cowfish in a reef

jomatty · Dec 27, 2012

I have always considered cowfish and any of the boxfish as fish that were not really suitable for keeping in community tanks due to their toxic nature. Last night, however, I was reading the new issue of marine and reef magazine and they had an article on these funny little guys. The author said he had very rarely seen the fish release their toxins, and when they did it was always related to death. He made it sound as if it was a very rare occurrence and even if it happened that it was unlikely to cause major problems to the system.

I would like to add one to my 150 gallon mixed reef that I am in the process of stocking. Right now the only inhabitants are a pair of true perc's. I realize that I would not be able to keep ornamental shrimp with cowfish (I am stocking a few fish that will eat shrimp).

Any info from those who have kept these guys in a reef would be very appreciated. I really like them but do not want to take a big risk of them poisoning my tank.

Thanks,
Jomatty

revhtree · Dec 27, 2012

I had one for a short while. I don't think he was very healthy to begin with. It died a couple weeks after adding to the tank with no ill effects.

bairdimusprime · Dec 27, 2012

This is a great question. My daughter wants one when we start our new tank up. I'm nervous as I only wish to keep clowns and nems. Good luck and please post pics if you decide to go with one!

jomatty · Dec 27, 2012

i definitely will. We are traveling for the holidays but if the one they had at our LFS is still there I may give it a try when we get home, provided that my research continues to show that they are unlikely to release their toxins. If I get one I will keep everyone posted as the reef develops. Hopefully someone will weigh in who has had some of these in a reef with how successful they were.

jomatty

jomatty · Dec 29, 2012

Spoke with guy at LFS and he says he has had a number of them in clients tanks and never had a problem. Really would like to talk to more people who had succesfully had them and not had any problems before taking the risk though.

Mike&Terry · Dec 29, 2012

We kept a Longhorn Cowfish in our first reef tank for 3 years without any ill-effects. We lost him after a tank upgrade/move to the new house. We found him dead inside the tank the following morning (I'll admit I cried). If he did release any toxins, we saw no adverse reactions in our fish or other tank inhabitants.

They are very personable, but not the best of swimmers and may not do well in a high flow tank when they are small. They also grow quite large.

jomatty · Dec 30, 2012

Thanks for the info. My tank defi.itely has fairly strong flow so i will have to keep that in mind.

Squishie89 · Dec 30, 2012

I just want to say I frickin' love cowfish. I was talking to a guy at my LFS about them and he told me how an old fish supplier would ship them with corks on their horns/spikes to keep the bags from puncturing.