expensive snack, to both :neutral:

When i had my crosshatch it was about 2 inches or so and had it for over 3 years before tank sell off. I added a couple of cleaner shrimp and snails atleast a year later. I always add new items to my tank with the lights off and leave them off for 24 hours. My Crosshatch did not bother with my cleaner shrimp or snails.
Good to see you ended up getting a crosshatch Tony, to this day even with the many other fish i had it was one of my favs.

Good to hear, thanks. It seems like the scales are slightly tipped in favour of trying although seems there is still some hit and miss. Someone eats snails in the cube tank although I can't tell if it's the eel or the trigger. Either are about as plausible.

Yeah I've had her since December 2009. Great fish, great personality. She lets me scratch her head. :lol: Although she's also nipped fingertips once or twice too. When I was reaching in a few weeks ago to pick up a clam to transfer over to the new tank, my other hand had just the fingertips poking through the surface and this must have looked like ..... food or something. Didn't draw blood or anything but surprised the heck out of me as I didn't even realize my other hand had breached the surface at all. :lol:

I got a pinktail trigger almost 2 weeks ago, and this past weekend I added a pair of cleaner shrimp.

Every night before I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up, I go to the tank with my flashlight to make sure both shrimp are still there :S

So far so good! <fingers crossed>

All my fish have been curious about the cleaners, and are constantly swimming around their cleaning cave. Especially the pinktail. But none have made an appointment for a cleaning -- yet.

I had a bluethroat trigger before with 2 cleaner shrimp and the bluethroat never bothered the shrimp either.

Just keep the trigger happily fed, so it wont eye the shrimp...

FYI, you also hear stories about triggers being model citizens, but then 'snapping' and eating inverts after a couple of years.

peppermint shrimp are "cleaners" too, so are fire shrimp......come to think of it....I think even coral banded shrimp perform cleaner functions.....

I think it solely(pun intended) depends on the fish and its disposition...

My fire shrimps never cleaned any fish. My cleaner do.

probably because peppermint and fire shrimp both dont like intense light and for the most part tend to hide all day......read up on them:wink:

I didn't have cleaner shrimp with my pinktail when I had him so I can only comment on my experience of my trigger eating the shrimp I had in the tank with him at the time, and yes Christy it was a pricey snack! :twised:

Research shows that most triggers will and often do eventually eat shrimp, regardless of the type of shrimp it is. Sometimes you will get lucky and the trigger might leave them alone and sometimes you don't get lucky and the trigger will eat the shrimp. If you're going to add shrimp to a tank with a trigger in it you have to be aware that there is a possibility that the trigger might eat the shrimp. Maybe not right away even, but the possibility exists.

Aquatic Connection states "Triggerfish are carnivores that spend their days nibbling on a wide variety of echinoderms and crustaceans like crabs, shrimps, sea urchins, worms, and other invertebrates." http://www.aquacon.com/Triggerfish_saltwaterfish.html

3reef Forum also had a discussion about keeping triggers with shrimp. The general consensus was that you might get away with it for awhile when the shrimp is large and the trigger is small, but as the trigger grows and becomes larger, the shrimp usually become expensive meals. One guy on there blumoon reefers stated "I have also witnessed the pink tail eat a cleaner shrimp." http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobb...sh-100522.html

FYI my shrimp that I had co-existed peacefully with my trigger for about 7 months before he decided to eat them :evil: Also when I researched triggers the pinktail triggers were supposed to be one of the most reef safe (ie: not eat snails/crabs/shrimp) out of all of the triggers. I also have a bad habit of over feeding my tank so I know the trigger didn't suddenly eat the shrimp because he hadn't been fed well.

So IMO and based on numerous research it's not so much a matter of "will" my trigger eat my shrimp (cleaner or otherwise) but more so a matter of "when".

For any other trigger species I wouldn't even bother asking. The reason I brought it up though is that Xanthichthys sp. triggers are supposed to be mostly planktonic feeders (upturned mouth). According to this: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/hcs3/index.php ... "cleaner shrimp should be left alone".

So blue chin, crosshatch, sargassum ..and .. I forget the common name of the other 2 or 3 Xanthichthys species triggers .. would theoretically be better behaved? I was hoping to hear some specific experiences with the crosshatch trigger specifically. I am tempted to try this still,but at this point still reluctant to .. er .. pull the trigger on it just yet (ooh punny) until I hear some more anecdotal evidence..

Nah...nothing to do with it. It was in deed with the fish because I have large caves and overhang in my tank so the shrimps were active in there with the fish...just not on the fish, never ever.

Mine did not hide all day, they simply stayed in the shaded spots most of the time but my fire shrimps were out in the day often, when they were hungry. I don't need to read up on them, I have them and I can very well see their behavior :)