Zippy's New Crib/Longhorn Cowfish Thread

Rob A · Sep 8, 2026

I had to rehome Zippy my Longhorn Cowfish from my 300 gal Lagoon to a new tank because he started to get a taste for corals. He had a temporary home in a 40 gal tote until I could polish a 160 gal I had and build a stand. I don't know if this belongs in the build section or a Fish Section because it is both a Longhorn cowfish and a tank build.

For anyone thinking about a cowfish It is imperative that you know exactly how fast they grow. Zippy was about 2 inches when I bought him and 1 year later he is 11 inches. There is nothing you can do to slow their growth and cute little "Tater Tot" will become "Zippy The Incredible Eating Machine" in about 3 months.

Here is Zippy they day I brought him home he is 2 inches max 8/31/25

Here is Zippy today (one year later) 9/8/26 apox 11 inches

Zippy eats like a machine and produces a ton of waste so I hooked his new tank into my lagoon system which is a giant undergravel filter. I was going to do an undergravel filter but I didn't want to lose 4 inches so I'm just going to add another unit on to my algae scrubber to process the extra waste that this tank is going to add.

I had a 160 gal Acrylic tank that I bought with a brand new reef octo 200nt skimmer and a bunch of other stuff for 400 bucks. It was pretty scratched beyond what Novus would take out so I had to sand from 400 grit down to 1500 and than 3 novus and 2 to finish. It came out better than I expected considering the depth and amount scratching. Next I had to build a rocket engineer stand.

I got super lucky this how level it is without shiming. I did need to shim a low spot on the bottom length brace but nothing else

I forgot to mention that I never filled the tank to see if it held water. It is acrylic so I wasn't too worried but somewhere down the line someone added acrylic corner beads that are epoxied to the tank so crossed my fingers and polished it anyway. It held for 24 hour while my plumbing to the sump cured. I had to build the stand the exact same height of the sump so that the drain is a few inches below the lip of the sump. The water actually has to go uphill a few inches to drain into the sump.

Filling for the first time ...I hope it holds water or I'm out a lot of work polishing this tank.

Here are few shots of the plumbing.

Here is the manifold I had to build to attach the new tank into the system. I added a second valve to add another tank. I don't know if my pump can handle another large tank but I think I can add a 125 that I got on the polishing stand right now. If not I'll drop a separate pump in the sump for it.

Here is the plumbing to the tank. The ball valve on the corner of the tank controls the flow.

Here is Zippy eating his last meal in Administrative Segregation.

Here is Zippy eating his first meal back in General Population

I don't know what all his tank mates are going to be yet but I'm going to need a rabbit fish or some easy going tangs, a diamondback goby, and a mower blenny. I can't keep a CUC with Zippy so I got to find things he won't eat that will clean up his mess.