Longhorn cowfish discussion and thoughts.

mrpontiac80

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Hopefully I will get some insight from those with experience.

First, I have one. I bought this little guy about the size of a half dollar about July 22nd 2023. So it is now 1 year old in my care. And boy has it grown with a lot of growth yet to come!! It is now 6”-7”. From tip to tip. I performed a hybrid httm.

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I feed him a half sheet of nori daily, along with some homemade food I get from a friend of mine that sells coral. He blends up all the sea foods, such as salmon, octopus, clams, and lots more. This guy loves it. It has some chunky stuff in it that he goes for first.

Now with a Cowfish, their exoskeleton prevents you from seeing if they are thin or fat. So I do over feed the tank likely. And I have different algae growing from bubble, hair algae and maybe a patch of turf and that lettuce looking stuff. Sounds worse than it is but I see him eating some off the return outlets and such. Bubble algae it will not touch and I’m working on that.

His current tank mates consist of a
white tail bristle tooth tang,
2 clowns
2 bangi cardinals
1 flame hawkfish
1 very large starfish
1 flame scallop
2 bubble tip nems
And a few emerald crabs, snails, and hermits

His personality is 100% the most like a puppy. He watches everyone, very curious, will spit water out of the tank to get attention and is just really cool.

His home is currently a 65.4 waterbox aio
I know, I know….
The tank measures 4’ long, 15” display front to back and 18” tall.

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I know I’m going to have to rehome him.
Originally I thought my LFS may have a place for him. He has a few large tank clients… one is a 1,000 gallon system. Problem is the fish in there are very expensive and they are getting very particular about what enters now. I also have grown to love this fish and worry about its health going to someone with no knowledge of them.

I do have a 180 gallon also. It is a mixed reef heavy on young acros and stocked with the following
Fox face lo
Yellow belly blue hippo tang
Blue eye bristle tooth tang
Purple tang
3 anthias
2 chromis
2 clowns
Fire fish
2 bangi cardinals
2 pj cardinals
2 zebra darts
Copperband
Melanorus wrasse
Tail spot blenny
Mckoskers wrasse

The180 has 4 gyres for flow while the 65 just uses the return outlets (4 of them). The Cowfish is slow and I’m wondering if he would work in my 180?

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So anyone out there still reading, What are your thoughts? What kind of home are you providing for yours? What food and how much are you feeding your bigger Cowfish? How old is yours? How big? I’d love to hear what your doing with these guys that grow well over a foot in length!
 

Formulator

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I lost mine in an accident, but he lived happily in my 120g mixed reef for 2-3 years. Flow was quite high and he adapted just fine. I fed frozen mysis, spirulina brine, and a sheet of nori he had to share with a tang. I never thought he was going hungry. Love their personality!
 
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mrpontiac80

mrpontiac80

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I lost mine in an accident, but he lived happily in my 120g mixed reef for 2-3 years. Flow was quite high and he adapted just fine. I fed frozen mysis, spirulina brine, and a sheet of nori he had to share with a tang. I never thought he was going hungry. Love their personality!
Sorry to hear that but happy to know it did well in high flow!
 

Formulator

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I’ll probably catch some flack for saying this but… I don’t bother much with the sub-forums unless its a really technical topic. You will probably get a lot more lively and interesting discussion about this over on the general reef keeping forum.
 
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mrpontiac80

mrpontiac80

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I’ll probably catch some flack for saying this but… I don’t bother much with the sub-forums unless its a really technical topic. You will probably get a lot more lively and interesting discussion about this over on the general reef keeping forum.
I’m sure you’re right. Honestly all I do is refresh the current home page for recent posts, so I completely understand.
 

KrisReef

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I'm not a Cowfish keeper but if I recall correctly they love fresh clams?
I also think you might be over feeding it, but I understand why.
I hope you find a nice place for it to live.
 

Mr Fishface

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While I didn't have a cowfish, I had gotten a box fish. Actually the fish in my profile picture. I loved that little thing and he did well for quite a while. I had a display refugium at the time so he ate a wide variety of algae from there, nori and chased down some pods.

Anyways here is a good bump to hopefully attract more attention! Maybe cowfish aren't very popular? I sure love them though!
 
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