Hawaiian Blue Boxfish - Anyone keep this?

[TheFishTeen]

Beautiful fish dynomite... how long have you had it?

As for them not releasing toxins... well, that's just factually wrong. I'm not saying that they're a guaranteed tank apocalypse, but these fish will do what there physiology will do. A lot of factors come into play - tank filtration, size of the fish, individual fish biology, hardiness of tnak-mates, etc.

There are plenty of threads discussing how boxfish wiped out a tanks' inhabitants. On the other hand, I have a tetrasomus gibbosus in my 180, so it all depends on what kind of risk you're willing to accept . I'm not saying don't buy boxfish, just be aware of the risk and the difficulty involved in keeping them healthy for the long term.

A previous poster claimed that any fish could be kept if the tank was properly set up. This may be true, but since we don't always know what a "proper tank set-up" is nor are we always able to provide such an aquarium in a home setting, I'd be a little more cautious in claiming that "any fish" is capable of being successfully kept in captivity.

I had a similar conversation with another RC member earlier in the year. He was worried about Lactoria cornuta he had purchased and its infamous capabilities to release an antigenic poison.

Both myself, and another member convinced him there are no worries, and I sincerely believe so. I personally know people who have, and still own that fish with many other species in the same tank. So i DO believe Boxfish can be kept with long-term success.

I have seen Boxfish in the Aquarium of The Pacific, Mandalay Bay Aquarium, even Shark Reef Lagoon in Las Vegas. I don't think they would feel comfortable putting this fish in a tank that could wipe it all out. Now you might say well public aquariums are different, as the tanks are of massive volume and have very impressive equipment. Yes, that is true however I still believe the Public Aquariums do not see a threat in most Boxfish, and neither do I.

 

[small alien]

Love your spunk, fishteen, but you make a heckuva lot of assumptions and sweeping statements. You should qualify them more if you expect to be taken seriously.

On another, man o man, those boxfish are amazing Maybe someday when I have a bigger tank.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Love your spunk, fishteen, but you make a heckuva lot of assumptions and sweeping statements. You should qualify them more if you expect to be taken seriously.

.....

My thoughts exactly.
In addition need to make a clear difference between opinion and fact, that line gets blurred a bit too much with his posts.

 

[dynomite]

Blue Box

Blue Box

Hey Guys, after the fish arrived at the store I had them hold onto it for 3 weeks. He was eating from the start...right after being brought in from Hawaii. But I wanted to take it slow with this guy so I decided to hold off bringing him home. It seems fish out of Hawaii ship better, maybe it's because of the short transit time. Anyway, I haven't had him that long... only about 2 and a half months now. Still have my fingers crossed hope all goes well. I make sure that my nitrates are extremely low, this involves a 20 gallon water change weekly because of the high amount of waste this fish produces. I also feed a lot of food and he eats every last bit. This fish is more aggressive than one might expect, he attacks his own reflection all the time. He was originally in the tank with a blue angel, bird wrasse, blue tang, percula clown, and a yellow tang. I got so worried that he would wipe out all my other beloved fish that I actually went and traded them in. While in the community setting he was still quite aggressive during feeding time and would get his share. He does eat way more now that he pretty much has the tank to himself. I left the percula clown in the tank because I couldn't get myself to trade him in since I've had him for so long. I've also had a long-horn cow in the past pass away in a community setting and nothing else died. I think it may be that they're only likely to release toxins when a larger predator is trying to eat them or something? If anyone is interested in keeping a blue box just make sure its eating with gusto and don't try and bring him home too quick. Ill let you guys know how he does.

 

[TheFishTeen]

Hey Guys, after the fish arrived at the store I had them hold onto it for 3 weeks. He was eating from the start...right after being brought in from Hawaii. But I wanted to take it slow with this guy so I decided to hold off bringing him home. It seems fish out of Hawaii ship better, maybe it's because of the short transit time. Anyway, I haven't had him that long... only about 2 and a half months now. Still have my fingers crossed hope all goes well. I make sure that my nitrates are extremely low, this involves a 20 gallon water change weekly because of the high amount of waste this fish produces. I also feed a lot of food and he eats every last bit. This fish is more aggressive than one might expect, he attacks his own reflection all the time. He was originally in the tank with a blue angel, bird wrasse, blue tang, percula clown, and a yellow tang. I got so worried that he would wipe out all my other beloved fish that I actually went and traded them in. While in the community setting he was still quite aggressive during feeding time and would get his share. He does eat way more now that he pretty much has the tank to himself. I left the percula clown in the tank because I couldn't get myself to trade him in since I've had him for so long. I've also had a long-horn cow in the past pass away in a community setting and nothing else died. I think it may be that they're only likely to release toxins when a larger predator is trying to eat them or something? If anyone is interested in keeping a blue box just make sure its eating with gusto and don't try and bring him home too quick. Ill let you guys know how he does.

Thank you for the first hand information. We'll keep in touch

 

[snorvich]

My thoughts exactly.
In addition need to make a clear difference between opinion and fact, that line gets blurred a bit too much with his posts.

Same thought here.

 

[Felixc]

Are these boxfish coral safe? I have SPS and LPS. Are they considered easy to feed or finicky? thanks

 

[small alien]

No. But I don't know exactly what corals they prefer. I've considered add one to a reef, but only because I don't really care about my corals all that much.

 

[jucario]

Box fishes IME eat very well almost any food, but are very prone to ich. Some years ago my LFS set appart a couple of these fishes (really cool to have the blue male and the dark brown spotted female), unfortunately they got severly infested with ich and didn't make it. Other than that I think they are one of the nicest fishes and worth to set an aquarium around them, and better one of the first fishes to be introduced.

 

[small alien]

There has been a female meleagris at my lfs for several weeks. It will not eat anything at all so far.