reef safe triggers?

[papaya]

what are all of the possible reef safe triggers? i have gotten a lot of different answers so im not sure

[Parrothead]

They are all a major crap shoot, but the most docile would be the blue throat aka blue jaw, or the niger, other than that I wouldn't even think about it

[peacock]

+1 parrot blue throat is more of the reef safe tiggers

[gregr]

How about a Sargassum?

That one has been in that tank for several months now (in a store).

[simn22]

How about a Sargassum?

That one has been in that tank for several months now (in a store).

wow that is one beautiful tank! hope to one day be like that

[Parrothead]

would require a very large tank, especially at 4 - 6 inches, also very, very, expensive

[papaya]

so niger and blue throat......for cheaper and a smaller tank?

[Parrothead]

those would be about the best choices, only one though

[zhenya]

so niger and blue throat......for cheaper and a smaller tank?

How much smaller? I wouldn't put any trigger fish in a tank that is smaller than 6' long. Even Niger trigger will grow pretty large and as it grows it will taste pretty much anything it chooses. Like clams and never mind trying to keep ornamental shrimp and crabs... ;;

[kevinpo]

Hello,
All the Xanthichthys sp. are quite reef safe in regards to coral and shrimp. I would recommend keeping only one of each species (rather than a male/female pair). The male ends up chasing the female too much which can lead to jumping and breaking of corals. The only expensive member of the family is the X. mento (Crosshatch). The smallest member of the family is the X. auromarginatus (Bluejaw) which typically reaches about 6"-7" in the home aquarium.

Another good reef trigger is the Melichthys vidua (Pinktail). It's down side is that it gets about a foot long. IMO requiring at least a 6' long tank. I don't recommend a Niger for a reef tank.

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

I was going to say the same thing about Niger triggers being not completely reef-aquarium safe but Kevin already said it. Poseidon, another member of the board, tried a Niger trigger in his reef tank a few years ago with unhappy results. He finally removed it.

[Parrothead]

Thanks Zhenya, Kevin and Ninong, I wasn't a hundred percent certain on the niger as I kept one for almost a year before tearing my tank down last fall and starting over with real live rock, he nevered bothered anything in the tank as far as corals go.

Thanks for straightening me out

[Ninong]

I think the element that some of you may not be considering is the size of the reef aquarium in question. It's 40 gallons. That's an extremely important factor but it wasn't mentioned in the opening post of this particular thread. It was mentioned in other threads.

Bearing that in mind, I don't know of any triggers that would be appropriate. In the case of the Niger trigger (Odonus niger), while it may be relatively reef-aquarium safe, it is not completely reef-aquarium safe and it is a fast grower, as Poseidon discovered to his dismay. He mentioned the probability that he would have to remove it from his 90-gallon tank. He started out with a 135-gallon tank but later changed to a 90-gallon tank.

Because the Niger trigger has a maximum adult size of 50cm (20") and commonly reaches 10-12" in aquariums, it really needs a tank that is at least 8 feet long and at least 250-300 gallons. It is unfortunate that some online vendors give absurdly small minimum tank sizes for the fish they sell and then justify it by saying that they were talking about small specimens, not adult fish.

Whenever the topic in question concerns the suitability of certain fish, I think it is important for the topic starter to state the size of the aquarium in question. In this case, the topic starter stated in a post in early July that the tank will be 30-40 gallons.

[Parrothead]

on that note, I wouldn't put any trigger or any number of other fish in a tank that size.

Papaya, you are gonna be severely limited on what and how many fish you can keep, start thinking gobies and blennies