undulated tankmate

[I like Triggers]

hey guys i am about to set up a new 70g i got. i have an undulated trigger in QT right now, and am going to keep it in there. i know i want an eel, possibly a tesselata, but im wondering if anyone knows of any fish that can be kept with an undulated?

would frogfish or anglers be ok?

 

[TTU_Reefer]

Its going to vary between undulateds...mine i would say no to ANY other fish. id say maybe large tangs, not sure about the eel, i know i wouldnt with mine. My undulated is the meanist SOB ever though...you posted about a shark also...just incase, know that the two would never mix. good luck! keep us posted about what tank mates he allows you to keep!

 

[I like Triggers]

ha i know, for the undulated i just got a 70g.

i plan to keep the undulated maybe with a rabbitfish or something like that. the shark is just a dream for now.

 

[jalisco]

Over the past two decades I have kept 3 undulates long term. In a 125 I had an undulate trigger (undulated in some books, still not sure which is correct) with a Picasso, lion fish, porcupine puffer, snow flake moray and (when it was legal) a leopard shark. All was fine until I added a blue spotted stingray. I my triggers in qt for a week while the stingray settled in. When I returned the triggers all seemed to be fine. Then next morning the blue spotted stingray was just a stingray. The undulate trigger had eaten each and every blue spot off the stingray. I returned the stingray and never had another problem in that tank.
In other tanks I successfully kept undulates with fish such as big eye squirrel fish, lipstick tangs and dog face puffers. The one thing I always attributed to my success was giving each of the fish (that use them) a hiding place with two openings, plus one or two extra hiding places that are empty. With this type of rock work, everyone has a territory. If one fish gets rambunctious all it can do is chase the other fish in and out of a few hiding places and will soon grow bored of the chase. Having the empty hiding places will provide for territorial disputes with out leaving a fish homeless. Always have an undulate's tank mates be a little larger and the undulate should always be added last. Since you already have the undulate trigger in qt I would leave him there as you stock your tank. Later on after your tank is stocked and the undulate is in, you may want to add another fish. To do this, simply put the undulate back in the qt and leave him there for a week while the new fish adjusts.
Someone previously posted that you could stock two tanks identically and could get two very different results. This is an absolute, especially with the infamously aggressive members of the trigger family. You should only add fish when you have a day to sit back and baby-sit the tank. The first night is also important to observe as the behavior of some fish changes drastically in the dark. With that being said, when I took these steps I always had a peaceful aggressive tank.

 

[I like Triggers]

cool, thats what i wanted to hear. what would you guys recommend as a good tankmate in a 70. i want these fish to be able to live in this tank for life if they have to.

 

[Mad Scientist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6857141#post6857141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by I like Triggers
cool, thats what i wanted to hear. what would you guys recommend as a good tankmate in a 70. i want these fish to be able to live in this tank for life if they have to.

Having kept an undualte long term myself and knowing a number of other people who have, I think you will find a lot of trouble finding tankmates. Certainly conventional wisdom would be to add nothing, but if you want to go for it, you might as try random fish and see if the trigger kills them.

 

[rwhhunt]

Go with a gymnothorax eel, and maybe a puffer (dogface)

 

[cjvolitan]

sigh no tank mates for the undulated
i think in a large tank and following jalisco advice one can keep undys with other larger aggresive fish try larger triggers puffers and wrases like lunar wrases

 

[jcopp24]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6857345#post6857345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mad Scientist
Having kept an undualte long term myself and knowing a number of other people who have, I think you will find a lot of trouble finding tankmates. Certainly conventional wisdom would be to add nothing, but if you want to go for it, you might as try random fish and see if the trigger kills them.

I second this...
However... seemingly there are some peopel that have posted have great success with the Undy's and other tank mates... I am down with the theroy that each trigger is different, and even male and female Undy's act completely different.
The only fish that I have had success with my Undy are damsels... In my opinion the only reason why they live is because they are FAST and very colorful... I really think that my trigger is affraid of things that are fast and blue, he wont touch the damsel in my tank at home... I do think this is just a matter of time though... she has successfully killed too many things.
The only tank mate I have with my Undy is a purple spotted lobster which found its way into a cave that is too small for the trigger to get to him.

