Pragmatic Lemur Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Has anyone here been successful with a Cow Fish in a reef tank? I have one right now and so far so good. I am currently trying to get my Valentini Puffer out of my tank because he is starting to cause problems, but the Cow Fish seems ok. Any advice? Link to comment
Tempest Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 What kind of cowfish and how big is the tank? Longhorns can grow to be almost a foot long. All cowfish are "grazers" and like to pick and nibble on their surroundings. They need a mix of vegetable matter with their meat to prevent intestinal blockages. They don't always fair well when housed with fast swimming fish (food competition). They are NOT reef safe and have the potential to destroy soft and hard corals. In addition, when severely stressed or dying they release toxins into the water which are poisonous to just about everything including themselves. Helmet/thornback cowfish (tetrasomus gibbosus [sp?]) are the least likely to nuke the tank (some have written that their toxin isn't that strong compared to others). Link to comment
snaggle Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Its true about the longhorn nuking the tank when i worked at the petstore one of them got ich and nuked the take it killed half the fish on the system Link to comment
Pragmatic Lemur Posted June 2, 2004 Author Share Posted June 2, 2004 The Tank is 75 gallons. He is about 4 inches long. He has two horns on his head and is yellowish/ tan in color. I need to get him out of the tank asap. What is the best way to get him out so that he doesnt get stressed? Link to comment
snaggle Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 If you have an old net rip out the center and use an old fish store bag on it as a net. Use another net to chase him in to the bag that way he is not out of water and not geting stresssed Link to comment
Pragmatic Lemur Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share Posted June 3, 2004 I ended up putting a little food in a Zip Lock bag and he swam in. I scooped him up and transferred him. It worked without any issues. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.