Longhorn Cowfish

[SurfTrack]

I have an obsession with longhorn cowfish. Anybody have any personal experiences with them? I have a 90g red sea reefer, could I support a small (1-2.25 INCH) cowfish?

I have a yellow tang, kole tang, 2 clownfish, and two cardinals

 

[Mr Fishface]

I have a yellow boxfish, similar enough imo. In fact hes my avatar on here! Love these little guys. They tend to get pretty big so be aware of that. Might outgrow that 90g tank. They really don't like high flow when their small. At 2 inches maybe they can handle some flow but my little boxfish is almost an inch and a half and is in my low flow frag tank.
There is also a pretty high mortality rate with them it seems. Maybe i got lucky but i think a big thing is having constant food for them 24/7. I set up 3 different algae clips with small things of diff colored algae and my frag tank is just loaded with pods too. My boxfish really took to the red algae sheets well so he got one of those morning and night for a long time. He also very much hunted down pods in my tank! This means they would do well to be the only fish in a system until they get really established. Anyway, hope this is helpful at all.

 

[SurfTrack]

I have a yellow boxfish, similar enough imo. In fact hes my avatar on here! Love these little guys. They tend to get pretty big so be aware of that. Might outgrow that 90g tank. They really don't like high flow when their small. At 2 inches maybe they can handle some flow but my little boxfish is almost an inch and a half and is in my low flow frag tank.
There is also a pretty high mortality rate with them it seems. Maybe i got lucky but i think a big thing is having constant food for them 24/7. I set up 3 different algae clips with small things of diff colored algae and my frag tank is just loaded with pods too. My boxfish really took to the red algae sheets well so he got one of those morning and night for a long time. He also very much hunted down pods in my tank! This means they would do well to be the only fish in a system until they get really established. Anyway, hope this is helpful at all.

How long would it take for them to outgrow a 90g?

My only other concern is my yellow tang beating it up and causing it to release toxins.

 

[Mr Fishface]

How long would it take for them to outgrow a 90g?

My only other concern is my yellow tang beating it up and causing it to release toxins.

My guess is a few years at least. Growth on my tiny one has been slow so far. Started smaller than an inch 6 months or so ago. If your YT is a jerk it might not be a great idea then. They are very timid creatures. I would agree the fear of getting beat up is pretty good.

 

[Idoc]

I believe it is recommended to have a 300g tank minimum for box fish. Maybe there are other species that stay smaller, but im not sure. I have also read that they grow quickly... and can nuke a tank with poisons if threatened. You probably want to do a lot of research prior to getting one of these.

 

[SurfTrack]

My guess is a few years at least. Growth on my tiny one has been slow so far. Started smaller than an inch 6 months or so ago. If your YT is a jerk it might not be a great idea then. They are very timid creatures. I would agree the fear of getting beat up is pretty good.

I just dont know if I want to take the risk. Beautiful fish but I dont think its worth it unfortunately

 

[Hal3134]

Mine went from about 2inches to 8 (tip to tail) in a little over a year. 250g tank.

 

[Hal3134]

I think the nuke your tank thing is only if they die under stress, such as being attacked. I had one die in my tank with no noticeable effects. Sadly, I think he starved to death. I know better now. Because they maintain their boxiness they never get thin. And they eat a lot.

 

[Skwan]

I have an obsession with longhorn cowfish. Anybody have any personal experiences with them? I have a 90g red sea reefer, could I support a small (1-2.25 INCH) cowfish?

I have a yellow tang, kole tang, 2 clownfish, and two cardinals

I used to keep a cowfish and a box fish around 8-10 years ago. Had a 5 foot long 120 gal tank. they started off as a tiny <1 inch baby and grew to about 5 to 7 inches (from vague memory of about 10 years ago) over 1-2 years, the box fish only grew to about 2 inches, but most of the growth was in the beginning, and was slowing down by the end. Sadly he died when the tank crash when the cooler decided to cool the tank down to 16 C degrees over night. They don't swim particularly fast, so I am not sure how big a tank you need, but I would say have a scape that have more wide open caves for him to explore may be nice. Definitely try to hide all powerhead intake, I once had him stuck on the intake of the powerhead, good thing i caught it fast, and stopped the pump, and he actually recovered. It can swim surprisingly fast, but not a powerful swimmer by any means.

I am told by lfs that they are not easily to acclimate to captivity though, so be very picky when buying, select one that will eat and actually swim with agility. I'd probably avoid adding a boxfish into an established tank with bullies like tang. I successfully did it in my old tank, but I had to separate him in a clear box and get the bullies used to his presence in the tank and stopped pecking him before letting him free.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Avoid them. Cute they are but short lived in captivity and will eventually starve and eyes get sunken in and then one day they’re on the tank bottom out like a light

 

[Skwan]

Avoid them. Cute they are but short lived in captivity and will eventually starve and eyes get sunken in and then one day they’re on the tank bottom out like a light

I agree with the conclusion, if you already have a tank and want to add a cowfish, Don't. But I didn't find them short lived, i kept a box fish and a cowfish for years, until my tank crashed to unrelated reason. But I agree that captivity is probably stressful for them, I tried adding a second cowfish, and even got it to feed at first, but it still died due to reasons I can't figure out, and the ones that did live, they all didn't grow to anywhere close to their usual size in natural habitat. All three of mine refused to feed in the beginning. The box fish i had to use a tweezer to hold krill shrimp to its mouth and fed him daily for a week before it will swim after food.

I think they have a sufficiently specific care requirement to make them unsuitable for most reef tank, mostly due to flow and scape (even ignoring the elephant in the room of risk of toxic nuke). I wouldn't write them off completely, but you do have to plan the tank around keeping them (no exposed power head intake, and generally lower flow and no bullies). They have quite a character, very responsive and will feed from your hand. I didn't name all my fishes back then, but the box fish definitely was a crowd favourite.

 

[Hal3134]

I never had any problems acclimating them to captivity. They always ate like a pig from day 1. Mine never were interested in the rock work. They always swim in the open part of the tank. And they LOVE live/frozen clams (buy live, then freeze). Cut the muscle so they open, then drop in the tank.