Boxfish?

[fishhuman]

Hi guys, as the title shows I was thinking of getting a boxfish for my tank. My tank is 180 gallons and it is a reef. I know the general consensus of these guys is that they will die and bomb my tank with toxins, but I was thinking that isn't it the same danger as having an anemone in your tank which a lot of reefers do with sucess. That leads me to my questions
. First is this to big of a risk to take, will it almost certainly end with fish deaths
. Second will he eat my coral( soft corals and a hammer and montipora) and inverts; the only inverts I am really worried about would be my to urchins( longspine and pincushion) and my horseshoe crabs which rarely come out of the sand
. Third if I get one what will be the best one I should get I was thinking spotted boxfish since I heard they are smaller and adapt better to captivity
. Lastly this isn't really i question but has anybody here had experience with boxfish or cowfish

Thanks

 

[Dmorty217]

Not a huge risk to take but a risk non the less. Probably won't eat coral but may nip at some things, especially feather dusters. Spotted box fish is a good choice but what kind of reef do you have and what are the other tank inhabitants? They are docile fish and poor swimmers so reef tanks are really where they would thrive. Also food competition with aggressive eaters already in your tank maybe a problem

 

[ben jammin]

I can't speak to the reef issue as I have a FOWLR, but I did have a longhorn cowfish for a while. He was about 5" long and one of the larger fish in my tank, but housed with some aggressive eaters. He wasn't shy about feeding but he was slow and clumsy. Poor thing would take aim at a piece of food floating in front of him, and right before he could suck it in another fish would steal it. I ended up having to distract the other fish and then stealth feed him chunks of krill and mysis. Still, he was worth it. Tons of personality. Sadly, he just started acting strange one weekend, having trouble staying buoyant, and within a couple days he passed away.

In short, kind of a high maintenance fish, needs peaceful tank mates, but lots of personality.

 

[fishhuman]

May not be for me I have tangs a foxface and butterflyfish and dwarf angels

 

[billsreef]

In general, the boxfish that are most likely to be a problem nuking a tank do not survive shipping. They aren't immune to their own toxin once released in a closed container.

 

[Betta132]

Also, your horseshoe crab may need a new home. They get quite large. Is there an aquarium locally?

 

[fishhuman]

I know about the size of horshoe crabs, I bought them 5 years ago when I was a beginner and the truth is they have only grown an inch( bought them when they were 2in now they are 3) They live over 40 years in the wild but in captivity a few months is sucess. They were my beginner mistake but on the bright side at least it wasn't a tang.

 

[fishhuman]

So will is it a good aides or a bad one