How about a tank full of triggerfish?

[bluemarlin]

I know that trigger fish are realatively easy to keep and that they are pretty aggreessive to say the least. But could I keep a tank of say 4 or 5 triggers together? I have a 180 gallon tank with 150-200#'s of LR. WOuld they get along if they were fed well? What about the other inhabitants? I have some cardinal fish, a chromis, two CBS and one cleaner shrimp. I think that the Chromis and the CBS may have to be moved to another tank. What are your thoughts?

 

[bluemarlin]

I almost forgot. What about my cleanup crew? Hermits, snails and an Urchin. Triggers may see these as a tasty snack. Am I right?

 

[ophiura]

I agree with jwtrojan44, it would be a stretch, and most of your inverts and smaller fish would be tasty morsels eventually (triggers are one of the major predators of urchins, BTW, one of the advantages of their unusually head shape with strong jaws and eyes far back on the head is that they can get through the spines). It would require careful selection of species, but no guarantee. But if you are just going to choose triggers based on prettiness, then it probably won't work. Doing some homework on species like jwtrojan44 mentioned, and being willing to take some risks (and not being tempted to throw a bunch of other fish in too)...well, its your call. No guarantees.
What sort of triggers do you like?

 

[benihuma]

You might get more replies in the aggressive forum.
ben

 

[ophiura]

I think Ben is right...thread moved to aggressives.

 

[bluemarlin]

Thanks for the replies and thanks for moving this to the better forum. I appreciate it.
I really do not have my heart set on any particular Triggers yet. I do like the clown and several others (I won't try to remember there names now). I was just curious as to how they would get along with each other. I would have to change alot of things but I just invisioned it and it seemed like it would look cool. I always research these things first and thats why I posted it. It was my first step in researching. Next I will research the different Triggers and see where I end up.
Thanks again!

 

[rockface]

It's a tough question because all fish seem to act in a diffrent way. See my list of tank mates. It has worked great for the last 2 years. I have only lost a few blue legs to snack time, and no snails other than a few that were small enough for the lion to eat.
The key is to add something other than just triggers, maybe an eel, or wrasse, etc. The bigger the tank, the better the outcome.

 

[grouperhead]

There are several triggers that mix well, and several that don't. You could keep a single male bluejaw and two, maybe three females in there. Clowns are nice, but can be a real pain at times. Many grow up as model citizens, then just snap and wipe out the tank. Picasso's will often do the same. Nigers generally mix well with other planktonic species. If I were you, I'd probably do a male bluejaw, pinktail, niger, and one other fish. Bo

 

[trigernick]

I need someone to help me decide on what kind of fish i should put in my 55 gallon fish tank i already have a yellow tank please help

 

[99]

I had a niger a huma huma, a undulated , and , a picaso trigger all in the same 45 gal tank. and everyone got along fine. I now know thats way too many fish for that size tank, but at the time, I didn't know. They lived together for about 5-6 years. They were a lot of fun, alot of action in that tank.

 

[clowntrigger2k]

i did it with
clowntrigger
humahuma
undulated
niger
and for about 5 months all was good than it all fell apart they started to tear each other apart the only way i have seen this work was at this club they had the same triggers i said but also a queen trigger but the tank was about 3000 gallons so they were in each others face but there was still some fins getting nipped i will never do that again for now on thee most would be 2 per tank but i would try to stay with one triggers they can tear each other apart