Cowfish owners.

scotts · Jan 7, 2003

For people who have had cowfish or box fish. I have heard many conflicting ideas about cowfish, When I hear conflicting data it makes me wonder. Also all that I have heard starts with "I heard......" So now is the time to set the record straight. If you have owned a cowfish in the past tell us of your experiences. How long did you have it, how big did it get, what size tank did you have it in, did it release toxins and kill your aquarium? Any others you can think of.
Let's hear the truth about these odd, lovable and friendly creatures.
Please tell of only stories that you know are true. Not what you heard from your cousin who heard it from the guy at the fish store whe thinks it might have happened about 2 months to 8 years ago.
Scott

moorishidol · Jan 7, 2003

Ive had three. One I had was 6 inches long and I put him in a all fish tank with a yellow tang and a butterfly. He killed the tank in less than a week including himself. That was a 50 gallon tank 3 years ago. I got another one a couple months ago for my 90 gallon and it was about the same size. Again, killed the tank and everything in it. I had awsome filtration in that thing too. However he had pointy horns, and when he died he didnt have them so I am assuming he poked the other fish. I had one about 1 inch which was living and doing fine in my 125 gallon but was picked on and kept getting sucked against my overflow so I gave him to a friend. I would stay away from these unless you have a large tank, good filtration and nothing else in it. My local pet shop "the aquarium" told me they wont order these fish in anymore because in less than two hours they had killed their tank of large angels which cost them about a 1000 bucks. I am a advanced aquariest and I wont buy them again.

alti · Jan 7, 2003

i don't buy your story idol. ive had 2 cowfish. the first died due to a molesting blenny and the other has been alive and well for almost a year in my 90 gal. i dont think a cowfish could poke a hole in warm butter if he tried. your other fish probably beat the crap out of him when the lights were out and he tried to defend himself with the toxins.
i highly recommend these fish to anyone. just make sure you do some research before you buy one.

shive · Jan 7, 2003

hi,i have a cowfish..about 6 months now..hes in a 30-fixin to go into my 125..he's sweet..he has been in with my seahorses,naso and dogface puffer..never any problem..unless you consider the way he spits water at me when i open the top and look in the tank..always gets me before i can duck...also has bit me when i hand feed him..just a pinch..spoiled,fat and happy.hes really starting to grow tho..time to move him

bconway · Jan 7, 2003

Mines in a 90gal about 4 inches and had him about 6 months
I would Highly recommend one. I'm getting another after my 200 cycles!!!!!!!
bc

peasly1 · Jan 7, 2003

I have had 2,they died because of my inexperience at the time..neither polluted or killed anything in either tank..one was tiny and lived about 6 months in a 10 gal(thats why that one died,they need lots of space even as small as they are,,the 2nd one was in a 30 gal and got harassed by a blue headed wrasse(thats how that one died)these fish are very friendly,peaceful,hystarical,cute or odd looking animals..they absolutly need to be w/ peaceful non-agrresive fish..the ones I had were long horned cowfish,IMO,after you read a little about them and make sure you can house them correctly,like most people you will be very happy w/ the cow....I will definitly get another when I can find a spot for it, in a peaceful tank only..HTH.

pyro383 · Jan 8, 2003

I had a boxfish for 6 mo, stayed small, 4" in a 45g tall, kept him constantly fed, however I was begining a reef and he did fine at 1st until he realized how tasty the hermits, snails and starfish were. I gave him to a friend and is doing great.

reeferdude · Jan 8, 2003

what do cowfish eat?

alti · Jan 8, 2003

shrimp,squid,clam,brine,mysis,flake,pellet and macro algea.

mr_bubbles · Jan 8, 2003

I am taking care of a cowfish for a friend (Cracked tank and no money to replace it). So far nothing bad has happened but it has only been a week. I might need to put 2 clownfish in with him in a day or two, things are getting crowded.
Boris is about 2 inches.

dfishh · Jan 8, 2003

my frend had a 40 a while ago, and me him and another kid worked together onit. we were very inexperienced at the time, and had a cowfish, it was a helmet cow, or hovercraft fish as its sumtimes called. well the tank crashed and all the fish died, but not due to toxins of the cow, becuz it was the last thing to die. we fed it by hand sumtimes and it ate flakes that floated to the bottom. really cool fish. i mite consider getting one for my 10 gallon refugium once my 55 tank is very well established and has no room for other fish. then he could hav his own tank.

