Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - Are Blue Throat triggers safe with inverts

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- - Are Blue Throat triggers safe with inverts (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32564)

I have a pair of blue throats that will eat any clam that I put in the tank....and eat it quickly BUT that being said they are eating clams from the local seafood shop that I give to my Copperband Butterfly.......don't know if that gives you any idea as they aren't "pretty clams" that we covet in our reefs :biggrin: they do try to open them up themselves too.....

I added a niger trigger to my reef about 2 weeks ago. He hasn't touched any snails, clams or crabs yet, but my fingers are still crossed.

I caved today and bought the blue throat so I will let you all know if he eats my electric crocea.

I have found that Blue throat triggers a fine with inverts, as long as the inverts are in the tank first....if you try and put them in afterwards you can't let him see you doing it or he will try and eat them!!

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But I thought blue throats were supposed to be fairly strict planktivores? In fact I was advised against trying them because I wanted a pair to try to de-crabify my ritteri reef (which is infested with about a dozen hitchhiking crabs and at 30" deep I can't remove them manually, they see me coming, and rearranging the rock is not really an option since it's supporting a 24" anemone that I don't want to move! And an eel doesn't work because it's an open top tank, so that means an octopus is a certain no-no as well, and a mantis is something that .. well once the crabs were gone how do I get the mantis out if I ever want to have fish? You see my dilemma. So I was hoping there was some kind of hope for the bluejaws to go after crabs, because I quite like them, but pretty much everyone I asked was skeptical that they'd do anything to the crabs because of the strict-planktivore thing).

Tony, have you tried a crab trap? I'm thinking it's the same concept as a mantis trap? You know, the whole pop bottle dealy.

Yeah, but all I seem to catch is my cleaner shrimp. I guess I should just move them temporarily to the sump or something.

My Blue has been in the tank since December (he is about 5 1/2" now...grows fast) and has not touched any of my shrimp, the few corals that I now have or my 6" squamosa. Although he is the largest fish, he is by far the least aggressive. I am adding a pair of Crosshatch (if they come in on this order...please please please) next week so hopefully they will be as docile.
From what I understand, the Blue feeds from the water column and not off the reef. This is the basis for them being "reef safe". I have added snails and a sand sifting star in the last month and he isn't even interested.

Yeah, .. see that's basically what I heard about them too. Strict planktivores that feed from the water column.

Crosshatch triggers too? Wow, what size is your tank? That would be an awesome display. :cool:

Right now its only a 120...but its growing to a 180 soon. You know that poll about lying about how much fish cost? Well, when the wife asked about the 180 I just said "oh, don't worry, its just a little longer on each side". See, that is technicallly not lying...just avoiding the question.

K i have had my blue throat trigger for a little while now and he has not even looked twice at my clam, he is actually the most timid fish in my tank. So much so that my algae blenny even bulies him around.