Thanks!

Starting to see a bit of that already (introduced into the tank on Boxing Day, spent the first two days holed up in a buried crevasse - you could just see the eyes moving watching everything swim by). This is a very clever fish, you can just tell.

Were you ever able to keep shrimp with yours Dave?

I find that to feed my golden dwarf eel I have to maneuver the tongs very quickly down to the eel's feeding station - I feed him mostly krill (seems to be the eel's favourite) but the trigger has discovered he too quite likes krill so also wants that tasty morsel that's being so conveniently held still by tongs. :lol:

I'm just wondering with both of their dispositions to krill that I'm probably unable to ever keep cleaner shrimp and etc. in the same tank.

Yeah that first week was really dicey. I'm very relieved that they seem to have resolved their issues with each other.

So .. um .. shouldn't you be on a beach or something by now?? :lol: Dude, put down the iPhone and start on a Corona or a Pina Colada or something!

I gave up on shrip for the 2+ years I had my pair. I tried 3 large shrimp once, and they lasted about 10 seconds (2 went to the triggers, one for the mystery wrasse). That being said my crosshatch pair were 5" and 7.5" in size.

It may be quite the challenge to get food to your DGM now as the crosshatch will be very aggressive towards any live food.

I would say add the frozen food to one side of the tank to attract the crosshatch, then with the krill already thawed, get it down there fast for the DGM. Becuase he should pop his head out at the smell of the other food this should work.

Gotta say - one nicely stocked tank! I never owned both species at the same time. While I loved my crosshatches while I had them, I would have to say I don't think I could live without the DGM now. Good luck and congrats.

Oh sorry I'm not feeding live - just meant "holding still" as opposed to carried away on the currents. The trigger comes up to the tongs and takes polite little bites of the krill. I only use the tongs for the eel, he's associated them with food. The eel comes out for food only when he wants to - and does a pretty good job of communicating "Ok I'm not interested in eating right now" when he doesn't feel like eating (swims up to the food, sniffs it, then swims away. If he wants it, that food is gone within about 2 seconds) so if he hasn't taken the food within a minute I pretty much give up and try again the next day.

The bioload is definitely getting a bit on the heavy side these days! But things are holding their own for the moment.

Did you sell the triggers because they got too big?

Wow Tony Beautiful fish and a great snag! Guess this is just more intensive to set the new tank up faster :lol:.

I see you found the "Pictures" section of our great forum. :wink:

Great addition though Tony. Your Crosshatch is gorgeous. Didn't know they were Reef Safe though..

Really nice pair you found there Tony! Very nice additions! Great personality on both I bet!:mrgreen:

Nice fish Tony. Good choices, I'm jealous. I wanted a Crosshatch but settled for a Blue Throat as I couldn't see taking out a second mortgage to buy one. You're very lucky to find a small affordable one. Love the Lavender too. They are very similar to my Chocolate Tang, at least with the juvenile colouration.

Hahaha I know. I still can't believe I pulled the trigger on the purchase (oooh punny, I didn't actually mean that to be punny, sorry!!) but, and it really must be the size that explains it, but he (she?) was on par with the going rate on .. say, a nicely coloured carpet anemone these days (and not even the most expensive carpets!!) That same LFS had a pair last year that I saw that was 3 times the price for the two of them. Although in a strange way I think that makes more sense that a "pair" of something is worth more than two times one individual.. :neutral:

Josh, it sort of depends on what your definition of reef safe is. In this genus (Xanthichthys) are the crosshatch (X. mento), blue jaw (X. auromarginatus), and sargassum (X. ringens). They are supposed to be planktivores, their mouths even turn upwards as opposed to downwards as they are interested in open water prey. Clams and corals *should* be safe, but I guess I'll find out if I'm wrong here.

That said, I'm not sure if I trust him (her?) around shrimp like cleaners or peppermints (which is why I was asking Dave about that earlier).

There are other triggers I've seen in reef tanks, huma-huma triggers, pinktails .. maybe nigers too come to think of it. Although maybe it's hit and miss and these others, I don't know. Or maybe you make a choice not to have the kind of invertebrate they go after (things like snails or whatever). But everything I've read seems to suggest the Xanthichthys triggers are OK in a reef.

My butterflies are doing way more damage to my reef anyhow (you can see in the pictures the gorgs are all closed up) and I have to make a decision about them. :cry: I don't want to, so I keep hoping I can maybe get my other tank ready soon enough, then I'll just move everything ELSE over and keep them behind and turn this tank into a FOWLR or a BOWLR (butterflies only with live rock :lol:). I'd love to try a pair of semilarvatus butterflies for example (oohhhh such preeeeety fish :lol:). Failing that though I might have to catch them and sell them to someone with a FOWLR.

Nice purchase Tony! Wow those are really nice. These are both something I have never seen before. The lavender looks to have some reds and blue colors in the one picture. The Crosshatch is amazing!

Brad