trigger in your reef?

[adaminaustin]

Does anyone have a trigger in their reef tank? I know that themarinecenter.com has a crosshatch trigger that is reef safe. I dont think I will get one, it did not have a listed price so I am sure it is expensive.

what are some of the more reef safe species? If any at all

[Bigreefer]

I've heard of people having success with Niger triggers.


Jason

[Bigreefer]

I've got a baby clown in with a cardinal, mushrooms, zooanthlids, 2 scarlet hermits, and margarita snails. So far so good.

[Ed]

Hi Adam,

I have a Niger trigger in my reef tank. He co-exists with snails, hermits, brittle stars, peppermint shrimp and a White tip urchin. No problems at all. A neat fish with lots of personality. I'm also thinking of adding a Blue Jaw (aka Blue Throat) Trigger at some point. The Niger, Blue Jaw and Crosshatch are all *supposed* to be reef safe.

Hope this helps.

-Ed

[MikeP]

Adam - I had a Niger in my reef for the past year - sadly he jumped last month :( . Good with corals and most fish though he did get pretty territorial at times. He used to chase my fairy wrasse around a few times a week into the overflow (she went to a new home) and he would try to nip me as he got less and less shy.

I miss having him - great personality but the biting thing really got old.

-M

[oliver]

Just in case you want to try one, here is a picture of my 8" crosshatch. He is completely reef safe, however is not "reefer" safe. He has bitten me a few times and has drawn blood.

http://www.oamd.com/aquarium/crosshatch-wb.jpg

[Isis]

Rule of thumb.... The triggers that have mouths that "point" upwards, like the niger and crosshatch are your less aggressive and reef safe. The ones that have mouths like the picasso and clown are known for their aggressiveness...

[adaminaustin]

Thanks for all the info gang!
That is a awsome trigger Oliver.
I am thinking about getting a niger after the tank gets set up and running. The only bad thing is I like to play in the tank, and am not fond of pain.
Sorry about your fish Mike. He was very cool.

[Isis]

My Niger never attacked, but I can't verify how older ones react.

[adaminaustin]

What about a clam in the same tank as the niger? I know Mike had some clams. Does anyone else have experience w/ this?

[brewercm]

I don't have any experience with clams but my niger I used to have loved to pick my snails off of the glass and everything else. Never really bothered them after that he just loved to rearange things to his liking. That may cause a problem because he'd also burrow the sand out from under the rocks he wanted to.

[Tim Marvin]

You guys are braver than I am.

[witecap4u]

You guys are braver than I am.

This from the guy with the shark tank in his back yard.....hehe :-o

[captexas]

Tim has a shark tank? I definately need to stop by his place then! :-D
I would love to have a tank with a couple of small sharks. Only problem is that even small sharks need really big tanks!


There are some pretty triggers out there like Olivers, but like some of the others have mentioned, I'm not too keen on being bitten by a fish!

[oliver]

The real pain is not from the bite of the trigger, but when your forearm hits the 400W halide when rapidly jerking your arm out of the tank.

[adaminaustin]

This is something that I will really really think about.
The main concern being the coral and other inhabitants in the tank.
The other concern being my fingers. :(

The crosshatch @ themarinecenter.com is $250. I would really have to give my gfriend a nice gift to get this one :lol:

[adaminaustin]

thats too funny Oliver,
Well funny to me at least ;)

[Andrew]

The sargassum and bluchin triggers are reef safe as well.
Some niger triggers do seem to do well in reefs, others don't.


a.k.

[MikeP]

One thing about eh sargassum - they are more of an open water fish in nature and I have heard many stories of them failing to thrive in smaller tanks.

[Richard]

I will be adding a sargassum trigger to my tank this weekend so I'll let you know how safe he really is.

I've had several at the store over the past year and they have all done very well. They are not a fast seller they have usually been in the store for a pretty long time, in fact the last one I had was in a 20 gallon for 3 months before he sold and was doing extremely well. A very shy fish few the first few weeks but they have always become bold and personable after some time. Well that's my experience with them so far, I kinda think of sargassums as a crosshatch trigger minus $200 worth of color.