Undulated Trigger

[Tarasco]

So I was thinking a little bit about getting a 55 and setting it up for an Undulated Trigger. I saw one of these guys at an LFS, and it was a great looking fish with a lot of personality. I've done a little research, and found that they are basically considered the most aggressive of the triggers, they'll eat everything you put in the tank, they'll bite the hand that feeds them, and if you let them they'll basically hop out of the tank and take your family hostage while it raids the fridge.


Still, this is something I'm interested in, and wondering if anyone out there has any experience with them. Specifically, how long you had it, how it did with tankmates, did it try to eat equipment, and other behavioral issues. I've checked out wetwebmedia and fishbase, I'm basically looking for personal experiences. I'm a long way off from putting this together, just getting info. Any info is appreciated.

[sharks]

Me and this fish have a love / hate relationship.
Love the fish hate but the attitude!
They are about the only fish that I would and did set up a species tank for.
A 75G all to himself.
Try to avoid the temptation of adding other fish.
Even though it’s small now it will be the only fish left in the tank at one point.
Here is the scenario in most cases.
One day you wake up and all the other fish are chewed up or missing eyeballs.

I would also recommend getting starboard for the bottom of the tank. My (and most customers I know) trigger loved to move all the gravel around. Then it will pick up pieces of rock or coral and drop them all around the tank. Mine would move rocks that I thought were heavy! Pieces twice his size

If you are able to do this without adding additional fish go for it. They are the coolest looking fish with larger then life personalities. I would also plan on needing a larger tank for him. I donated mine to a local aquarium when I thought he was cramped. I think a 120G would be about the right size for one.
JMO HIH
S

[Tarasco]

Thanks for the info sharks. How big was it when you gave it up? How long did you have it for, and how fast did it grow? Did you have any equipment in the tank, such as powerheads or heaters, and did the guy try to munch on it or electrocute himself? What kind of feeding schedule did you have it on? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to take advantage of your first hand knowledge.

[Maxx]

Tarasco,
I had one as well for a year before I gave him up for "adoption".
I kept mine in a 30 gallon tank for as long as I could..he was about 2 inches long when I got him and rapidly grew to about 5 1/2 inches. He also ate just about everything in the tank, but he never bit me. I gave him up because the 30 was my largest salt water aquarium and I couldnt justify keeping him in it by himself...not to mention it was just getting to big.
They are neat fish, tons o personality....and the temperment ofa rabid pitbull....
Another trigger that I persoanlly find more attractive and slightly less aggressive is the Fuscus or blue lined trigger....
Pretty much, triggers are a like, aggressive, big, meat eating fish. They dont care how much it cost you, or if it was the cutest thing in the world, its either lunch, or future lunch, (as soon as the trigger gets big enough). They don't play well w/ others.
Not real difficult to keep at all, (prolly couldnt kill em w/ a hammer if ya tried), just real difficult to keep w/ other fish.
Definately some of the most entertaining fish to keep in marine aquaria.
Nick

[Tarasco]

I thought about the blue lined, but then I read that they get over 20 inches, so that's a no go.

[BoomerD]

Unfortunately, triggers in general aren't too reef safe. The few possible exceptions would be the blue throat & a few of the other members of the Xanthichthys family.
Years ago, I worked in the fish room of one of my areas "premier " pet stores. When I had to clean the tank with the undulated trigger, I had to do so with a net in one hand to fend the nasty bugger off with. I've been bitten more than once, not just a friendly nip, drawing blood each time. Nigers, not mean, clowns, iffy, but Queens & Undulateds, would try to bite nearly every time. Maybe they associated humans with food, especially since many of the other employees fed them live goldfish, but they can be VERY nasty fellas. Move stuff around, tear stuff up out of boredom, kill just about anything else in the tank, and would eat anything they could get in their mouths. Hella pretty fish, and so are the Queens, but not very friendly.

[Maxx]

Actually I recal reading a story where one of Jaques Cousteau's camera men was badly bitten by a queen trigger defending a nest...he needed lotsa stiches...but this was also a 2 foot fish...
I've kept alot of triggers, but have never been bitten by any of them.

[sharks]

I had mine for 2 years and it went from about 2 inches to 8 inches in that time. It was just costing me too much to feed and run a 75 for one fish. I don’t think he was cramped yet but he was definitely bored. He destroyed his tank everyday.
He went into a 2000G tank at the aquarium on the boardwalk. I’m not sure how long they kept him since the head biologist got transferred to a “real aquarium”.
I ran a wet/dry with a 15W UV. I changed 20% every 2 weeks. Heater was in the sump and no power heads in the tank. I have had a few customers tell me about them breaking heaters and even bighting the cords And yes I too have been bitten my fish. He was afraid of nothing so I had to use a scrubber in a stick.
With all these bad points I would do it again. A great pet IMO.
If you can try to get one from the Red Sea. They are more colorful. With more orange in them.
HIH
S

[Tarasco]

You know, I've heard the boredom comment about these guys a couple of times. I wonder if there are "fish toys" for destructive little guys like undulateds. Maybe something like throwing a bioball in there, or a plastic army guy for them to chew on. Better than blowing money on snails to get them crunched in a day or two.

[Maxx]

I was gonna make a comment about do you really want plastic chunks floating around in your fish, do you think it could handle it etc.....but then I remembered that these fish have evolvoed to eat sea urchins....

Nick