Triggers in a reef?
- Thread starter jkhudson
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corwise
New member
My bluethroat has been in my reef tank for about three weeks now, been doing great. My understanding, from asking this same question a few months ago, was that the only "safe" triggers for a reef tank were Pink Tails, Blue Throats, or Crosshatch. The crosshatch is an expensive fish in my understanding ($300ish quote from the LFS), and the LFS wasn't as 100% on the Pink Tail, so we went with the blue throat, and it's a good fish.
The Nigers in my understanding are a 50-50 shot. Some good, some bad, just luck of the net.
The Nigers in my understanding are a 50-50 shot. Some good, some bad, just luck of the net.
dugg
New member
The blue throats are great. Personally as crazy as it may sound, i have had good luck with clown triggers also. I hear they change as they get big, but i never had one nip at anything, and they are the prettiest of all the triggers IMO. They have personalities like a puppy also lol.
djc1026
New member
Triggers aren't considered safe or unsafe because they eat coral. They are prone and probably will eat members of the cleanup crew. I've had a niger in my reef for over a year now and he has eaten some snails, mostly Illyasana Obsoleta???, which is OK. He hasn't touched a hermit or my cleaner shrimp. That doesn't mean he won't at some point. I think the bigger reason for being unsafe is that they supposedly like to redecorate, thus knocking down rock or carrying frags that aren't secured away. My Niger, has never done any rearranging in the year that I've had him. So if you're worried about the corals, don't be, take into consideration your cleanup crew inverts and your aquascaping. Blue Throats, Pink Tails, Crosshatch and some would say Nigers are good choices for success in a reef tank, although they can still do all of the above, they are just less likely.
Dave
Dave
matthewnokc
New member
huma
huma
If you have a huma in a reef tank and hes leaving everything
alone , i would safley assume hes blind or cant smell /sick
huma
If you have a huma in a reef tank and hes leaving everything
alone , i would safley assume hes blind or cant smell /sick
SoonerFan732
New member
My Picasso trigger absolutely loves snails and hermit crabs 
I added quite a few snails about a month ago thinking he wouldn't possibly kill them all. He probably kill half the first day. He knocked them off the glass ate them when they tried to turn over. I would say only about 10% of the snails I added are still alive now. Hermit crabs have a little better chance against him as they are more mobile.
I have a clown triggerfish in with him and he never messed with any of those things. There is one cleaner shrimp in with them that they haven't messed with yet. I have some RBTA's in that tank and neither have shown any interest in them yet.
Both the Picasso and the Clown triggerfish move rocks though. I all the time see the Picasso moving stuff across the tank.
I added quite a few snails about a month ago thinking he wouldn't possibly kill them all. He probably kill half the first day. He knocked them off the glass ate them when they tried to turn over. I would say only about 10% of the snails I added are still alive now. Hermit crabs have a little better chance against him as they are more mobile.
I have a clown triggerfish in with him and he never messed with any of those things. There is one cleaner shrimp in with them that they haven't messed with yet. I have some RBTA's in that tank and neither have shown any interest in them yet.
Both the Picasso and the Clown triggerfish move rocks though. I all the time see the Picasso moving stuff across the tank.
Travis L. Stevens
New member
The most common "Reef Safe" triggers that I see readily available are:
Crosshatch Triggers
Niger Triggers
Blue Throat Triggers
Pink Tail Triggers
I prefer the look of the adult Niger, and the Pink Tails are pretty sweet. But, as Paul had said, it's based on the attitude of the individual fish.
Crosshatch Triggers
Niger Triggers
Blue Throat Triggers
Pink Tail Triggers
I prefer the look of the adult Niger, and the Pink Tails are pretty sweet. But, as Paul had said, it's based on the attitude of the individual fish.
audioaddiction
New member
i have been thinking about trying a trigger in my upcoming 90 gallon tank. i agree that each trigger's attitude reflects how it will do in your tank. but why the variation? it's probably related to the previous keeping and environment of the trigger you bought. was yours a juvenile? what food was it eating prior? was it captured from the ocean? i just bought a bicolor angelfish today at work from Petco. this fish is widely known to be hard to care for and a picky eater, and i read on here about many people claiming their's starve because they won't eat even the best prepared foods. this angelfish very well could have been raised on flake food, the breeders knowing that it would be sold to Petco (and fed flake) before it would probably eventually be sold to an uninformed buyer who would do the same at home.
sidenote - i just read a closed forum about how bad Petco's are and i'd like to say this in regards to what i said about Petco feeding all fish flake food: you might have heard how baaad of a store it is (and many Petco's could definitely do a lot better) but same goes for other local fish stores (even the owner operated small businesses, which i commonly visit and see beat up livestock) and also same goes for all of us who at once had a tank that wasn't cared for the way it should have been because we were so uninformed, and we who didn't know about that pretty little fish we decided to buy before reading so deep into
anyway i'd LOVE to have a trigger in my tank so i'll be reading whatever i can find until i decide to try or not. but yeah i am thinking a very young trigger (just over an inch) tought to feed on other dead foods and kept fat for a while to keep from grazing, might do the trick? maybe, but it's also instinct for them to kill so... also a large personal space for the trigger would have to give you a lot higher chance of success. also a trigger introduced last should feel less at home and less likely to go on a territorial killing feast. if one day your strawberry pseudochromis is hanging out where the trigger likes to nap between rocks he might just disappear after having lived fine in the tank around the trigger for a while.
at work we have two niger triggers and two undulated triggers living amongst each other. it may just happen to be this way for these four triggers, but the niger's are way more laid back than the undulated, who have larger mouths and seem more agressive and quick. but again, could just be these four.
i really want a trigger! their shape! their color! their movement like a helicopter vs most fish's movement being similar to an airplane!...ha. their personality and nesting habits! these fish are so interesting! ahhg...
sidenote - i just read a closed forum about how bad Petco's are and i'd like to say this in regards to what i said about Petco feeding all fish flake food: you might have heard how baaad of a store it is (and many Petco's could definitely do a lot better) but same goes for other local fish stores (even the owner operated small businesses, which i commonly visit and see beat up livestock) and also same goes for all of us who at once had a tank that wasn't cared for the way it should have been because we were so uninformed, and we who didn't know about that pretty little fish we decided to buy before reading so deep into
anyway i'd LOVE to have a trigger in my tank so i'll be reading whatever i can find until i decide to try or not. but yeah i am thinking a very young trigger (just over an inch) tought to feed on other dead foods and kept fat for a while to keep from grazing, might do the trick? maybe, but it's also instinct for them to kill so... also a large personal space for the trigger would have to give you a lot higher chance of success. also a trigger introduced last should feel less at home and less likely to go on a territorial killing feast. if one day your strawberry pseudochromis is hanging out where the trigger likes to nap between rocks he might just disappear after having lived fine in the tank around the trigger for a while.
at work we have two niger triggers and two undulated triggers living amongst each other. it may just happen to be this way for these four triggers, but the niger's are way more laid back than the undulated, who have larger mouths and seem more agressive and quick. but again, could just be these four.
i really want a trigger! their shape! their color! their movement like a helicopter vs most fish's movement being similar to an airplane!...ha. their personality and nesting habits! these fish are so interesting! ahhg...
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