Box Fish ???'s

[keleighr]

I know that they have toxins that can be released when stressed or threatened. I would love to have a Cow Fish though.
I would like to hear from folks who own them or who have owned them.
Also what enviroment (other tank mates) do you recommend in order for him/her to have a stress free living arrangement?
Are they an easy, moderate, or hard to fish to take care of in your opinion?
I know that are tons of research/information pages on the web but I truly prefer "real" experiances form other people. A lot of the times folks have different experiances than what it says on line.
Thanks in advance!!!

 

[lovethesea]

I fell in love with a little cow fish at our LFS a few years ago. Cutest little thing in the world. THe owner hadn't been able to feed it for about a week and was getting a little nervous. After about 2 weeks it finally began to eat. That is the biggest hurdle for them I hear. And, they do get pretty big. There was a horrible red tide outbreak in south FLA last summer and we saw box fish washing up

that were about 6 inches in length. I would guess and pretty docile tank would be required for them also.

 

[keleighr]

I have a 180 gallon tank.
I know that the spotted box fish can grow up to 18 inches long
WHOOO WEEEEEEEE that is a big fish!!!
Right now the tank has two chromis in it. (pretty pathetic looking but I wam still in mourning

)
and a pretty hefty cleaning crew. The cleaning crewis in heaven right now that I do know!!! Eat pretty dang good!!
I do think they are extremely CUTE TOO!! The local fish store here puts little tiny sponges(looks like parts of make up sponges) on the end of their horns. They must be really used to human contact cause we watched the fish guy handle it with such care and patience to put them on. Took about 15 minutes to do one (the fish kept swimming right up to his hand!)