The Pink-Tail Trigger Thread

[reefing102]

Well after searching through 18 pages of search info i can't seem to find much on the Pink Tail Trigger. Couple Questions

How ReefSafe Are they?

Are they hard to get to eat?

And Share Your Experience with them

[reefing102]

any one?

[Ocicat]

How reef-safe are they: They may eat motile inverts but shouldn't bother corals.

Are they hard to get: No

My experiences: Limited - I just got mine last week. I came across him at an LFS and fell in love with him because he was so alert and playful, trying to play with the fish in the next tank, following them up and down the clear divider between the tanks. (My husband named him Fido for this playful, alert, dog-like behavior.) I have done some reading on them as well. They are about as reef-safe as triggers get, which means they may or may not become problematic. Won't bother corals but may eat shrimps, snails, crabs. Mine is well-behaved so far - he will occasionally pick up a snail by the shell and drop it. When the snail closes up, he loses interest. Since his arrival, my nassarius snails have started only coming out at night, and my astreas really only move at night now also - if he drops one of them upside down, it stays there closed up until dark and then rights itself and goes about its business. He appears mildly curious about the other fish at times but mostly ignores them. So far he totally ignores the few soft corals I have in there.

He is very, very cool. His intelligence is obvious. He doesn't just swim around - he explores. He is very curious about most things. When I stand/sit by the tank, he hangs out by me. When spooked he retreats to his cave, and at night he sleeps wedged in there with his trigger up. He seems to recognize my voice - if he is spooked and I say something to calm him, he actually calms down. He did bite my fingertip the other day, but I forgave him! Really cool fish.

[Ocicat]

P.S. They get big, up to 14". Fido is maybe 4-1/2" right now.

[Rich_Fray]

I got one about a week ago. Let's my cleaner ship clean his open mouth. Seems pretty safe to me although I'm sure that might change as the trigger gets bigger. He's about 5" now. Excellent fish.