are babies, like 1 inch each!

he will be goin in a 400,, but i hope he wont eat my clams:fun5:

 

[karnivorous]

+1 to blue throat, i plan to add one shortly

 

[Bluetangclan]

Had a pink tail for a few years, no issues. I added a sailfin tang. The tang was dead within 5 minutes. I couldnt get the tang out fast enough, the trigger wouldnt let me. He never messed with my corals though.

 

[EvilMel]

We had similar aggression from a Pink Tail trigger in a 300g tank. We added a banded sleeper goby that was a few inches long. We put him into the top of the tank and the trigger ripped him apart in seconds. We made a second attempt, about a month later, this time adding the goby on the bottom of the sand...no problems that time. He's still in there and doing completely fine. It's almost as if the trigger thought we were feeding him the first time.

The blue jaw pair that we have in a 180 has shown no signs of aggression towards anything...even peppermint shrimp, if you can believe it.

 

[thor32766]

I have a pink tail and is the most passive fish the tank. When I introduced him the hippos would actually play catch back and forth with him.

 

[padova335i]

great to hear that about the pink, i cant wait to add him to the tank im putting up!:bounce2:

 

[mike_dani]

Reef safe trigger fish?

Today I just added a blue jaw/ throat to my 300 we will see.