longhorn cowfish

[saltwaterscotty]

hello....i bought a longhorn cowfish yesterday and have heard conflicting stories about how easlity they can kill off the whole aqaurium....is there anyone who can cleart this up once and for all? my lfs(which seems to know their stuff btw) told me the chance of it releasing toxin is very minimal, but i have read on here it is almost a sure bet....he is with a regal tang, yellow tang, spiny box puffer and african starfish.....any info/advise would be appreciated...scott

 

[preluded]

I have a long horned cow fish with a hippo tang, porqupine puffer and a vol. lion. The cow did kill my spined box fish, but has not bothered anything else. He will go after polyps and pick at my live rock but no toxins have been released and I have had him for about a year.

 

[alti]

preluded,
how did he kill your puffer? they couldnt hurt a fly if they wanted to IME.
scotty,
the chance of the boxfish releasing its toxins if it is properly cared for is minimal. if it is kept in confined quarters with harassing tankmates the chance of releasing toxins is very high. what size tank do you have all these fish in?

 

[saltwaterscotty]

they are in a 75 gallon

 

[alti]

its gonna get pretty cramped in there when those fish start to mature. i would get rid of the cow or some of the other fish once you start having trouble fighting your nitrate levels or once you really start to notice any territorial bickering.

 

[bobo]

i agree with alti. you should get rid of some of them at this rate because the tang and cow will definitely be too big eventually for that tank if it is not already. cow are very peaceful and i don't think they can kill anything unless they kill everything by release of toxins, which rarely happens unless highly provoked and stressed. they also have a great appetite and cow sized waste loads.

 

[scotts]

SS,
Do a search for cowfish on this site. I asked the question of cowfish owners and the concensus (sp?) seemed to be that there was a minimal chance of them releasing their toxins. I cannot comment about your tank, the post was just just about cowfish in general.
Scott

 

[saltwaterscotty]

thanks for your answers to my question, and for your concerns about how my tank is stocked.....all these fish are small, and i do not believe it is overstocked. i know that cowfish can get very large and when the time comes i will make the proper arragements to keep everyone in there "happy". thanks again for your replies....
scott