BOXFISH , COWFISH, & FROGFISH

SPECIES PROFILES & INFORMATION ABOUT BOXFISH, COWFISH, & FROGFISH..PLEASE DO NOT POST QUESTIONS HERE..USE MAIN SALTWATER FISH FORUM..

Scientific Name: Ostracion meleagris
Family: Diodontidae (Porcupinefishes)
Size: 8 inches
Temperature: 74 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit
Origin: Pacific Ocean. The Red Sea version is now a separate species

The bluespotted boxfish is a beautiful fish that is not really suited for a marine aquarium unless you are willing to devote a tank to it. This fish is well known for releasing a poison, called ostracitoxin, if it is under any stress; this can quickly kill an entire tank of fish, including the boxfish itself. Its beauty merits a species tank, however. The male has the blue spots on its sides, while the female arise uniformly brown with white spots. You can keep a single male, single female or a pair -- just don’t try to keep two males together.

In addition to its nasty habit of occasionally poisoning its tank, bluespotted boxfish can be difficult to feed. Because it is usually not fed while in transit from the wild to the local fish store (which can take weeks), sometimes it just doesn’t start eating again. Before you purchase one make sure that you see it eating heartily. It may require live food to start with in the form of enriched live brine shrimp, guppies or mollies or other live fish. It also requires vegetable matter, and it will scrape at algae in a tank, but should also be offered any of the frozen foods made especially for herbivores. Needless to say, the bluespotted boxfish is not at all suitable for a reef tank, as it would consider everything in the tank in terms of corals, shrimps, crabs and algae as being part of its personal dining cart.

Scientific Name: Lactoria cornuta
Family: Diodontidae (Porcupinefishes)
Size: 16 inches
Temperature: 74 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit
Origin: Indian and Pacific Oceans, and Red Sea

Although the cute little yellow longhorned cowfish that is offered for sale in your local fish store are so adorable that it literally begs to be taken home to your tank, this is not a fish to be bought on impulse (actually, no fish should be bought without knowing about it’s habits and mature size). The drawbacks to this fish are that it gets large – 16” or so -- it needs to eat a lot, and until it is used to a tank it is a very skittish, and can do itself harm by running into or becoming wedged in the tank and decorations. Finally, the longhorned cowfish can release a poison if stressed or when it dies that will completely wipe out a tank.

The longhorned cowfish will eat anything, both meaty foods such as shrimps, squid, clams and enriched brine shrimp or krill, and also the frozen prepared foods designed for herbivores. It is not, however, a very aggressive eater, although it needs to be fed two or three times a day. It cannot compete with tankmates that are pushy and aggressive eaters, and is best kept either in a species tank by itself or with other slow moving and non-aggressive fish.

As long as the drawbacks above are understood and you are prepared to give this fish the conditions and feeding it requires, the longhorned cowfish makes an interesting pet, as it becomes tame and interested in the world outside its tank.