# triglachromis otostigma



## heatherrom (Mar 22, 2010)

i have just added one trig to my 90 gallon tang tank. The only other residents of my tank are 6 lamp ocellatus. I have found conflicting reports about how aggressive trigs are....and i would like to know before I go buy the remaining 2 trigs at my LFS. I have really fell in love with these little guys and want to find out as much information about them as possible. Has anyone had any luck breeding them or any other advice about them? thanks.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I've bred them. They can get big and boisterous, and defend plenty of space if paired up. I wouldn't put them with ocellatus. Full size trigs could probably make snacks out of smaller females if they decided to. These guys get up to 5" and have rather large mouths. At the very least, the behavior of the occies will be inhibited. And I know they relish fry, so you'd never have occie fry survivors.

If you're going to breed them, then they need a species tank 3' minimum after they're paired up, but 4-6' is better. If not breeding, then I'd maybe put them with some medium sized lamps or juli's or similar, even lepdio hecqui or similar. Something that won't get bullied. They're not psychotic aggressive, and I think a lot of the conflicting reports on aggression have to do with size and whether or not they're spawning. If small and unpaired, or even larger and unpaired they can make nice tank mates. Get them up to 4.5-5" and paired up and they'll push everybody to the other side of the tank. But, they don't do bodily harm. Instead, it's a lot of charging and flaring, as long as the chased ones have somewhere to flee to, of course.

If unpaired, I could see several in a six foot tank with cyprichromis or, like I said, medium lamps or juli's or altolamps, or anything that'll be happy staying in the rocks.

The trigs will own the sand and like lots of it and will move it around quite a bit, particularly if paired up and staking out a territory. They're not easy to breed and I think I got lucky. I eventually sold my breeders, but they've yet to breed for the new owner. They bred for me several times, and even once when I moved them temporarily to a 20 long. The pair bond seems strong.

If going with 3 and they're small, I'd say well worth giving them a try, but again, not with ocellatus unless very short term. If you end up with a pair, give them a tank to themselves. The biparental mouthbrooding and parental care is fascinating to watch. But have to warn you, if startled, they flee and leave the fry untended, so tankmates then feast on them. I guess it's a 'live to spawn another day' strategy. Fry count per spawn is in the neighborhood of 125-150.

I fed mine NLS exclusively. Even the fry got crushed NLS, nothing else.

They can be skittish until they get used to you. Even afterward a bit jumpy. If startled while cleaning the tank, they'll head straight for a corner and up and out, so be careful.

Some videos

Trigs holding, releasing, and tending fry

Trig adults tending fry

Feeding trig fry

Trig juvies

Trigs releasing fry

Trigs Holding


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## heatherrom (Mar 22, 2010)

thank you for the information
I am going to move my occies to their own tank, they cycled the 90 gallon for me and have had it to themselves for the last few months.
My trig is about 4" and i think it is a male so i'm going back to my LFS to buy what i think is a female. The trigs can have the 90 gallon and we'll see what happens.

Thanks again


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

You're welcome. Look at the first dorsal spine. I believe the male's is black, female no. There's some dispute over which is which, but I believed my male to be the one with the black first dorsal spine. Either way, just get the opposite of what you have now.

Good luck and I think you'll enjoy them.


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