kimkissyfish · Jan 8, 2003

Hi...
I bought a BOXFISH 3 days ago and he died!!! Everything in my tank is FINE!! He was harrassed by 2 stripped damsels I think.. He was very quite, peaceful and cute.. he was a small maybe 2 1 1/2 inch yellow with black spotted boxfish......
I removed the damsels today and Ithink I am going to get a cowfish, they are awesome!!! The only time he will excrete toxins is IF HE IS BENG THREAETENED and ATTACKED...... thats it!! If it dies then try to get it out quick , as soon as you see it.... and check him out to see IF he has been attacted or if maye it was bad water conditions.....
Hope this helps, Kim

moorishidol · Jan 8, 2003

Alti, you may be right. All I know is what has happened. For all I know he couldve broke his horns on the rocks or something. All I can say is that Ive had three and had bad experiences with all of them. However, I may have had the better luck with the 1 inch cow if I didnt have such a strong filtration system. He kept getting stuck to the sides of the overflows. I felt sorry for thing. You are right in the way they look, swim and spit. Pretty awsome but like I said before, I have had bad experiences with them and so did my LFS. I dont know why he would have been picked on though. He was my first real addition to the tank and was bigger than most of the ones I had. Im afraid to try it with the fish I currently have being that most of them are 3-5 times more expensive as the cows are. Not going to try it...

battlecat316 · Jan 8, 2003

mine was a male cowfish, about 2- 3 inches big and he was a nasty sucker. He ripped apart at my porc. puffer, who is still alive and well, at damsels, at angels, at anything that would be in the tank with him. He even killed my powder blue tang

He lives for about 9-10 months and all of a sudden just couldn't swim or anything. It was bizarre, he had no signs of sickness. Anyway now that he's gone, all is well, but I'm still afraid to introduce anything new to the aquarium, I've wasted over 300.00 on fish that were just picked on and killed. If anyone has any suggestiopns that would make a good combo with the fish I have please let me know.

peasly1 · Jan 8, 2003

battlecat- unless I saw it,I would not think the cowfish was picking on any of those fish,what I see is 2 damsels who might be nipping at the puffers, and most definitly the evil bi-color angel who would harass and kill a cow in less than a few days

scotts · Jan 8, 2003

I want to thank all of you for your posts. I would still like people to post more. so we can get more opinions. However this is the gist of what I am seeing. These odd little fish have a loyal following. With the exception of MI, they have not poisoned the entire tank. Most cowfish threads always have at least one post saying "I have heard they can release toxins and kill the whole tank!". Even though MI suspects the cowfish of killing his whole tank twice he still bought a third fish. The only reason he got rid of it is because of his high flow rate.
So here is my verdict for now. Stanley, the floating head cowfish, will stay and we will see how big he gets. Actually the only problem with Stanley so far is when I try and use the magnet cleaner on the tank. He comes up and says hi I don't want him to get squashed between the magnets. So I have to fake him out. I have to put my face on one side of the aquarium and drop the magnets in the other side of the aquarium. It works for now.
I hope people keep posting on this thread.
Scott

fbihunter · Jan 9, 2003

I have owned a Long Horned Cow Fish for 13 months. He was bought when he was approx 1/2 inch and he is now a healthy 4 1/2 inches. He is very passive except when it comes to eating. He is in a fish only tank with several very agressive fish w/o problems.
Also I have a Yellow Cubicus who was bought 6 months ago at approx 3/4 inch and now is approx 1 inch. He is in a 80/20 system.(80% reef and 20% fish) He is very passive and eats like a cow.( no pun intended)
Never had any issues with them and you can always bet that anyone who looks at my three marine tanks are always attracted to these two the most.

broncofish · Jan 9, 2003

I have a yellow cubicus eats seaweed select(hanging from the clip) Does yours eat anything else?

fbihunter · Jan 9, 2003

He eats algae, mysis shrimp and all flake foods. Pretty much anything goes for the Cubicus.

broncofish · Jan 9, 2003

Right on, thats how my first one was(RIP

) but my newest guy is pretty picky

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