Queen Triggerfish. {Balistes vetula}.

Maximum Length: 23.6 in. {60cm}

Range: Tropical Atlantic

Minimum aquarium size: 200 gal. {757 L}.

Foods And Feeding: Mixed diet of meaty foods, including chopped shrimp, squid, clams, and fish. Also frozen rations with marine algae and vitamin enriched foods. Feed no fewer than 3 times a day.

Aquarium suitability index: 5.

Reef aquarium compatibility: Not suitable. Feeds on a wide range of invertebrates.

Captive care: Truly the most regal triggerfish of the Tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean. Unfortunately it larger and more aggressive than most aquarists can handle. Juveniles and young adults can be kept with larger fish species, but they will begin to wreak havoc on their tankmates as they mature. An adult will have to be housed on its own, except in a very large aquarium, even then there is a chance that it will attack its tankmates. Such large, menacing individuals can decimate the population of an aquarium and are not easily passed on to other aquarists. As with other aggressive triggerfishes, it is notorious for rearranging aquarium decor and may even bite and break heater tubes, air line tubing and plastic siphons.