triggers in a reef tank

I know triggers are not reef safe. those teeth can tear through anything... but I have seen reef tanks with triggers before. how do people do this sucessfully? I'v always wanted a trigger and the only thing deterring me is that i want to make my tank into a reef tank.

 

its only luck if u get a reef safe trigger. sometimes they do nip at coral, sometimes they dont, but they always eat shrimp.

 

+1. I have 2 triggers, pink tail and niger. Neither one bothers corals, but inverts are NOT safe. But they do get real big and can be aggressive with other fish. They are not necessarily good for a "community" tank.

 

I think it is pretty much the luck of the draw with them

I have seen more that dont eat corals that those that do. But like said before inverts are far from safe

 

As far as keeping them successfully in a reef, the biggest thing I have done is kept them "well fed". I think if they are fat and happy, and getting what they need, they leave the corals alone.

 

interesting.......

 

I have a Blue Jaw trigger in a 120G tank that doesn't touch a thing

 

Never has my HumaHuma touched my two cleaner shrimp or my peppermint. They have lived together for over 7 months. It doesn't fuss with hermits either, although it will sometimes go after a snail. It likes mex turbos. I assume because of the challenge they impose.

I have never seen it touch a coral.

 

weird; they usually do eat shrimp

 

My pink tail lived with 2 cleaner shrimp for almost a year. Used to get cleaned on a regular basis.....then one day....bam! I was watching the whole time and couldn't do a thing about it.

I have also watched it pick up snails, bang them against the glass and drop them. While they are stunned and trying to right themselves, the pink tail goes in for the kill. Escargot! So far, the niger seems to be the most peaceful. But the pink tail is 2x the size of the niger.

I added about 2 dozen hermits 2 weeks ago and they are all gone.