Reef safe Triggerfish???

Cassian · Sep 3, 2019

Hello all! I would really love a triggerfish, but I see everywhere that they are not reef safe. But as far as I can tell that is only because they eat crustaceans??? I have a moray eel, so my crustaceans already get eaten. lol. So my question is, are trigger fish coral safe?? I have lots of SPS and LPS and some softies.

#reefsquad

andrewkw · Sep 3, 2019

I believe all of the Xanthichthys's are thought to be reef safe. They won't eat corals but may eat snails / shrimp and some of the bigger ones may knock over corals as well but they won't eat them. In my own personal experience a pink tail trigger was one of the first fish I had and he was fine but didn't last long as it was one of my first fish.

I had a female blue throat recently although she lasted less than a year. I found she was very shy and spent almost all of the time hidden in the rocks. She was a good eater and would come out for food but otherwise hid. Eventually she wedged herself into the rocks and that was her demise.

Jacked Reefer · Sep 3, 2019

There was just an article on this in one of my favorite magazines!
Some are completely safe, wont bother coral or other fish.
the ones i can remember off the top of my head are
Crosshatched,
Blue Jaw,
Sargassum/Red tail,
Pink Tail.
There are some which can sometimes be safe.
Niger,
Golden.
And the rest i just wouldnt mess with

robmiller2 · Sep 3, 2019

I have a Niger and it has been no problem though it is still quite small. Has not touched anything other than food.

Cassian · Sep 3, 2019

thanks everyone! I appreciate the info

vetteguy53081 · Sep 3, 2019

Blue throat , crosshatch and niger

Huff747 · Sep 3, 2019

If you find yourself in St. Louis area I might have a pair of Blue Throats you can take home with you. I actually like them very much, they don't seem to bother anything in my tank, the male has nice personality, he spits water at you if you don't get the food in fast enough, and I think they're even displaying spawning behaviors (she seems to tend a patch of sand and he goes after my cleaning magnet when I get near that patch). But he also constantly splashes water and in my rimless tank that means there are streaks of dried salt down my glass constantly. Looks like your tank has a rim that would prevent that. If it weren't for the splashing I wouldn't even be considering moving them.

Cassian · Sep 3, 2019

How would the species of triggers mentioned above do with small fish? I have a pair of orange storm clowns that I CANNOT lose. Lol

Roberth101 · Oct 31, 2019

As said before some triggers are ok but some( clown triggerfish) WILL eat your corals. I had a large one in a 300 gallon reaf and it ate 3 of my coral before i could get him out.

83932794d5-shutterstock-282396185-close-up-view-of-a-clown-triggerfish-balistoides-conspicillum-.jpg

Cassian · Oct 31, 2019

Roberth101 said:
As said before some triggers are ok but some( clown triggerfish) WILL eat your corals. I had a large one in a 300 gallon reaf and it ate 3 of my coral before i could get him out.

Thanks for the info! I ended up with a pair of blue throats and they are model citizens. :)

Huff747 · Oct 31, 2019

LukeWolf said:
Thanks for the info! I ended up with a pair of blue throats and they are model citizens. :)

Do they clean a spot on your sand? And have you seen them do their little dance yet? Still kind of miss them but I haven't had to clean their splashes off the outside of my tank every day which is nice.

Roberth101 · Oct 31, 2019

Huff747 said:
Do they clean a spot on your sand? And have you seen them do their little dance yet? Still kind of miss them but I haven't had to clean their splashes off the outside of my tank every day which is nice.

Lol

Cassian · Oct 31, 2019

Huff747 said:
Do they clean a spot on your sand? And have you seen them do their little dance yet? Still kind of miss them but I haven't had to clean their splashes off the outside of my tank every day which is nice.

I haven’t seen them cleaning a spot on the sand yet, but they do the dance occasionally. They are doing great in the new tank and settled in really well. I have also noticed the male doesn’t rip the females tail anymore and it is completely healed now. If you ever want a pic to see how they are doing, just let me know. I’ll be happy to provide :)

Im glad you’re enjoying your nice clean glass. Lol :)

Billldg · May 5, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Blue throat , crosshatch and niger

Will the Blue Throat Trigger go after Scarlett Skunk Cleaner shrimp?

monkeyCmonkeyDo · May 5, 2021

My humu humu is not considered reef safe. It will eat inverts and probably eventually start plucking at fluffy large.lps.
Im.hopeful though raising him from the size of a thumb. Its a toss up as he gets bigger.
D

vetteguy53081 · May 5, 2021

Billldg said:
Will the Blue Throat Trigger go after Scarlett Skunk Cleaner shrimp?

The answer is :

Any fish or invert that can fit is a fishs' mouth, SOONER OR LOATER WILL !!

Billldg · May 5, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
The answer is :

Any fish or invert that can fit is a fishs' mouth, SOONER OR LOATER WILL !!

Thinking of getting a Blue Throat trigger, my main concern was the corals, don't really care about the snails as I have seen my nassarius snails go after my trochus snails for food. Just wasn't sure about the shrimp, and the shrimp will be much bigger than the mouth of a smaller trigger.

vetteguy53081 · May 5, 2021

Billldg said:
Thinking of getting a Blue Throat trigger, my main concern was the corals, don't really care about the snails as I have seen my nassarius snails go after my trochus snails for food. Just wasn't sure about the shrimp, and the shrimp will be much bigger than the mouth of a smaller trigger.

They bothered none of my coral/ Knocked over 1 or 2 but no damage