advice on two fish

[Phishnoob]

We got our copy of 500 Essential to Know Marine Species and there are two fish I am looking at but they might have drawbacks.

The first is a Comet (Marine Betta) and the second is a Pinktail Triggerfish. Both of them say they are calm and good for a reef but "might" eat my cute shrimp. They refer to the shrimp as "ornamental" but does that mean fire, cleaner or peppermint?

Do you advise these fish or does might=will eat my little clean up crew.

Thanks for any advice in advance!

Phishnoob

[Doug1]

Trigger will prolly eat any shrimp, some people keep triggers in reefs with no problem, but they are big eaters and therefore create a lot of "fertilizer"
Marine bettas as I recll are fairly good sized but rather timid eaters and may not do well with more aggresive tankmates.
Memory is foggy this am so if I wrong someone jump on in here

[JennM]

You're absolutely right, Doug

I've kept Comets with cleaner shrimp... BUT the shrimp was established and large, and the comet was small.

Right now I've got a huge comet who has no problem stealing food off the feeding stick that I am aiming at the lionfish I'm trying to wean -- very frustrating indeed dang pig!

I love comets - they are awesome fish but some can be very shy and you almost never see them.

Pink tails are nice fish, primarily plankton eaters, but small crusteaceans are on the menu. They are one of my favourite triggers, along with the blue jaw - I have a female blue jaw in the 1000 and she's awesome (1000 is FOWLR). Hmmm maybe that comet would be a nice addition to the 1000.....

Both of these fish are "reef safe" except to small crustaceans.

[Harpo]

Phishnoob, I have a large marine betta in our reef. Was small when I first bought it, but has grown nicely. I am debating getting rid of it now, because it eats every shrimp I put in the tank. So far I have lost 2 cleaners and 4 peppermints to it. Does not touch the fire shrimp since they have claws. Once had a coral banded also that it would not touch due to same reason.
We have a rather bad case of aptasias, I have tried 2 diffrent copper bands to fight the problem, but both were harrased to death by my tanks. Can't have peppermints till I lose the betta. Unfortunately, he does not want to be caught.


Bill