Should longhorn cowfish break his horns?

[jester805]

I've got a 75 FOWLR that's been up for about 6 months. I got a longhorn cowfish around 2 weeks ago. It had some pretty long horns on it's head and just recently I noticed they were broken off. Is that normal for them? Will the horns grow back eventually?
I also have a copperband butterfly, keyhole angel, 2 nemo's, watchman goby, foxface, 2 damsels, 2 cleaner shrimp, and a longspine urchin.
Thanks

 

[jester805]

Nobody knows about the horns on a cowfish???????

 

[birdy]

Well I am probably going to tell you something you do not want to hear but longhorn cowfish get very very large and need at least a 200gallon tank IMO. They need lots of room to swim an very peaceful tankmates, they are not good feeders and need plenty of opportunity to have food in front of them without competing for it. THey are very prone to ich and can release a toxin that can wipe out your entire tank if stressed.
To specifically answer your question, no the horns should not break off, it just tells me there is not enough room for it in your aquarium, or someone is picking on it causing it to hide and break its horns. I know they are very small to begin with, but they really need a lot of room to be happy. Not many people have good longterm success with them.

 

[jester805]

Thank you VERY much for the information. I appreciate your response. I didn't do my research before I bought him and relied on the LFS guy. I don't usually do that, and now I'm regreting it. I'll probably end up trading the longhorn in on something else.
Thanks

 

[birdy]

It happens to the best of us, they are a very neat fish, one of my favorites in fact, but not the easiest to keep. Probably a good idea to trade him back.