 

[Mad Scientist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6862596#post6862596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jcopp24
I second this...
However... seemingly there are some peopel that have posted have great success with the Undy's and other tank mates... I am down with the theroy that each trigger is different, and even male and female Undy's act completely different.
The only fish that I have had success with my Undy are damsels... In my opinion the only reason why they live is because they are FAST and very colorful... I really think that my trigger is affraid of things that are fast and blue, he wont touch the damsel in my tank at home... I do think this is just a matter of time though... she has successfully killed too many things.
The only tank mate I have with my Undy is a purple spotted lobster which found its way into a cave that is too small for the trigger to get to him.

The few people I know that have luck with undualtes (keeping them with any tankmate LT) would be in in large tanks. This thread is for a 70gallon. But, yup, I would agree that if you were going to try something, a damsel would be a good choice - those suckers are so tough!

 

[marrone]

Good tank mates would be a large grouper, large snapper or a large Squirrel fish. I have a very large undulate with a large Squirrel fish in a 300 gal tank and they where fine as the Squirrel is very fast and can be some what aggressive. Also most large groupers and snappers would be ok as they're fast and aggressive.

As for Damsels I'm not sure what worst an Undulate or a large damsel in the tank. Some of these Damsel get very large, I have one over 8"+ in my tank and it's a terror.

The thing is also Undulate don't get that large so if you have the room for some of these other fish you can make it work, but you also need a good size tank.

I think in the long run it's better to house one in a tank by itself and not get a large tank and try and keep other fish with it. This can also be said for other fish and this is why I got 2 - 260gal tanks and not one 500+gal tank as with the 2 tanks I can keep more fish than if I had the 1 bigger tank.

 

[jcopp24]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6862923#post6862923 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marrone
Good tank mates would be a large grouper, large snapper or a large Squirrel fish. I have a very large undulate with a large Squirrel fish in a 300 gal tank and they where fine as the Squirrel is very fast and can be some what aggressive. Also most large groupers and snappers would be ok as they're fast and aggressive.

.

Marrone... any pictures that you could share of your Undulate? Or the Squirrel Fish? Did you have the Undy in the tank fish or last... I am very curious, I too would like to someday have a tankmate for my Undy, I just dont like watching world war III

 

[marrone]

I had the Undulate about 12 years ago, before Digitial cameras, and had some very large and aggressive fish with it. I had a large Clown Trigger, Niger Trigger, Big Eye Squirrel, Louti Grouper, Saddleback Grouper, and a Blue line Snapper. The Undulated was very big and the other fish where larger. They where all add about the same time. I had to move the Undulate out as the Niger was figthing with it all the time. I move it into a 135gal tank with a large Zebra eel and the Blue Spotted Grouper and they got along just fine.

The thing with Undulated is they're some what shy and sneaky so you need to keep them with fish that are fast and wouldn't be spooked or stressed out by them.

 

[juice me man]

you could do what my daughter has done. she has her undulated trigger in a 75g with a shoal of 20 damsels give or take. works pretty well as the damsels are fast and can get away pretty quick. although there is the odd ocation when a damsel gets eaten but most of the time the undy dosent bother the damsels

 

[Triggerman1964]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6857141#post6857141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by I like Triggers
cool, thats what i wanted to hear. what would you guys recommend as a good tankmate in a 70. i want these fish to be able to live in this tank for life if they have to.

Rocks:lol:

 

[I like Triggers]

ha, i will probably get a nice eel and a bunch of damsels, i love damsels so it works out. i have 3 in my 80 with my clown trigger and humu, and they never mess with eachother. i would be more worried about the damsels picking on the und

 

[cjvolitan]

i've only had my little guy about a week but he has been living with a south sea devil with no probs to date