Do you own an undulate triggerfish? Would you still?

[justahobby]

I currently have a 3 inch undulate housed in a 58 gal. along with a 3 inch lemonpeel and large condy anemone. I bought a very nice looking brain off of here, stuck it in my tank, and the triggerfish began pecking away. I stuffed the open brain into my 14 gal. to save the poor guy (lucky I had the option, I know ). Now I find myself at a crossroads . Do I keep him and enjoy only him in hopes I will more rapidly get stable enough to own a larg-e-normous tank to house corals and gentle souls. Or do I get rid of him and enjoy setting up a tank that will eventually be a great looking reef tank (even though I will someday have my prize show tank to house corals) then the 58 gal. would be obsolete and I would wish to have my trigger back. I hope to hear from people owning an undulate/aggressive trigger and people who have had and now do not alike. Any and all thoughts and comments are welcome.

He may get so bad to the point I cannot stick my hand in the tank. I really haven't seen a viscous fish to know for sure if he will be the terror everyone acuses undulates of being. *Whew* Long winded blogs suck!

[alton]

Undulated Trigger, I had one 14 years ago. Stood up to a 6" Clown Trigger, gave it to my brother inlaw and it killed his 4" Niger Trigger. Oh yea I forgot to post the size 2". A great single species fish that deserves his own tank. I would try Frogspawn, GSP, Kenyan Tree, Xenia Corals to house with him. Brains are not safe with most fish.

[justahobby]

That is an extreme story. I thought I was convinced to sell him until I saw a4 or 5 incher at Polly's Pets today. He was magnificent. And the I got to my tank and saw that the brain got HUUUGE. He wont be able to stay in the 14 gal.

[beerguy]

I have never owned one my self, but I talked at length with someone who did. It was one of those instances where the guys girlfriend went to the pet store by her self and they just bagged the fish up for her with out telling her anything about the fish. The thing was a terror, and a tiny one at that. They eventually gave him away, its like Im getting dejavu all over again in this thread. Personally, I would get rid of the fish. He will seriously limit your corals/fish selections, and to me thats not as much fun as being able to buy what ever you want. Besides, if you do keep him then you wont be able to fill up your tank with what ever corals you want to prepare yourself for the upgrade, because theres no excuse to upgrade if you still have room in your exsisting tank. and when you do get your tank upgrade you can make your 58g a mini predator tank, where you can throw all kinds of mayhem in and not have to worry because youve dedicated your tank to that sort of thing. So in short: take the fish back to texas tropical and have a discussion with them as to why they even keep this sort of animal in their stock in the first place because its irrisponsible and expensive (based on livestock you lose) to you as a hobbiest.

[RayAllen]

Defintaley a fish that is to be kept in a tank by itself. Its actually one of the first things I learned about the SW hobby back late 2003. One of those things in Nature, Very beautiful but can be deadly.

[scorpio]

Justin, I use to own an undulated trigger and I had to give him back to the pet store. These are beautiful creatures and I really wanted to keep him for my fish only tank but like they say, "they are terrors". He was pecking at the fins of my half moon angel and damsel. Hated to get rid of him but, I had to save the others. Good luck with your decision.
George

[justahobby]

It's off to the trading post for this undulate. It's going to be hard though, I've had him for well over a year which is longest I have owned a fish. But beerguy raised some very good points.

Thanks
Justin