Keeping tank clean with a trigger

[howdy20012002]

Well, i purchased yet another tank..77 gallon..and it came with a picasso trigger.
Apparently he likes the taste of inverts.
Any suggestions on how to keep my tank clean?
Would blue legged hermits be safe?
I will be testing that theory with a few and see how they last.
However, i am just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how to deal with this?
any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks
Neal

[DanG]

You could go with an urchin of some sort. Pretty much any crab, snail or shrimp you add to the tank becomes dinner.

[EmilyB]

Actually, I have crabs that are years old living with my Black Blotch (Picasso relative). The crabs are large rejects from the reef tank, they stay hidden during the day and come out at night. I also have a choc star, and a rock boring urchin in there.

Could be my particular individual, but thought I'd offer that up.

[howdy20012002]

Are urchins safe? I figured they would be lunch as well.
Has anyone had a trigger eat a urchin? I have a few urchins that I could throw into the tank...
They do a pretty good job of cleaning..that would be a good start

[kuatto]

When I had triggers,I had the same problem.Might try very large snails,they seemed to outlast the smaller ones with triggers.My triggers pulled apart any urchins I tried.

[Raf]

I tried some blue-leggeed hermits with my triggers...they lasted 1 day.

[DanG]

Even the long spine black urchins?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Inverts = Trigger snacks, even long spined Urchins.

[targa81]

My experience is similar to EmilyB. I have blue leg hermits with my Picasso, they hide during the day and have for the most part survived. Triggy will occasionally find a snack but I have only lost a couple crabs in the last 6 months. I used to have a large clown trigger though that inverts would never have survived, didn't even try.

[Johnny Reefer]

IMO, ….
….get the tank drilled if it’s not already.
-Run a sump with a skimmer over-rated for a 77g. Say a Euroreef CS6-1 or CS6-2 ,or an ASM G-2.
-Go with about 100lbs of Live Rock.
-Crabs, crabs, crabs….of the hitchhiker variety. Check with your LFS when they get LR shipments in. Usually some show their beady little eyes on arrival of the LR and can be had then. Crabs hide during the day and come out at night. Triggers hide during the night and come out by day. Perfect.
(Not sure about Blue-legged hermits. The ones I have in my Reeftank are always cruisin’ around by day….so maybe they can sense danger when it’s present, and hide by day if a Trigger is around. Don’t know).
-Good water circulation to help keep crud suspended in the water column.
-Water changes. At least 10% weekly.
-Understock for a lower bio-load.

Some other things to consider….
-Go Bare Bottom. Personally, I don’t like it but it certainly does allow for the option of vacuuming crud out.
-Utilize a de-nitrator such as Kent’s Nitrate Sponge.
-Run a refugium.

Maybe more ideas than what you’re looking for but it’d all help, IMO.

HTH and cheers:smile:,

[Twisted-1]

I had the same thing with my picasso and hermit crabs. The crabs hid during the day to come out at night. I actually thought that all my crabs became snacks but to my suprise I found almost all of them running around one night. I would try to add them during the night so the Trigger doesn't see them enter the tank like a snack. I had blue legs and afew scarlets in with mine.

[howdy20012002]

so if this theory works, out in day - sleep at night...
then cerith snails should work then as well, cuz they are generally only active at night...therefore making it a bit safer for them cuz the trigger will be sleeping.
As well, they are smaller, so it might be hard for the trigger to shuck them.
Does the trigger break the shells? or just shuck whatever is inside out?
if they generally just crunch up the shells, then how bout golf ball sized mexican turbos? are they safer strictly becuz of their size?
thanks again for the advice.
You guys are saving lifes here and my snails thank ya...LOL
Truly do appreciate the input though.
thanks.
Neal

[TheReefGeek]

Neal, I think you must have a lot of tanks running, are they on seperate systems, or are they all combined?

I agree with Johnny Reefer, you need to run the tank barebottom, good flow, with a fuge and good skimming.

If I were you I would combine your tanks into a common sump, buy a monster skimmer, hook up a massive fuge (magnetic ballasts and 400w 3500k bulbs are cheap), and use lots of rock. Run the aggresive tanks barebottom with lots of flow and wastes won't accumulate. You could look at some fish that can act as cleaner crew, I don't know a lot about aggresive FOWLR tanks, but maybe some tangs and angels would survive and eat you algae for you.

[Johnny Reefer]

so if this theory works, out in day - sleep at night...
then cerith snails should work then as well, cuz they are generally only active at night...therefore making it a bit safer for them cuz the trigger will be sleeping.
As well, they are smaller, so it might be hard for the trigger to shuck them.
Does the trigger break the shells? or just shuck whatever is inside out?
if they generally just crunch up the shells, then how bout golf ball sized mexican turbos? are they safer strictly becuz of their size?
thanks again for the advice.
You guys are saving lifes here and my snails thank ya...LOL
Truly do appreciate the input though.
thanks.
Neal
Hmmm. Good question. I, for one, am not sure. When I got my Trigger tank up and running I had a small loonie sized Turbo hitchhiker in there. It lasted about one month. The shell remained intact so I don't know for sure exactly what happened.
One time when I put about six hitchhiker crabs in, one guy was slow to get to the LR. My Clown Trigger got to him and completely devoured it. The whole thing. Carapace and all. I know a crab's carapace is thinner, and probably softer, than snail shells, but still, I was surprised. After that, and my failure with two Green Brittle Stars, I do not underestimate the capabilities of my Triggers anymore. They have powerful jaws.... I think. Personally, I'm content with a whack of hitchhiker type crabs and am going to leave it at that.

Cheers:smile:,